Bangkok Dangerous

I fell in love with Nicolas Cage the first time I saw him.  This was not in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, although if it had been, I'm sure I wouldn't have noticed him.  It has taken subsequent viewings to realize he was even there.

No, friends, my love for Nicolas Cage began with Valley Girl.  That movie is amazing and I've seen it a bazillion times, and shut up if you don't like it because it means you have terrible taste.

Unfortunately, the last Nicolas Cage movie I remember really liking was Face/Off.  That was another excellent movie, where he spent the majority of the film doing his best John Travolta impression, and vice versa - with both succeeding wildly.  

I have not really sought out his movies since then...until Bangkok Dangerous landed in my mailbox from Netflix.  It's in a Halloween envelope, so I'm assuming I've had it since October; I have been studying for a licensure exam, and did not get around to watching it until this week.

Bangkok Dangerous is a decent action movie, with Nicolas Cage playing Joe, an assassin who has traveled to Thailand to do some...assasinating, and Shakrit Yamnarm as his "student" that he begins training, for kind of random reasons even though becoming close to a random guy makes Joe vulnerable to outside attack.  The storyline isn't all that weak.  There's even a sweet romance between Joe and a deaf pharmacy salesgirl, which is a nice break from the action AND a particularly nice break from Cage's voice, since she can't hear him and it is therefore pointless for him to talk.

Which brings me to the crux of my problem here.  Why is Nicolas Cage so bizarre these days?  In days of yore, he just had a very unique look and voice.  These days, he has this jet-black combed-back hair that is ridiculous.  And his voiceover narration of this movie is indescribably annoying.  I have a vocabulary, but cannot find the words to explain what about his voice pins down the annoyingness.

He looks like he's trying to become creepy, and he sounds like he might want to become creepy.  Not in this movie only - in life.  But he's only succeeding in making me want to shake him and say, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?  WHY ARE YOU DOING MOVIES LIKE BANGKOK DANGEROUS?"

Twist at end.

**UPDATE**

Clearly I am not in touch with pop culture, and everyone already agrees with me.

https://screen.yahoo.com/weekend-cage-000000506.html

at end.