The Man from Nowhere (아저씨)

This was pretty solid.  Feels like it would make a good double-feature with TAKEN.  I didn't think the finale was all THAT amazing, but as I said... solid.  The last knife fight was some good stuff though.  The stuff with the supposedly hard-boiled detective really made the movie drag.  Ugh, so much tough-guy posturing.  It almost felt like a parody.  Even for a lot of Pawn Shop's (Won Bin) lines, it often felt like too much posing and effort to look 'badass.'

I also tend to find the world of Korean gangsters/criminals (as portrayed in film) to be obnoxious.  I don't find them threatening.  Just annoying.  That, combined with the fact that the movie involves exploiting kids, makes it so that no amount of brutality the hero dishes out feels satisfying. 

One particular moment of whimsy I loved: Somee gives the Vietnamese (or Thai?) henchman a band-aid for the cut on his head.

This film also had a strange attitude towards the obvious bad-ass posturing.  Won Bin's lines got increasingly ridiculous as the movie approached its climax.  He Batman/Bale growls some silly lines such as:

"You guys only live for tomorrow, don't you?  Guys living for tomorrow have no chance against a guy living for today.  I live for today.  I'm going to show you how terrible it's going to be!"

"How many cavities have you got?  I run a pawn shop.  I take gold teeth.  Except for those, I will chew on everything else."

Clearly, the movie knows these lines are ridiculous as the response of the bad guys is one of "the FUCK is wrong with you?" incredulity.  But it definitely wants to have it both ways. 

OLDBOY did something similar, but in the context of Oh Dae Su's situation, his hard-boiled lines made sense.  He was stuck watching TV for 15 years, after all.  Won Bin's character just has a dull perfunctory back-story I could've sussed out for myself.  That and the dull police investigation subplot prevented this movie from being as lean and badass as it could've been.

So I guess this movie was the top grosser in Korea last year and won a bunch of awards.  Pretty ridiculous.  I mean... Won Bin won Best Actor for this?  That's like Liam Neeson winning an Oscar for Taken.  Hahahahah 

(I love Taken because it has no such pretensions)

Loved it.  What impressed me the most was the lack of fat.  Lean, mean, very kickass, and anchored by 2 very appealing lead performances.  Didn't even mind the K-pop ballad that blurts out during the end freeze frame.  As far as idol showcases go, I don't think they can get any better. 

It could stand to be even leaner!!  Hahaha.  But then it probably would've been an hour long.  I think the praise I've heard this movie get affected my reaction to it more than I would've liked.  I tend to be a lot more critical of Korean movies to begin with for some reason.

But it wouldn't be a proper idol showcase unless you had scenes of Won Bin staring off camera longingly so the Korean housewives in the audience can flip the eff out.  I saw this w/ a quite vocal crowd at the AMC in Rolling Hills, CA (sizable Korean American demo, but that night it was Ajoomma Central).

I have nothing but disdain for Korean housewives!  Hahahah  

I would've loved to have seen this with a crowd.  Sounds like it would've been tons of fun.

I really wished that Won Bin's character was given less dialog so that he could base his entire performance on that dreamy one-eye (when he had that anime hair).  I would've also preferred it that we never found out what actually happened in his past.  Other than the Truck From Nowhere, nothing about his backstory was interesting.

Speaking of lean, was it just me or did Won Bin really lean out for the role? Not that he was exactly heavy before, but...

I liked it a lot.  I liked the kid's performance very much - and I generally avoid films with kids in them.  Even the Lord of the Rings was tough to handle.  I also liked the extra dimension to the cops - more than stock characters.

The action scenes were solid, and I appreciated they didn't need to show every fight move in excruciating detail, like when the big guy was getting slammed into the window and everyone outside was wondering what the hell was happening.

Bin's lines to me were more a sign of what a confused place he was in.  No identity.  After the attempted assassination no longer is he a father, beloved husband, respected and admired member of law enforcement.  It's all gone.  the empty posturing just showed how more close to the edge he was going.  Pushing forward stoicly a la Jason Bourne would've been a cliche and not realistic.  I liked that they didn't overdo the backstory. 

Good stuff.  Not sure if it was deserving of all the awards (mostly because I haven't seen the majority of the nominated films) but I liked it very much.

Did the cops actually have 'dimension?'  I considered them to be as stock as you could get.  Unless I missed some plot detail, it seems like the movie used them as filler to pad out the run time as they were always a step behind the trail of destruction Won Bin left.  And the lead detective just keeps muttering badass shit proclaiming he's gonna git things done!   ... but doesn't really.  As I complained about above, even this character was forcing some macho posture only to show some 'heart' at the end of the movie.  I really did feel like you could take out the police investigation without affecting the story at all.

