The Man From Nowhere

The story was good. Our hero was unreal, and so believable to me, even though I know (or think I know) he is in fact not a martial artist. Correct me if I'm wrong. I will look it up again in a minute, but it really doesn't matter. His acting was spot on, his involvement in that little girls life, and subsequently all of those abused children's ives made it very easy to cheer for him. As I alluded, it gets a little graphic, not sure if I'd say over the top - but I know his character and acting will be in my mind for a long time. And the little girl of course, who was precious. It was cheesy, not well acted throughout, but the main characters and story line were perfect together.

This is STILL such a good movie, a mix of Taken and The Professional, with one of the best and most brutal knife fights in all of cinema and a tear-jerker of an ending.Plot synopsis (small spoilers):Tae-Sik or The Man From Nowhere (Won Bin) is the reclusive local pawnshop owner who lives next door to a cocaine addicted lady and her often neglected daughter So-Mi (Kim Sae-Ron). Tae-Sik is reluctant to get involved but helps out So-Mi often enough that it seems So-Mi is comfortable with him.One day, the coke-addicted lady steals a large amount of product from a mob pass which she hides ina camera bag that she then pawns to Tae-Sik. The mob boss tasks the finding of his product to Man-Seok (Kim Hee-Won), the drug broker (?) and Man-Seok's brother Jeong-Seok (Kim Sung-Oh). They find out it's her, kidnaps her and So-Mi and breaks into the pawnshop taking the camera bag from Tae-Sik.Man-Seok forces Tae-Sik to deliver the cocaine to the mob boss, who agrees to it if So-Mi and her mom is returned. During the drop off however, Man-Seok calls in the police in order to set-up the mob boss. Turns out Man-Seok is working with the Chinese mafia and they are into even worst trafficking trades like humans and body parts and has So-Mi's mom cut up for her organs.Turns out Tae-Sik is a bad@$$ as he has a very particular set of skills, skills acquired over a very long career. Skills that make him a nightmare for people like the mob...oh wait wrong movie but same idea. Tae-Sik goes hunting for So-Mi.The final boss fight between Tae-Sik and the mob henchmen, including Vietnamese hitman Ramrowan (played by Thai actor Thanayong Wongtrakul), is spectacular with a little bit of a gun fight that ends up in one of the best, most brutal knife fights to this day (2022).There are a few scenes that show why Tae-Sik is so into finding So-Mi which really brings an emotional impact to the whole ordeal and Won Bin does a spectacular job showing Tae-Sik's varying emotions: ruthless stoicism, hidden rage, physical and emotional exhaustion. Plus he cuts a nice silhouette in a suit, like Keanu Reeves in John Wick.So-Mi played by Kim Sae-Ron is super adorable in this role. You really feel for her in one scene as she's being berated by a mom and the cops. Her character is sort of like Natalie Portman's character in The Professional without the weird Lolita undertone.Kim Hee-Won and Kim Sung-Oh do a great job being complete @$$holes you just want to have killed and Wongtrakul also portrays the foreign-hitman-in-for-the-fight well.And finally, that final boss fight scene! What a masterpiece! It's brutal and relatively quick but you're holding your breath the whole time so it seems forever. This fight scene is well regarded by film fight aficionados and the movie should be watched for this scene alone. That the rest of the film is solid only makes this scene stand out more.

dolby atmos sound good.dolby vision good too.

