Tae-shik: "People like you live only for tomorrow. People like you get f*cked up by the people living for today. I live for today."
INTRODUCTION
The Man From Nowhere (aka This Man) was Korea's highest grossing film in 2010! It won 7 awards in Korea as well as
being the highest grossing film ever in Korea. EVER!
The character
Tae-Shik is a retired Black Ops agent after his pregnant wife was
killed. He runs a pawn shop to pass the time and
befriends a young girl, So Mi. So Mi’s junkie mother stole something
from the Korean Mob and they come looking for her. They take the girl,
and that gets Tae-Shik involved as he looks to rescue So Mi. He is
brutal and relentless in his quest to rescue So Mi.
If I had to
describe The Man From Nowhere in one line, it would
be: Taken Meets Leon (aka The Professional).
MY REVIEW
There are only a few videos that after watching, left me so pumped full of adrenaline that I couldn't sleep that night ... so much testosterone
flowing! The Man From Nowhere is one such video.
The handsome Bin Won plays Tae-Shik. I’ve not
seen his previous movie, but he garnered critical acclaim in his role as
a mentally-challenged son in the murder mystery, Mother. Not an original story,
but well-executed by director Jeong-beom Lee and Bin Won. Let's be realistic, I didn't watch this action movie for the well-acted, albeit slightly cardboard characters. I watched this action movie for the ACTION and boy does it deliver!
The breath-of-fresh-air action scenes are top-notch and helps this movie to stand out from stereotypical action fare. The first action scene is off-camera and the audience sees the after-effects of Tae-Shik’s handiwork. We can see the aftermath of what this bad@ss did. Tension builds in his bad@ssery until we see Tae Shik in action fo'rizzle! Nice fight in a nightclub’s bathroom stall – all close-quarters brutal and rapid strikes. The last fight scene of the movie, especially the knifefight is one of my favorites all-time! In the extras on the DVD, "The Making of" mentions that the fight choreographers looked to the Filipino Martial Arts for Tae-Shik’s fights. FMA is seldom-seen in Korean movies. Mabuhay ang Kali! I rewatched that knife-fight 5x that night I first watched this movie!
The breath-of-fresh-air action scenes are top-notch and helps this movie to stand out from stereotypical action fare. The first action scene is off-camera and the audience sees the after-effects of Tae-Shik’s handiwork. We can see the aftermath of what this bad@ss did. Tension builds in his bad@ssery until we see Tae Shik in action fo'rizzle! Nice fight in a nightclub’s bathroom stall – all close-quarters brutal and rapid strikes. The last fight scene of the movie, especially the knifefight is one of my favorites all-time! In the extras on the DVD, "The Making of" mentions that the fight choreographers looked to the Filipino Martial Arts for Tae-Shik’s fights. FMA is seldom-seen in Korean movies. Mabuhay ang Kali! I rewatched that knife-fight 5x that night I first watched this movie!
If foreign films are not in your wheelhouse, you
should pass on this. But to others, especially to those looking for
fresh-looking fight scenes instead of the generic sped-up kickboxing
fights of say a Jackie Chan movie (not that there’s
anything wrong with that), I highly recommend this Korean film to
anyone interested in action films.
Here is the full movie! Enjoy!
Further information:
Other full movies posted to date:
- Jackie Chan's My Stunts (1999)
- Jackie Chan's Fearless Hyena (1979)
- Shaolin Temple (Jet Li's debut) (1982)
- Jet Li’s The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (2011)
- Once Upon a Time In China 1 (1991)
- Once Upon a Time In China 2 (1992)
- Once Upon a Time In China 3 (1993)
- Once Upon a Time In China 4 (1993)
- Once Upon a Time in China 5 (1995)
- Once Upon a Time in China 6 (1997)
- Yamada: The Samurai of Ayothaya (2010)
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