“Truly impressive action. ‘Taken’ meets ‘Oldboy’.” – that’s Twitch’s verdict on the second feature from Jeong-beom Lee (Cruel Winter Blues), the writer-director hailed as Korea’s answer to Takeshi Kitano (Zatoichi; Sonatine; Boiling Point). The Man From Nowhere is a superlative, action-packed revenge thriller that owes as much to the influence of blockbusters “Taken”, “Man On Fire” and “Leon” as it does to the heroic bloodshed movies of John Woo (Hard Boiled; A Better Tomorrow). A brutal, breathtakingly paced movie that balances scenes of shocking violence with moments of emotional depth, the film boasts a number of stylish action set pieces, including what is “arguably the best knife fight ever put on screen” (New Korean Cinema).
A box office smash in Korea, where it became the highest grossing movie of 2010 and swept the board at the Korea Film Awards taking honours for Best Actor, Best New Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Music, Best Lighting, Best Visual Effects and Best Editing, The Man From Nowhere is, without doubt, the hottest Korean movie to come along in recent years and puts Korean cinema firmly back on the world cinema map.
The Man From Nowhere (cert. 18) will be released on DVD (£12.99) by eOne on 11th April 2011. The trailer is at the link above.