There’s been a disturbing trend in action movies lately. Laziness. From movies with slipshot acting to movies with amateur writing, action movies seem to have been dumbed down to explosions and car chases – which isn’t bad if you do it right. A stupid movie has its own merits. But when you’re trying to make a movie and make is serious, this is not the way to go. Even though the action genre has been exploited time and time again, there are still films that capture a great balance of thrills, kills, and feels and The Man From Nowhere is a prime example.Won Bin stars as Cha Tae-sik, a lonesome pawn shop owner who isn’t very good with communication skills and mostly stays to himself. His only friend and confidant is a little girl who lives next door to him named So-mi. After So-mi’s mother steals drugs from a organized crime syndicate, they come after her. The only problem is that the drugs she stole are in a camera bag that she pawns to Tae-sik in an attempt to hide them. When the gangsters find out her location they torture her, kidnap So-mi, and confront Tae-sik. Tae-sik hands them the camera bag, thinking that So-mi will be freed, but they run off before he can get to her. This sets off a chain of events leading Tae-sik deeper into his mysterious past for the sake of saving So-mi.When I first read what the movie was about, I’ll be honest, It did not intrigue me. But I thought “Well, what the heck” and brought it anyway. I was pleasantly surprised. First, let’s go over the acting. Won Bin gives a glorious performance here that’s full of subtlety. Even though he doesn’t have the best social skills, this character is still human and Won Bin perfectly conveys Tae-sik’s thoughts without saying them. Kim Sae-ron is So-mi and while many child actors can’t pull off a convincing performance, this girl needs an Oscar. She brings life into a movie full of tense emotions and becomes the viewer’s only feeling of peace in the beginning. Yet she also retains a sense of maturity that her character has. This little girl is bluntly put – freaking awesome. There are other roles in this movie that are acted well but nobody’s performance holds a candle to Won Bin’s and Kim Sae-ron’s in my opinion.Secondly, let’s talk about how the film looks. I love this film’s director Lee Jeong -beom and his style in this movie. It’s shot well with fast pacing then slow pacing that mix together and fit in nicely with the tone of the story. It’s also very dark, with blue and grey overtones throughout the movie that puts an exclamation mark on the darkness of Tae-sik’s world. The lightest colors shown in the movie are shown when So-mi is there and it feels like it was filmed inside of Tae-sik’s brain, where So-mi is his only peace.I now would like to take a more in depth look at Tae-sik’s and So-mi’s relationship. Is the bond between them in the parental sense? Is it friendship? Are they mentors to one another? I think it’s all three. So-mi thinks of Tae-sik as her real guardian as her mother isn’t much of one. But she also thinks of him as a friend and teacher. You can take this also and flip it as I think Tae-sik feels the same way.Now, let’s talk action. This film rocks when it comes to adrenaline. It’s full of knife fights, shootouts, chase scenes, fists flying….You get the picture. Every scene looks painful and when someone is hurt, they bleed. I mentioned knife fights a second ago and this movie is well known for it’s climatic knife fight which go’s on for minutes. The stunts are done well and everything actually seems believable in the end which is unique in my experience with action films.So for as much as I have praised this movie, are there any flaws? Yes. Every movie has flaws. But this one has almost none to me. It’s unique in it’s execution and try’s to go outside of the cookie cutter action flick. It’s dark and tense but also somewhat heartwarming. It features great acting and stellar directing. All in all, The Man From Nowhere does not disappoint.Taken from my website : [...]

There are a lot of characters in this movie - original mobsters, new mobsters, couple that steal from original mobsters, DEA cops, hero and the little girl. With so many characters, it may take multiple viewing to keep them straight. The hero character changes his hair style going from K-Popish to someone looking completely different. With the new look, he resembles Keanu Reeves. The hero doesn't say much, initially opting against guns then ending in gun fire. The action sequences are very realistic looking. When he jumps from the window onto the street, that look very real. The DEA cops don't wear uniform so they kind of blend in with the bad guys. Top notch action thriller.

yes you guessed correctly, I enjoyed this sweet movie that also happens to have lots of guys killing each other and such. The main 2 characters were spectacular - I'd love to see them in any movie as they could turn any script into the mostly lovely rich hue of emotion.

I am surprised it took so long for them to decide on releasing a 4k version of this movie as this movie came out in 2010. This movie almost has an old-school action vibe to it; made purely for entertainment ala the action movies from the mid 90's to the early 2000's. As this is a 4k Blu-ray you are likely reading this because you are already a fan. (Side note: I can't believe that the main actor of this movie did not do any more movies after this. He totally has action star vibes.) Anyway onto the review.In this review I am only going to talk about the picture quality and sound qualityPicture quality = 10/10 What's great about Korean cinema is that their picture quality is SUPER clear. There is little to no dot crawl. Some people like dot crawl (they it bring the film "alive") but on an 85" TV dot crawl looks like bugs crawling around under the layer of the actual movie. Colors and amazing and the contrast is great with the dark scenes inky black. Image is sharp as heck.Sound quality = 8/10 I didn't find any issues and enjoyed it on my mediocre sound system.I didn't look at the special features though I tend not to.I recommend this purchase if you love the movie.I hope they release a 4k version of "No Tears for the Dead" AKA 우는 남자 (Crying Man) done by the same director. I love that movie just as much as this.

Le film et vraiment très beau à regarder j ai kiffer

Un capolavoro del cinema noir coreano molto coinvolgente che non lascia respiro. Blu-ray nella media, onestamente avrei sperato una migliore qualità, ma era unico e nessun'altra scelta. Da non perdere.

My favorite movie I bought this as a gift

Good movie. Lot’s of actions. Determination. Responsibility.