I’ve been watching quite a lot of Korean movies lately and with almost every movie I’m pleasantly surprised by its quality. They have strong stories, are usually quite unpredictable and not comparable to the big Hollywood productions. Is The Man From Nowhere another movie which didn’t disappoint?
Tae-Sik Cha (Bin Won) is the owner of a small pawn shop. He tries not to stand out and minds his own business, except for So-mi (Sae-ron Kim), a kid who lives in the same building together with her mother. So-mi regularly speaks to Tae-Sik and he lets her in once in a while just to make sure she stays out of trouble. Her mother is not happy with it as she doesn’t trust Tae-Sik, but her daughter just doesn’t listen to her warnings.
When her mother smuggles some drugs away from a gang and gives them to Tae-Sik’s pawn shop to hide them (he doesn’t know they are drugs) the gang end up at his place. They are quick to find out that they shouldn’t mess with Tae-Sik, as it turns out he is good at defending himself. When the gang kidnap both the mother and daughter he decides to find them.
Maybe the story isn’t that special, but it is a great setup for a very violent action movie, which also has some emotional moments.
The movie managed to keep me captivated from start to finish. The only thing which I didn’t like was that towards the end the movie got less realistic, but with so much action and a good story it really doesn’t matter. It’s just a movie you must watch.
Score: 9
Hey, thanks will check out the movie now. Although the movie has hints of Leon (man keeps to himself, little girl, drug deal gone bad) in it, still sounds interesting.
I didn’t think about Leon, but those are some similarities you mention, but the movies aren’t comparable. The setup is different and the little girl doesn’t work together with Tae-Sik Cha. Let me know what you think of it.
I love this movie, I watch it back 2 back with ‘A Bittersweet Life’ one of the best Korean movies ever made!!!
I hadn’t heard of that movie yet, will try to find it and see it. Thanks for the tip!
Glad to know that you enjoy this one too. 100% agree with your opinion, this is just a movie you must watch.