The Man From Nowhere

aka 아저씨 aka Ajeossi

2010
Written and directed by Lee Jeong-beom

Korea embarks on a tale of kidnapping and revenge, as a former special ops officer hunts down the men who kidnapped his young neighbor, the only person left he has a connection with. The travel embarks on a quest through the Korean underworld, dealing with organ trafficking, child slave labor, drug dealing, and identity theft. In the grand Korean tradition, things are non-compromising, with a bleak and desperate situation getting increasingly both as time goes on.

The Man From Nowhere is a good film to throw on for everyone disappointed with Taken 2. It takes the similar style of the original Taken (and also Man on Fire) and ramps it up. Cha Tae-sik becomes mixed up not only in the kidnapping, but with a turf war between different gangsters and the police who are trying to take everyone down. While the police often get in the way, they realize quicker than the arrogant gangsters that Cha Tae-sik is someone more dangerous than he appears.

The fights become increasingly more awesome and brutal. At first, all you see is breaking windows and an unconscious goon. Then you begin to see Tae-sik beating up small numbers of people. By the end, there is one of the best knife fights I have ever seen in a movie, and Tae-sik becomes a savage force of nature carving his way through the criminal empire.

Cha Tae-sik (Won Bin) – A former black ops officer who retired and runs a small pawn shop after the murder of his pregnant wife. Cha Tae-sik is withdrawn from society, his only real connection is So-mi, who practically inserts herself into his life due to her unfortunate home situation. When she’s kidnapped, Tae-sik stops at nothing to get her back. So-mi (Kim Sae-ron) – Young outcast child who spends her free time around neighbor Cha Tae-sik because she has no friends and an absentee parent. Her mother is a heroin addict whose theft of drugs sets off the whole kidnapping situation. So-mi longs to do nail art, but she is too poor to afford most of the supplies, resorting to stealing it. Man-seok (Kim Hee-won) – The de facto leader of a gang that includes his brother, they carve out their own criminal empire by double-crossing their former partners. Organizes all the horrible deeds done and sets up the bigger deals. Jong-seok (Kim Sung-oh) – The most arrogant of the two brothers, is often wearing flashy clothes and is more likely to try to make a big show of how awesome he is. Is involved in more of the day to day operations than his brother. Kim Sung-oh is also in She is on Duty. Ramrowan (Thanayong Wongtrakul) – Ramrowan is awesome, Western educated Thai gangster who is working for the Koreans for reasons unknown, who only speaks English for reasons unknown. He’s a great killer, cold and calculating, but has an honor code that is his and his alone instantly pics up that Cha Tae-sik is more than a simple pawn shop owner You get the feeling that Ramrowan could easily take over and be a boss, but he’d rather be an enforcer because he loves the job so much.