A man seeks to recover a little girl living next door to him, who has been kidnapped by drug lords.

Let’s get the bad out of the way first; this is a cliched, over-emotional story. At some points it takes itself so seriously you almost want to laugh out loud. The plot is disturbing in a way, but you can almost feel the screenwriters desperately trying to come up with the most messed up scenario possible.

That said, when it’s not trying too hard, The Man From Nowhere is an absolute masterpiece. The action is slick & restrained but you still feel every blow. Lee makes it look easy but the level of expertise required to pull off a film like this is far and above what most Hollywood directors are capable of. It’s ironic that the emotional scenes are way over the top while the action is lean and believable.

The way the tension slowly builds to a brilliant final sequence is expertly done, and keeps the audience absolutely riveted.

The Man From Nowhere is a must-see Korean action thriller that blew me away in spite of its ropey script.

http://benoliver999.com/film/2016/04/24/themanfromnowhere/

Impressive. I'm a fan of korean thrillers and this is definitely on my Top 5, with the first being Oldboy. This one is definitely worth a watch.

Crazy mix of "taken", "man of fire" and "oldboy".
Great watch.

When your mother, a drug addict whore, steals goods from a triad, and you are a little girl, what can you take from you? Kidneys? Eyes? That’s how this world works, it’s better for everyone. But the girl has a neighbor, he seems good, she calls his Uncle. New times, but honor for a warrior is not an empty phrase. They are already dead.

It was too hard for my taste. This is a bloody action thriller, those who like this genre will definitely love this movie. Of course there is also a story where we get to know the nuanced side of the drug trade in addition to the killing. In the meantime we even get to know the characters, what their role is in the entire drug trade, how they get involved. Cha Tae-sik's painful past also reveals why he is able to go to such great lengths to save Jeong So-mi.

I enjoyed this Korean Revenge Thriller! Loved the connection between Cha Tae-sik (Won Bin) and So-mi (Kim Sae-ron), loved the brutal, brutal final action sequence, the racket the bad guys run was horrible, Won Bin is a great silent, dangerous lad and Kim Sae-ron is damn cute!

Anyway, this plays out like a typical Revenge thriller, not thick on plot but great action. I read a several times here on Letterboxd that it tries to be like Léon, but I still have to watch that one! So I cannot say anything about that. But I liked this one, so I think I will love Léon too!

So if you have 2 hours to spare, The Man from Nowhere is a good solid pick!

Really good action scenes, but emphasis is on drama and character story. Slow to develop but the action makes up for it. Overall one of the best Korean action flicks.

I like those of you have taken my XXX, you are going to shit. Good for the bloody action scenes

1 / 2 directing & technical aspect
.5 / 1 story
1 / 1 act I
1 / 1 act II
1 / 1 act III
1 / 1 acting
1 / 1 writing
0 / 1 originality
0 / 1 lasting ability to make you think

0 / 1 misc

6.5 / 10

9.2/10 Best Korean film after Saw the devil!

Was expecting more.

The cliches are terrible.

Having said that it’s very well made and very enjoyable. With great performances from the lead and the little girl.

Nearly cried at the end. Lol

It reminded me a lot of John Wick, but with a much weaker first arc, less visual appealness and a somewhat confusing editing, particularly in the few existing fight scenes.
The ending was satisfying enough for me, although not very emotional.

The original title of the film is Ajeossi