I believe this is my first Korean Movie Review, and boy do I have a great movie for you guys. I would say that this movie is probably in my top five movies of all time and that's including movies of every language. I now present to you The Man From Nowhere.
BE WARNED THIS POST WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS
SYNOPSIS: Cha Tae Sik is a man of few words who keeps to himself. He runs a pawn shop in a poor neighborhood and finds himself the reluctant companion of little girl named So Mi who lives next door to him. When So Mi's mother steals drugs from a crime group, both So Mi and her mother are kidnapped by the crime group, leaving Tae Sik to use his knowledge of fighting and weapons to get them back.
MAIN CHARACTERS:
Won Bin as Cha Tae Sik [A introverted pawn shop owner, who seems void of emotion. His past is complicated and is the reason he lives such a depressing lifestyle. He is highly skilled and trained in the art of fighting and weapon use.]
Kim Sae Ron as So Mi [So Mi comes from a broken home, her mother is addicted to heroin and tells So Mi that she is worthless and should just disappear. Despite her sad home life So Mi appears to keep a good outlook on life. She likes to go to Tae Sik's as an escape from her mother.]
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS:
Kim Hee Won as Man Seok [Man Seok is the leader of a crime group he cares for no one and thinks nothing of using children to earn money by any means.]
Kim Sung Oh as Jong Seok [He is Man Seok's brother and right-hand man. He has a cruel side and love to cause pain to others through torture.]
Thanayong Wongtrakul as Ramrowan [He is the muscle of Man Seok's group, he is somewhat fascinated by Tae Sik's abilities and see him as an opponent who can test his skills.]
Kim Tae Hoon as Detective Kim Chi Gon [He is committed to bringing down the crime groups in his city.]
ACTING: The acting was really great, Won Bin truly is an amazing actor. Sae Ron was really cute and made you feel for her. Oh and I was blown away when I saw Sung Oh, for those who don't know he play Secretary Kim in Secret Garden, but his character in this movie was nothing like his character in Secret Garden. I must say, he is a really good actor because his character was believable and did not seem forced. I also really enjoyed Thanayong Wongtrakul's acting, he made for an interesting rival and supporting character throughout the movie.
PLOT OVERVIEW: The plot was great. The themes may be a little too dark for fans who like candy sweet romantic k-drama's. But if you are a fan of action movies this is one to see. I also like that it shows a side of life in Korea never really hinted at in k-dramas. In this movie the main character isn't filthy rich, and there is no love interest, it is purely an action suspense movie at its finest. Another thing I really loved about this movie is that the lead character is so human. Though he has amazing fighting skills he can be injured which makes the character believable. Also Tae Sik's reason for being so well trained in fighting makes sense and goes well with the plot, it's not something just thrown in there or worst never explained at all like a lot of movies out there do.
ENDING: The ending really suits the overall feel of the show. Though it is considered a happy ending it is still not an overly done super sugary sweet ending. I like that Tae Sik and So Mi are reunited and though I do wish that the two of them could end up living together and become a family, it just would not fit this show.
SOUNDTRACK: The soundtrack was good and served its purpose, nothing overly mind-blowing but not bad by any means of the word.
RATING: Ok so on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the worst movie I have ever seen and 10 being a movie I could watch every day I give it an 10. This really is an amazing show that has great camera work, an amazily talented cast, a wonderful plot, I really do not have one complaint about this movie at all.
Here's the trailer:
As always I encourage everyone to form their own opinion about a show or movie, these are simply my views and reflections of what I felt about this movie.
