REEL CRITICS:

A professional hit man wanders the steamy streets of Bangkok. One by one, he stalks the four men he’s been paid to execute. In the original version of “Bangkok Dangerous,” the killer is a deaf mute. His cool focus is guaranteed in any shootout because he cannot hear the gunfire that terrifies everyone else.

The Hollywood remake of this story stars Nicolas Cage as the cold-hearted killer minus the handicaps. He can hear and speak just fine, but he falls in love with a deaf mute girl. Go figure. In the new version, Cage takes on a street-smart thief as his partner. He mentors the young man in the art of assassination.

There’s lots of action, stealthy killings and wild gun fights. Sparse music and a dark look add to the air of mystery. The production values seem to provide more gravitas to the plot than it deserves. Underneath the moody feel, it’s still a third-world gangster flick. But it has the gritty edge that fans of the genre require.

Passion leads to fears of opening up, vulnerability

In “Elegy,” adapted from Philip Roth’s “The Dying Animal,” Ben Kingsley plays an older but not necessarily wiser man in love with a much younger woman.

As David, Kingsley plays a well-known professor and theater critic whose quiet charms seem to guarantee a steady stream of lovely women to share his bed. But when gorgeous new student Consuelo (Penélope Cruz) begins taking one of his classes, he is instantly besotted and obsessed with her.

They begin a passionate affair, and you think you know where the story is going, but it may surprise you.

Kingsley is wonderfully subtle as a man who won’t admit even to himself how much he needs this woman. He doesn’t want to lose Consuelo, but his fear of opening up and being vulnerable to another human being seems likely to drive her away.

David can’t even manage a civil relationship with his son (Peter Saarsgard), still bitter after his parents’ divorce.

Cruz is a fine actress, but Patricia Clarkson steals the spotlight in a small role as David’s longtime mistress. A beautiful, confident businesswoman, she too is struggling with the realization that time is catching up with her — “every day men are starting to look at me differently.” The drama in “Elegy” is low-key and sometimes too slow. But it draws you in as a sexy, beautifully played study on love, passion and growing old.

SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a financial services company. JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office.