El hombre de ninguna parte

was to come out of the viewing experience wowed.

As I sat watching the movie. My general impression was, this is a good movie. It has a cool story. The acting is great, the characters are engaging. The action is good but not proving itself to be better than what most movies normally put out there.

Then came the end. And it ended with more than a bang. More like a beautiful, chaotic explosion.

This movie as a whole, was great. I am in WOW shock. Now, the end was amazing, but without the hour and a half of plot, story, characters, suspense, good fight/action scenes, sweet revenge, etc.... the end would not have been so incredible.

This movie is in comparison, like a cross between Taken, Bourne Identity (mildly similar to Bourne, he doesn't have memory problems or anything), Leon the Professional, and Man on Fire. Honestly. This movie rivals them all.

Its very gritty, very brutal. Very violent, and at times disturbing. But there is a lot of emotion and heart building up at the center of it all.

I don't know if you are one of those idiots who don't watch these movies because they don't want to read the subtitles and think that the dubbing is too cheesy and would take away from the movie, if you are. Get over it and you will end up experiencing a Dynamic movie you otherwise would not have watched.

If subtitles don't bother you. Then I suggest you go ahead and watch this one.

Korean thriller makers are making a splendid job now-a-days, they have even succeeded the Hollywood thriller makers in this specific genre..The Man from Nowhere' is a perfect example of this. Anyone might think this is a mix of 'Leon:The Professional' and 'Man on Fire' where a highly trained but troubled person tries to protect a child, but this movie is more than that.There are many short but strong stories nicely fabricated that will keep You watching the total movie in a rush! Now come to the story. A mystery man with no past links suddenly becomes involved in a drug transport because of a child being kidnapped and unfortunately that child was the only link of him to the outerworld .So had to comeout from his own hideout and save the girl and find out the persons behind it. He has to defy the police as they are after it too, at a point the sad past life comes to daylight and it was well understood about his strange behavior of everything. This rouge so renegades the force and takes the action by his own. The stylish BOURNE looking action scenes specially needs to be appreciated.But I m not giving it the highest rating only its lacking of showing the touchy emotions in the best way..it was excess .Silence play a better role than words in some situations, it needed that. But the overall movie was simply sublime.reasonable violence was shown here..it was logical. Some funny characters and parts are nicely putted into, that enhanced the color and variety of the movie. But I am getting addicted to this korean thrillers." Memories of a murder', "Joint security Area', Vengeance trilogy( including OLDBOY), Infernal Affairs trilogy, 'The Chaser','Thirst','The Bittersweetness of Life', 'I Saw The Devil'..the serial is getting longer and longer..keep it up !!

"This Man" is about as standard plot-wise as action movies get. A lone wolf type takes a little girl under his wing, the kid gets kidnapped, and he ends up having to go through heaps of bad guys in his quest to save the girl.

By all accounts, the movie should have evoked little more than a shrug. After all, anyone who has seen even just a moderate amount of action movies will have seen countless movies with variations of this basic plot. One might think of "Leon" or "Man on Fire" for some closer examples, or movies such as "Taken" in other respects.

What made this movie into my favorite action movie in a long while is the execution of that basic plot. "This Man" manages to create just the right dark, gloomy mood to match the story and all the characters are believable. None of the scenes appear contrived or overly tear-jerker. Another vital aspect for an action movie is, of course, that the action sequences are very well done. The movie is quite graphic, but not gratuitously so or for its own sake such as in many a recent horror movie (the Saw series comes to mind).

I guess the movie could be likened to a good apple pie - certainly nothing revolutionary, in fact quite the staple of its genre, but who would want to turn down a really good apple pie with quality ingredients?

Have you ever thought how lost and distraught one can be following the loss of his/her loved ones? I guess this is a point that is worth pondering over, especially when we are witnessing such a tragedy unfolding in Japan.

" The Man From Nowhere", widely known as "Ajeossi" in South Korea, essentially depicts a man who has withdrawn himself from the society and lost his sense of worth and living due to the lost of his loved ones. However, he finally began to show affection and fondness in the little girl lives down the street; it was just like how tin man finally found his heart. They were each other's only friend. So when she is taken away, he fights with all his might and wit because he cannot possibly handle the loss of his only beloved friend.

This simple plot is very well executed. In terms of the pacing, it was just right and through subtle interactions between Taesik (played by Won Bin) and Somi (played by Kim Sae-ron), they show their high interdependency and chemistry. There was not a single part of the movie that is boring. Your tension is constantly kept at high, and you will be sometimes treated with some tidbits of laughter.

The narrative is definitely not the only attraction to this movie that eventually became the top selling movie in South Korea in the year 2010. Possibly the other main attraction is the film's cinematography. This movie has superb fight choreography (underscores superb). Brace yourself for a bloody massacre, but one that is not just of a bloody mess but of mission and gracefulness. This, coupled with creative angles and excellent sound effects, you get a movie that is of high production value. This alone assures you that the money that you spend on the movie is worthwhile.

How can one forget the other important factor? It's the protagonist. Won Bin has made several breakthroughs in his acting career that started back in 1997. However, this is probably by far the most successful role that he has taken up. With this single role, he has bagged 7 awards. Is that justified? Certainly! From the initial bizarre look and stare, to later on how he soften his look towards the little girl he wants to protect, to the flashback where it depict his downfall and devastation, to the ruthless and merciless look that was fuelled by hatred and despair when he was in search of the little girl… they were all effectively delivered to the audience. You can get so drawn into his acting that you may feel the sheer violence is justified. One moment you grief with the man who lost his loved ones, the next moment you crease your forehead at his brutality. The balance of this multi-faceted character is definitely not easy, but Won Bin did it. Also commendable is that there was no stuntman that stood in for the combat scenes. All the fist, knives and guns action were executed by him. His black belt in Taekwondo definitely comes in handy for his role. Indeed he has proved himself to be more than just an eye candy.

As the movie is coming to an end, it takes on a twist that prevented another episode of tragedy. The ending scene was definitely perplexing at first, but it turns out to be the man has finally found his 'home' for his heart, where he can pour out his affection and love once more. With the calming ending track leading into the credits, you cannot help but be affected, that is being moved to tears. To sum it all: great acting, great production, great movie.

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But from Korea! A movie haven (and heaven some might argue) for a lot of genre movies. Many of them on the violent side. Which means you should not be easily frightened or squeamish. This has a story and for some it may take a bit too long to get going, but I'd argue it is the right amount of time and it had to take its time to breathe.

To develop and to show us characters and relationships. Of course it is heightened. Of course the movie takes liberties in many areas. But it is well played and well acted. The action set pieces are quite something - and while there are many characters, it is all digestable enough and condensed to a point where it works like a clockwork ...