Starring: Won Bin
Director: Lee Jeong-beom
Another Korean movie down thanks to the all-powerful Netflix.
In case you don't have Netflix and you have an unlimited internet
service, you need to do yourself a favor a subscribe. I mean $8 a month is a
steal for all the content you get; I highly recommend this service to anyone.
Now onto the review of The Man From Nowhere.
As I mentioned, it is a Korean movie (they make some really
awesome movies) and it is one of the best ones I have watched. This particular
film does have some similarities to Taken,
but only in the most basic sense of plot; everything else is actually quite
better than Taken. That is saying a
lot because I loved that movie. Tae-Sik is a reclusive pawn shop owner,
which is located within what appears to be an apartment complex (kinda weird,
but I’ve never been to Korea so I don’t know how people live there). Tae-Sik
forms a special bond with a neglected neighbor girl named So-Mi. I believe the
director was going for a Leon the Professional vibe, but it doesn’t quite work as well. So-Mi’s mother gets
into some trouble with a local gang and in doing so, puts her daughter in danger
as well, and they both get kidnapped, much to Tae-Sik’s avail.
As it turns out, Tae-Sik is former special agent who retired after suffering a traumatic loss. He is setup and used as a fall guy for the gang that kidnapped So-Mi and her mother as he begins his search. He is soon the target of a manhunt. Things only get deeper from here as new discoveries about Tae-Sik’s past are revealed. Then, as if things weren’t already bad, he learns exactly what the gang is really doing– body harvesting. This immediately make things all the more time sensitive for Tae-Sik to find So-Mi before she becomes a victim.
The fight scenes are well choreographed. However, when the
fight that the movie alludes to the entire running time actually happens, it is
severely anti-climactic. I felt a little more could’ve been done in that one
regard, but the killing is plentiful in this movie so it’ll still quench your blood
thirst. Whatever may be, South Korea is pushing out some really great violent
thrillers. Do yourself a favor and go check out The Man From Nowhere.
4 out of 5 stars