As for Won Bin's body... I assume he trained to tone up his body more so the lighting could show off his definition.  The scene where he shaves his head had him really jutting his hips out and slouching his back to accentuate his muscles.  Kinda funny.

Yeah, that headshaving scene was beefcake feast for the ladies ("Umuh Umuh Umuh!").  I bet the DVD/photo book will sell nicely in Japan.

I think they almost misstepped w/ the portrayal of the cops (esp. that chunky comic relief that sneaks a bite from the lunch line) towards the beginning, but then we wouldn't have had that awesome "Is Obama your buddy?" line if we didn't spend that time w/ them.  The lead detective did act a little too hard-assy for my tastes, but compared to some of the other tired Korean cop stereotypes I've seen in other flicks, it's not really a major gripe.  They should've gotten someone more weathered and grizzled for the role, though. 

The only part that left me kinda "huh?" was right after the nightclub men's room shootout, and both Won Bin and the Thai killer (loved this dude) end up facing each other across the crowded dance floor.  The guy storms out like a bitch and then acts a few seconds later like it was his twin brother or something.

Kim Sae-rom was really good.  Usually a child actor giving tearful speeches don't affect me, but during that scene in that back alleyway, I got a little choked up. 

I loved that all the villains were appropriately scuzzy, which made their dispatches all the more sweeter.  Except for that child-smuggling old lady.  The chunky cop should've dumped that bowl of cup ramen on her face.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Isao Kanemasa 

Kim Sae-rom was really good.  Usually a child actor giving tearful speeches don't affect me, but during that scene in that back alleyway, I got a little choked up. 

 

I loved that all the villains were appropriately scuzzy, which made their dispatches all the more sweeter.  Except for that child-smuggling old lady.  The chunky cop should've dumped that bowl of cup ramen on her face.

The younger brother villain looked like he came straight out of an SNK artbook for King of the Fighters.  Really creepy. 

And ramen on the old lady?  YES!  I said it before, but if a movie is going to make use of "children in peril," I want the villains' dispatches to go ALL OUT.  I was a little disappointed.

thanks for the heads up about this film  ... really enjoyed it

A fine 2 hours of lone badass saves little kid. The only thing that bugs me is...

SPOILERS FROM THE END OF THE MOVIE

...when they show the two thugs putting the kid under in the ambulance, only to have it turn out that they didn't harvest her eyeballs but one of the thugs' instead. Unless I missed something, it's a cheat to show things go that far and then have it turn out that the thugs decided (for no reason?) to use one of their own pairs. Why bother with bringing the kid into the ambulance and putting her to sleep then?

You must've missed a little moment.  The cool knife-wielding henchman was supposed to take the girl to get her eyes taken out by the fat drugged-out surgeon, but got attached to her.  The thug that you see with the eyeballs cut out is the surgeon.  The cool knife-wielder decided that he didn't want her to suffer such a fate and saved her (off-screen) and brought the surgeon's eyeballs instead.  But the guy clearly wanted to engage in a final fight with the main character, so he still played along as if the girl was dead.

Well I just discovered this flick, went to Netflix to rent it..........they don't carry it at all. Nice job Netflix the one thing I have always been able to count on them for is getting all new titles. Hopefully I can get "lucky" and they will stream it some day.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcnooj82 

You must've missed a little moment.

Ahhhh, that makes sense.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waaaaaaaalt 

Well I just discovered this flick, went to Netflix to rent it..........they don't carry it at all. Nice job Netflix the one thing I have always been able to count on them for is getting all new titles. Hopefully I can get "lucky" and they will stream it some day.

I just discovered this too.  I guess I'll have to go buy the blu-ray from Best Buy for $16.99 (normal price).

The blu-ray is $13.99 on Amazon, just so you know. 

The fight scenes weren't as impressive as I hoped. Though that final knife fight was good.

Loved the kid and that Foreign Expert Fighter. They've could've gone the normal Hollywood road and made the kid annoying but didn't.

Also they had the old Seagal "SIR! THIS GUY'S FILE IS LOCKED." speech.

Like this one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chet Ripley 

I just discovered this too.  I guess I'll have to go buy the blu-ray from Best Buy for $16.99 (normal price).

Well I just looked and on the 22nd they will be getting the DVD. I might rent the DVD nad if I love it I could buy the blu-ray. But seriously Netflix should be getting the Blu-ray.