The Man From Nowhere

This is STILL such a good movie, a mix of Taken and The Professional, with one of the best and most brutal knife fights in all of cinema and a tear-jerker of an ending.Plot synopsis (small spoilers):Tae-Sik or The Man From Nowhere (Won Bin) is the reclusive local pawnshop owner who lives next door to a cocaine addicted lady and her often neglected daughter So-Mi (Kim Sae-Ron). Tae-Sik is reluctant to get involved but helps out So-Mi often enough that it seems So-Mi is comfortable with him.One day, the coke-addicted lady steals a large amount of product from a mob pass which she hides ina camera bag that she then pawns to Tae-Sik. The mob boss tasks the finding of his product to Man-Seok (Kim Hee-Won), the drug broker (?) and Man-Seok's brother Jeong-Seok (Kim Sung-Oh). They find out it's her, kidnaps her and So-Mi and breaks into the pawnshop taking the camera bag from Tae-Sik.Man-Seok forces Tae-Sik to deliver the cocaine to the mob boss, who agrees to it if So-Mi and her mom is returned. During the drop off however, Man-Seok calls in the police in order to set-up the mob boss. Turns out Man-Seok is working with the Chinese mafia and they are into even worst trafficking trades like humans and body parts and has So-Mi's mom cut up for her organs.Turns out Tae-Sik is a bad@$$ as he has a very particular set of skills, skills acquired over a very long career. Skills that make him a nightmare for people like the mob...oh wait wrong movie but same idea. Tae-Sik goes hunting for So-Mi.The final boss fight between Tae-Sik and the mob henchmen, including Vietnamese hitman Ramrowan (played by Thai actor Thanayong Wongtrakul), is spectacular with a little bit of a gun fight that ends up in one of the best, most brutal knife fights to this day (2022).There are a few scenes that show why Tae-Sik is so into finding So-Mi which really brings an emotional impact to the whole ordeal and Won Bin does a spectacular job showing Tae-Sik's varying emotions: ruthless stoicism, hidden rage, physical and emotional exhaustion. Plus he cuts a nice silhouette in a suit, like Keanu Reeves in John Wick.So-Mi played by Kim Sae-Ron is super adorable in this role. You really feel for her in one scene as she's being berated by a mom and the cops. Her character is sort of like Natalie Portman's character in The Professional without the weird Lolita undertone.Kim Hee-Won and Kim Sung-Oh do a great job being complete @$$holes you just want to have killed and Wongtrakul also portrays the foreign-hitman-in-for-the-fight well.And finally, that final boss fight scene! What a masterpiece! It's brutal and relatively quick but you're holding your breath the whole time so it seems forever. This fight scene is well regarded by film fight aficionados and the movie should be watched for this scene alone. That the rest of the film is solid only makes this scene stand out more.

The fight scene is realistic (if you were ever in a room with a bunch of people trying to kill you). He keeps one person in front of him to protect him from the others, disables them by cutting tendons so they can't use their knife against him before he goes for the kill, unlike other movies where you're fighting everyone at once-unrealistic and sorry-no matter how good you are, you're going to die. Then the antagonist brings out a karambit knife and you don't really have a chance against a lethal weapon like that especially against what looked like a kitchen knife Tae-sik just bought from Dollar General on the way over, so after a really realistic thai MA fight, he bites his hand to finish him off because the antagonist could still kill or injure him pretty badly with the karambit. Also, for all the comments about this movie being underrated, it's not. It's very famous. It's just that Americans hadn't seen it until it was released on Amazon-with English dubbing. I have no idea why they would do that. It didn't translate well which lost a lot of the symbolism, plot and story. There was only one major fight scene that showed his skills so it's a thriller/action/melodrama movie.

I think this is the Best Movie I have ever seen and I have watched millions of movies in my life but none like this. Won Bin performance tops the best of all actors . Every emotion is clear on is face and action. I've cried with him and wanted to be there every step of the way to protect and take down the organization that took That little girl and all the other children.He needs to return to acting as it is his true calling!

I have seen this film a dozen times and it never fails to take you on an emotional roller coaster; action, drama, heart break, abject horror, joy, and elation. Worth the price to rent, great if you can watch for free on Prime. This film was remade in several countries. In India it was with actor John Abraham. But the original Korean is the best! Highly recommended. If you have children, it will get to you! Enjoy.

If you've seen Don Lee/Ki Min Ho's "Unstoppable" (2018), this is basically that, but better. The comeuppance and violence you wish Don Lee delivered on the bad guys in Unstoppable is *vehemently* delivered upon the bad guys in The Man From Nowhere.But honestly, you could safely skip to the last 30 minutes of the movie and not miss a whole lot. The film basically builds up the action with tiny bits of it here and there and then explodes in an unforgettable fight sequence at the end of the film. This one is worth watching.

Pulling for the Pawn Shop owner who is racing to save the little girl whose mother has been killed by gangsters who sold her organs. Poignant and heart-wrenching. This is a non-stop action movie.

Besides phenomenal fight scenes, the storyline was well written, the action on point, the thrills and chase was dynamite. And every actor and actress delivered a stellar performance. The Man from Nowhere is worthy of watching more than once. Great film! 📽️

Excellent, gritty movie.

This one star review does not reflect on the movie itself, but the fact that Amazon’s UK site are selling a movie that don’t have English subtitles or even dubbed audio.I now know that if you scroll down to the product detail, it does say that it’s in French and Korean, however with this being the Amazon UK site, I dont think it’s unreasonable to expect the products they’re selling to include the English language option.Seriously annoying!

Korean filmaking at its very best. Man On Fire meets Old Boy.To quote the film bio (so as not to give to much away) the story is about an ex special forces operative Tae-Shik who is scarred and traumatised by his past. His only contact to the outside world is his neighbour So-Mi, a young girl with a troubled mother. Following a drug deal that goes wrong, the innocent So-Mi falls prey to Korea's ruthless, dark underworld. As Tae-Shik takes on the crime mob to save his friend, the thugs realise the 'The Man From Nowhere' is a man to be feared.

I purchased this after watching it on Amazon I believe. It has gone down as one of my favorite films of all time. The story is great, It ropes you in as you see the bond form between the two characters and it carries you through the film. The action is immense and realistically violent. I would recommend watching it with subtitles rather than dubbed so you can appreciate the actors performances as they play a huge part in making this film a more believable situation. I can't say more without going in to details about the story but really it is an awesome film that gets you in the feels at points and makes you cringe in others.

This movie is amazing. I won't go into the plot, but it really does tick all the right boxes - awesome action sequences, editing, acting... It's definitely worth the price and more.I'm always wary of buying foreign films on DVD because the subtitles are usually crap, but these subtitles were excellent.

This is a film that deserves a wider audience. It combines action and martial arts with a central film that’s actually good, which is a rare thing indeed.