The Man From Nowhere [2010]

The child of a pawnbroker’s neighbor is kidnapped by the local gangsters – and he’s pulled into a drug drama between the cops and the gangsters. Good thing he’s got the skills to deal with it.


This is a nice little revenge film that’s very reminiscent to Leon: The Professional, Man on Fire and Taken. Unfortunately, for this film – it takes a more subdued approach than those films which are more over-the-top – and though The Man From Nowhere attempts the over-the-top style in parts – it doesn’t quite abuse them to the point that it should.


The characters are cartoonishly outlandish – I think they were my favorite part of the film. The hairstyles and personality traits to all the characters were very bold – and over-the-top – it was great! I felt like with the way they were shot – that I was watching an anime – though (thankfully) it wasn’t shot like an overly-caffeinated headache-inducing anime.


The fact that the characters were so very outlandish – but the action did not follow that nature was what I kind of found disappointing. Some of what could’ve been defining action was off camera – where you saw a window crash – or just saw bodies on the ground – and you were left with the discovery of what happened – made the film feel slow.
There were a couple of great knife sequences – and a knife fight that was quite amazing – but the fact is; they were knives. Knives are hard to follow action-wise when they are as short as they are.


For a hard hitting epic revenge ending – yes – this one deserves to be on that list I made last month. It was improbable as all get out – but that’s what you want! The ending showed what was possible the entire film – but I guess it could be argued the film was building to it – and didn’t want to expend energy in the build-up – but you’ve got to keep us interested as an audience.


The film concentrated too much on the police – who are important characters – but not as important as the Pawnbroker and the Gangsters. I’m not saying they dominated the film – but some of their sequences were unnecessary – 15 minutes could’ve been trimmed of their story and made a tighter film that would’ve felt more action packed.
The cops spent time concocting a plan to discover the true identity of the Pawnbroker – when as an audience – for the past 20 years – we have been trained to know that this Pawnbroker is actually an ex-special-something-guy... It’s wasted time discovering what the Pawnbroker used to be – but discovering the reason why he cares so much – that’s interesting – but it was ultimately answered by the Pawnbroker – so the cops side stories were unnecessary.


I do appreciate that the directing was more subtle – and it portrays more of the sad story of the Pawnbroker – and even though I WANTED it to be over-the-top (and if you make note of my critics they are mostly based on what I WANTED not what the FILM ACTUALLY IS) – I need to get over it and admit – it’s a pretty damn good film – and when I go back and watch it with a different mindset – I will be in a better place to fully appreciate it for what it is.


I recommend it – for what it is – it’s a plot hole riddled, hard hitting, fun revenge film.

O is for...

In the realm of revenge thrillers, you'd be hard pressed to find more ultra-violent vengeance and psycho thrills than in the creepy story of Oldboy. This Korean import made a pop splash at the Cannes Film Festival and during its limited theatrical run thanks to the imprimatur of Quentin Tarantino, who raved about it and its visionary director, Chan-wook Park, to anyone who would listen. It's easy to see why QT fell in love with the grindhouse attitude, fast-paced action, violent imagery, and icy-black humor, but it's a disservice to think ofOldboy as another Tarantino homage or knockoff. The darkly existential undercurrent in the themes that Oldboy traces over its life-long narrative arc is much more complex and deeply disturbing than anything of its kind. The movie's tagline is, "15 years of imprisonment... 5 days of vengeance." The imprisonee is Oh Dae-Su, an ordinary Joe who is snatched off a Seoul street corner and locked away in a dank, windowless fleabag hotel room for the aforementioned 15 years. Just as abruptly he is released, and thus the five days begin. Why did this happen to Oh Dae-Su? Ah, but that would be telling, and in fact we don't know ourselves until the final wrenching scenes.

Oldboy breaks into a classic three-act saga, the first of which details the hallucinatory period of imprisonment in which Oh Dae-Su wades from mild insanity to outright psychosis in the hands of unseen yet attentive captors. Act 2 is the revenge, when an entirely different tone takes over and Oh Dae-Su moves with single-minded purpose and clarity. It's this section that has gained the most notoriety, primarily for the claw-hammer dentistry scene, the one-man-army tracking shot, and the wriggling octopus that Oh Dae-Su consumes in a sushi bar (he's been dead so long he simply needs life back inside him in any way possible). In act 3, answers finally start to emerge and the sinister atmosphere grows even more profound--not without a healthy dose of extra bloodletting, of course. Oldboy is an undeniably poetic masterpiece of tension, fury, and dynamic craft. Ultimately, its epic cycle of tragedy is of the sort that mankind has been inflicting upon itself for all time. Some of the images may be gruesome, but all converge into a kind of beauty. It's in the telling of this lurid tale that these details become one and the memories of pain ultimately heal. (synopsis provided by Amazon.com)

directed by Park Chanwook

released 2003

L is for...

The third stop in Chan-wook Park's breathless revenge trilogy, Lady Vengeance comes down slightly--just slightly--from the astonishing highs of middle segment Oldboy. Elegant and ultraviolent in equal measures, Lady Vengeance requires rapt attention from the opening moments, as Park unloads his set-up in a jumble of characters and flashbacks. At the center is a doll-faced ex-con named Geum-ja (Yeong-ae Lee), who just spent 13 years in the slammer for killing a little boy. There's much more to her case than the public knows, and Geum-ja has been carefully, quietly preparing for revenge against the man who put her in this situation. We watch those gears turning throughout the movie, but as Lady Vengeancenears its completion it broadens into an even bigger event than Geum-ja expected. Funny and horrifying, Lady Vengeance is as measured as Geum-ja's own preparations, and has a gorgeous sort of logic about it. As impressive as those machinations are to watch, the movie doesn't make as forceful an argument as Oldboy on just how revenge might be as punishing to the revenge-taker as for his target. Lee is a cool heroine, and Min-sik Choi, who did such heroically exhausting service in Oldboy, is here employed as the monster. (The film's title in the U.S., Lady Vengeance, is different from international title Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, a closer tie to the first part of the trilogy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance.) (synopsis provided by Amazon.com)

directed by Park Chanwook

released 2005

Shiri [1999]

The North Koreans have trained a super assassin – who has caused heartache for the South Koreans. It has been 2-years since her last hit – and once talks of reconciliation of the two countries begin – she’s suddenly back to killing. There’s also a big evil plot unfolding from a rogue North Korean General who appears to be constantly one step ahead of them – are the two things related? – it’s up to a couple of field agents to find out.

This is your standard big budget style Hollywood action film – yet made in South Korea – which is kind of impressive – but given the thriving film industry of South Korea – it’s not thoroughly surprising. Considering I felt it was a pretty standard action film – there’s the typical stuff to enjoy – like action and esplody things. It being a standard action film – there were things that I just didn’t care for – such as convoluted plot twists and jumpy camera movements and the dreaded comic relief character (who wasn’t as pronounced and annoying – but still – blech).

I thought Min-sik Choi as the main villain was excellent (American audiences will know him from ‘cult’ film Oldboy) – I would like to see him get more notoriety here in the US as he’s hell of an interesting actor – he can really carry a film.

Overall – 4 out of 5 – typical action film goodness.