The Man From Nowhere

Let me start off by saying that I was skeptical whether I should watch this movie because of all the comparisons here to US productions. Because while I did enjoy most of the ones named, not enough to want to see a basically South Korean copycat at the theater.

If you fear the same thing: Don't worry! This movie is exactly what you would expect from great Korean cinema, comparable to the likes of "The Chaser", "Memories of Murder" and "A Bittersweet Life". In this movie, there is lots of rather believable tragedy, little kitsch (there is the occasional unsuitable one-liner and the girl sometimes says things that in my opinion are too mature for her age and yank a little too much at the emotional chain - these are basically the things that brought my rating down to 9/10) and a fair amount of graphic violence and realism in the fighting scenes. There are also some wacky characters just like they appear somewhat frequently in east Asian productions but I think they fit in quite nicely despite the otherwise very serious tone.

If one were to compare it to a US production, I would go with e.g. "A History of Violence" because of the serious tone and the realism but still, the overall style is drastically different.

The whole experience is nicely rounded off with a very beautiful score and the only thing I considered negative besides what I already mentioned was that the plot is moving very fast. At various points I was not sure whether I didn't pay enough attention or whether details were left out. Meaning for instance how one character got the information about another character. These connections of information between characters are not always clear in my opinion but it does not really hurt the story and I am sure that it would be clear with a second viewing - something that this movie absolutely deserves.

When I first saw the trailer to this movie, I wanted to go see it but wasn't like super hyped up for it. It basically looked like the Korean version of "LEON: The Professional". But this movie is like the Korean version of "Man on Fire" with fight sequences that are similar to the "Bourne" movies. I heard this film really skyrocketed Won Bin's popularity, especially in Korea and I could tell why. He really is a badass in this movie and his charisma is overflowing in this movie. One of the girl in the audience couldn't help but say "he is so cool" in Korean during the scene where Won Bin's character is driving angrily while on the phone with the bad guys while showing some intimidating emotion. The plot isn't super original or anything, basically "Man on Fire" with a better flow and more dark and gritty with better action in my opinion. Overall this film was a lot better than I expected and also kept my interest from beginning to end while also being entertained. The style of this movie reminded me of "A Bittersweet Life" in a good way which is a plus with saturated colors leaning towards the dark and blue. Some people might get a bit irritated by the constant camera shot to Won Bin's face while he takes a pose like in some magazine or something. But I could tell it's to sell the movie to female viewers as well. Excellent casting, pretty good story with some slick action scenes make this movie really worth seeing, there is something for guys and girls.

8.3/10

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 ...

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?