Cage and the Pang Brothers: It's Official

I've marveled before at how dramatically Nicolas Cage has upped his work-rate recently -- instead of making a movie every year or so, he's now hell-bent on turning out at least three every year, and if all of his planned projects stay on schedule, he looks to be keeping that pace up through at least 2008. As if the eleven (or so) films he already has in various stage of production weren't enough, Cage has now officially signed on to star in the Pang brothers' remake of their 1999 action flick, Bangkok Dangerous. In the movie, Cage will play a hitman who takes a deaf-mute sharpshooting kid -- the casting of that role is going to be key, obviously -- under his wing while visiting Bangkok to kill a few people. (He also, as you might expect, falls in love while he's there.) As you all know, I tend to be bitter about all remakes, but at least writer Jason Richman had the decency not do the typical Hollywood thing of transplanting the movie to, say, Austin or something. Plus, the fact that the Pang brothers are once again at the helm is probably a good sign. Right?

I've not seen the original film but, based on the reviews I read this morning, I clearly need to do so. Those of you who have seen it, please weigh in, both on the original and the potential for remake success.