The Man From Nowhere

As I'm not the world's greatest fan of action films, I can't remember the last time I watched a serious American action movie which had full on 18 certificate (R rated) violence and swearing. Actually, it was probably Rambo (2008), but that was one of the film is harking back to the days when violence was violent, people were blown up, shot through the head and destroyed by explosives. I have yet to see The Expendables, but have seen The A Team and Red and was amazed how sanitised such films have become, toned down for a 15 or even 12A (PG-13) certificate to attract the biggest audience. It seems films made in Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea and other areas of Asia don't have the same issue as they can be fairly extreme and mainstream, with even some kung fu films containing content to which some Western censorship/classification boards object.

The most recent Asian action flick to cross my path is the Korean film The Man from Nowhere, best known in Asia as Ajeossi which follows a socially withdrawn shopkeeper, Tae-Sik Cha, who attracts the unwanted attention of a young girl, So-Mi Jeong. Her mother is a drug addict who keeps telling her daughter to stay away from the strange man, who she says is a child molester. Desperate for some money to feed her smack habit, ends up massively indebted to a ruthless gang who will do just about anything to get their money. As they have a sideline in illegal organ transplants, the woman offers them So-Mi, not realising that Tae Sik has grown fond of the young girl.

Desperate to see So-Mi and her mother returned home safely, Tae-Sik agrees to do a job for one of the gangs which seems simple enough: deliver a package. Unfortunately for him, he has been doublecrossed and, having delivered a small bag of drugs, is now wanted by both the police and one of the gangs. Subject to a manhunt and with a ruthless gang on his tail, Tae-Sik is forced to rely on skills and knowledge he hoped he had left in another life.

No one knows exactly who Tae Sik Cha is, where he came from or what his background is so, when So-Mi goes missing, the gang really have to do their homework to work out the identity of the deadly assassin who seems extremely adept at bumping off gangsters and vanishing without trace. Not only are the gangsters completely unaware of what is going on, but the police have been caught completely off guard and really want to figure out whether the increasing number of corpses in the morgue is down to gangland violence or a lone vigilante.


The Man from Nowhere is one of those films in which a man (sometimes just a normal Everyman, sometimes someone with a hidden past the makes them extremely deadly) takes the law into their own hands when they lose someone they love. This can be found in the rape-revenge genre or the new series of torture films (7 Days,The Tortured in which an ordinary person decides that law is inadequate or justice hasn't been served so decides to take measures into their own hands. The Man from Nowhere reminded me a little of Leon (The Professional, 1994), Man on Fire and, to a lesser extent, A History of Violence, as the gangsters mess with a girl unrelated to the protagonist who then unwillingly moves out of his daily routine, sharpen skills from his past and proceeds to unleash hell, leaving bloody corpses in his wake.

This is certainly not one of the sanitised action films that I mentioned in the first paragraph but one in which people are killed and injured in extremely unpleasant ways with all the violence on screen and no shortage of blood. It really helps that Tae-Sik is a very well written protagonist and a character with more depth than your average action hero and, as the story unfolds, you realise why he has become so attached to So-Mi Jeong and why her disappearance is so important to him.


Central to the film's success is the superb performance by Bin Won, an actor who really doesn't seem to have done anything of note since his debut in 1997, but who more than made up for those 14 years of relative obscurity of a career defining performance which landed him seven industry awards. He is able to portray both the misanthropic loner and deadly assassin with consummate ease -- I'm not sure what training he had for this role, but he really seems like someone who knows how to use firearms and is comfortable in hand-to-hand combat, even when knives are involved.

All in all, The Man from Nowhere is the most impressive action films I've seen in many a year and one that would certainly stand up to repeated viewings. As you may have noticed, I've left much of this review devoid of details, but this is for your benefit as very minor things in this film have huge emotional resonance and so I felt it was better to leave things ambiguous or unsaid than spoil the film for you.

The Disc

The Picture

The Man from Nowhere is given a superb 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen picture which director Jeong-beom Lee uses to great effect in both the close-ups and wide shots for the combat sequences. He doesn't go as far as Sergio Leone for the close-ups, but many of the opening scenes are very tightly framed so the actor completely fills the screen. This works particularly well for Tae-Sik Cha as it highlights his isolation and detachment, with a particularly grim palette, full of blacks and shadow.

When it comes to the action sequences, these are all exceptionally well choreographed and executed by (what must be) an extremely skilled team of stunt choreographers and performers. It does seem that Bin Won did many of his own stunts as there are some scenes in which it is clear that it is really him and not a stunt double as you can see his face throughout.

The Sound

The only audio option is Dolby Digital 5.1 Korean which is really the audio track of choice for a film like this. I would never have considered an English dub and, unless the 5.1 encoding was drastically wrong, a stereo option would have gone largely unused. This track really does the business in presenting the dialogue clearly, allowing the score to come through the five main channels without interfering with the dialogue and, when it comes to the more bombastic scenes, bring the subwoofer into play as gunfire resonates through the front and rear surrounds.

The music does a fine job of highlighting the sadness and anger that Tae-Sik feels and really helps to give the ending its huge emotional punch. This is a film with excellent sound design and sound effects so everything sounds as good as it possibly can which, coupled with the excellent use of the 5.1 setup and score, make this a terrific audiovisual experience.

Final Thoughts

It is a shame that this comes on such a vanilla disc as it is a terrific action movie with more depth, better rounded characters and realistically violent set pieces and any other film of this nature I've seen in a very long time. It is much better than Tony Scott's Man on Fire so, if you liked that and films such as Leon, you'll love this. It features a tour de force performance by Bin Won and the writing and direction, by Jeong-beom Lee, is excellent.