A man seeks to recover a little girl living next door to him, who has been kidnapped by drug lords.
Let’s get the bad out of the way first; this is a cliched, over-emotional story. At some points it takes itself so seriously you almost want to laugh out loud. The plot is disturbing in a way, but you can almost feel the screenwriters desperately trying to come up with the most messed up scenario possible.
That said, when it’s not trying too hard, The Man From Nowhere is an absolute masterpiece. The action is slick & restrained but you still feel every blow. Lee makes it look easy but the level of expertise required to pull off a film like this is far and above what most Hollywood directors are capable of. It’s ironic that the emotional scenes are way over the top while the action is lean and believable.
The way the tension slowly builds to a brilliant final sequence is expertly done, and keeps the audience absolutely riveted.
The Man From Nowhere is a must-see Korean action thriller that blew me away in spite of its ropey script.
http://benoliver999.com/film/2016/04/24/themanfromnowhere/
Crazy mix of "taken", "man of fire" and "oldboy".
Great watch.
Impressive. I'm a fan of korean thrillers and this is definitely on my Top 5, with the first being Oldboy. This one is definitely worth a watch.
I enjoyed this Korean Revenge Thriller! Loved the connection between Cha Tae-sik (Won Bin) and So-mi (Kim Sae-ron), loved the brutal, brutal final action sequence, the racket the bad guys run was horrible, Won Bin is a great silent, dangerous lad and Kim Sae-ron is damn cute!
Anyway, this plays out like a typical Revenge thriller, not thick on plot but great action. I read a several times here on Letterboxd that it tries to be like Léon, but I still have to watch that one! So I cannot say anything about that. But I liked this one, so I think I will love Léon too!
So if you have 2 hours to spare, The Man from Nowhere is a good solid pick!
1 / 2 directing & technical aspect
.5 / 1 story
1 / 1 act I
1 / 1 act II
1 / 1 act III
1 / 1 acting
1 / 1 writing
0 / 1 originality
0 / 1 lasting ability to make you think
0 / 1 misc
6.5 / 10
It was too hard for my taste. This is a bloody action thriller, those who like this genre will definitely love this movie. Of course there is also a story where we get to know the nuanced side of the drug trade in addition to the killing. In the meantime we even get to know the characters, what their role is in the entire drug trade, how they get involved. Cha Tae-sik's painful past also reveals why he is able to go to such great lengths to save Jeong So-mi.
When your mother, a drug addict whore, steals goods from a triad, and you are a little girl, what can you take from you? Kidneys? Eyes? That’s how this world works, it’s better for everyone. But the girl has a neighbor, he seems good, she calls his Uncle. New times, but honor for a warrior is not an empty phrase. They are already dead.
Was expecting more.
The cliches are terrible.
Having said that it’s very well made and very enjoyable. With great performances from the lead and the little girl.
Nearly cried at the end. Lol
The original title of the film is Ajeossi
It reminded me a lot of John Wick, but with a much weaker first arc, less visual appealness and a somewhat confusing editing, particularly in the few existing fight scenes.
The ending was satisfying enough for me, although not very emotional.
To all the John Wick fans out there, I give you The Man From Nowhere which is just the perfect Action Lover and Thriller Lovers film as it is just full of great acting, story telling and action set pieces. The story revolves around a man who genuinely has lost everything in life and feels he no longer matters, but a little girl gives him back some of that life when he starts to take care of her a bit as the build supervisor and then everything goes wrong again and he has to save this little girl and her mother.
Let me start off with Won Bin (Cha Tae-Sik aka Nowhere) who gives such an amazing performance as he doesn't speak much during the film but his expressions and actions during the film speaks louder than any words and when he does talk it always matters, also Kim Sae-ron (Jeong So-mi) who is the little girl and she gives such an amazing performance as I believe this little girl who has a troubled life and lives in fear unfortunately due to the world she has been put in. Lastly, Thanayong Wongtrakul (Ramrowan) who is just the perfect equal for Nowhere but at the same time is basically the bad guy with a heart and I just hope to see all of these actors in more films.
I think I love everything about this film and you can see how it helped to inspire movies like John Wick and a lot of other hollywood films, as it shows how to do action right but also how to do story telling right at the same time. Please watch this film, it was difficult to track down but soooooo worth it.
Just remember SUBS OVER DUBS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Really good action scenes, but emphasis is on drama and character story. Slow to develop but the action makes up for it. Overall one of the best Korean action flicks.
I like those of you have taken my XXX, you are going to shit. Good for the bloody action scenes
9.2/10 Best Korean film after Saw the devil!
love this..good action movie...Cha Tae is such as bad ass asian bourne
One of the best Korean movies I've seen in a while. 5 stars all the way. Think "Man on Fire", but better.
Review by Pradipa PRBlockedParent2018-08-04T16:55:01Z
It's brutal, has some fighting scenes, but it's in no way an action-packed movie.
Drama and character development makes the first half of the movie, with a rather slow plot progression to familiarize the audience with the characters. During this one hour there is also a glimpse of the workings of Korean underworld, however this portrayal seems to needlessly complicate the threads as they dismissed it midway for the "ultimate badguy".
The plot progresses in much better pace in the last one hour. But all the drama and character development never got built up to its full potential, even with our main character Cha Tae-sik and the girl So-mi. The actors are all great, including the gritty police officers, but their screen time doesn't amount to meaningful relationships among them. This is a missed opportunity especially between Tae-sik and So-mi. The often dramatic music doesn't help either.
The fight scenes are probably one of the better parts of the movie however most of the fights are done off-screen. Only after it reaches the second hour more action starts to show, but the shaky cam doesn't let much thrill to be experienced. The choreography is slick but the subpar camera works leaves me wanting for more.