Oops

Ya know, I've noticed I never actually deliver the movies I promise. If I say I'm gonna review Elvira I'll do a Korean film instead. Or if I say I'll do a John Waters movie, I actually end up doing some cookie cutter fluff. I guess I should stop promising anything ahead of time and just wait till I find a movie that sparks my interest. So, you're in for another long wait.

Who Wants A Little Blood?

Let me tell you about my new favorite movie! It's so effin' good! It's kinda like The Professional meets Man on Fire. So if you liked either of those you'll really enjoy this: The Man From Nowhere.

Cha Tae-sik lives quietly as a pawnbroker. The only person he has any contact with is the little girl who lives next door Jeong So-mi. She follows Tae-sik around and talks to him about any and everything (whether he likes it or not). When Hyo-jeong (So-mi's mother) and her pimp steal heroin offa the local dealers, it unleashes all kinds of hell. The vice squad has been staking out this gang for a while and are not very happy to have lost their evidence. They can't get a conviction because there were no drugs at the bust. So they're pissed. (Btw, the cops kick some serious ass!) Hyo-jeong wants more money for her services rendered (tasing a dude and stealing heroin is kind of a big deal) so now she needs to hide the junk. She puts it in a camera bag and then pawns it. So when several angry drug dealers show up at her apartment (well, more of a hovel really) they're rather annoyed to find the drugs gone. So-mi, unfortunately, comes home to a house full of bad guys. After a little inventive torture, drug dealer Jong-seok, finds out about the camera bag.


When Tae-sik comes home to bad guys, he's completely unfazed. He tells them they're in the wrong place and to beat it. When the smaller of the two henchmen pulls a knife on Tae-sik, he just takes it from him. This is where he first meets Ramrowan, (Jong-seok's pet psychopath). He gets a call from his boss and puts Tae-sik on the phone. He's told that they've taken So-mi and her mother and if he wants them to live to play nice. He immediately hands over the bag. Ramrowan shoots the big henchman and leaves him on the floor of the pawnshop. He also leaves his cell for Tae-sik. Jong-seok and his brother Man-seok need a new delivery boy, so they send Tae-sik on a job. If he does well they'll let mother and daughter go. He steals a car, then picks up a toy truck 'o' drugs (from an out of order locker?), and heads to the drop point (a golf course?) where he's told to give the package to Mr. Oh. Little does he know that Mr. Oh is the Seok brothers' biggest competitor. The brothers call Mr. Oh to let him know that they've dropped the dime on the deal to the cops. Mr. Oh's thugs beat the hell out of Tae-sik and throw him out a window (thankfully he lands on a golfball net). The cops swarm the building but Mr. Oh escapes through a back door... right below Tae-sik. (A very pissed Tae-sik!) The police have blocked the parking lot exit so Mr. Oh wheels his car around to try and find another way out, only to run right into Tae-sik's car. He gets out to deliver Mr. Oh to a world of pain but stops as he reaches the (now open) trunk. Inside is the butchered body of Hyo-jeong (So-mi's mom). The police catch up to him here and jump to all the wrong conclusions.

He's not being real forthcoming with the police and his records are sealed. So again they assume the worst. Clearly he's in cohoots with the drug dealers and he murdered the woman in the car. When the police identify Hyo-jeong they head to her apartment to determine her connection to Tae-sik and Mr. Oh. Which leads them to the pawnshop and big man's body. (Uh oh.) While most of the officers are out searching his apartment, Tae-sik is kicking the living shit outta six policemen, and making his way out of the station. (He doesn't have time for questions! He has a little girl to save dammit!) After tossing a loanshark's security team around the room he learns what the brothers' real business is, selling stolen organs on the black market, and where the younger brother likes to do business. (A night club of course.) Meanwhile the cops find out more about Tae-sik's past. He was formerly a black ops agent until he witnessed his pregnant wife get run down, after which he was shot twice in the chest. (And the police are chasing him. I say let the man do what he needs to do!) Once Tae-sik knows where the action is, he makes his presence known. By using a hatchet. And later the little henchman's own knife. With a few turns of said knife he finds out that So-mi is being used as an "ant". But before he can get her location Ramrowan shows up and shoots the little henchman. Then they throw down! But the fight moves out onto the dance floor and they're stopped. (No violence in front of the customers!) Plus the police have shown up. (Crap. They are always where he doesn't need them.)

The cops grab a man smuggling drugs and shake him down for information. (This is where we find out what an "ant" is. Yay!) He tells them how the Seok's organization is using little kids to make drug drops for them. The kids can go from place to place without any interference from police and as an added bonus when they're old enough their organs are harvested. (Cue my dropped jaw.) Tae-sik finds a claw-machine with the same out of order sign as the one at his pickup point and stakes it out. When a little boy pulls a toy truck out of the machine, Tae-sik follows him to a meth house. He watches horrified as little children are forced by Jong-seok to cook crank. (He leisurely strolls through the house shooting every adult he finds.) Jong-seok tries to make a run for it but Tae-sik shoots him in the leg. (And now it's time to make a deal!) He uses Jong-seok's cell to call Man-seok (either deliver So-mi or Jong-seok dies). Man-seok doesn't respond well to the sounds of his brother being shot repeatedly with a nail gun. So he orders So-mi's eyes to be ripped out. Tae-sik doesn't like the implied violence towards So-mi, so he sets up a crack bomb and leaves Jong-seok to watch. Up close. (Real close.)

When Man-seok sets up a meeting with him, it doesn't go so well, he wants to know where So-mi is. Man-seok tosses him a glass tube. Inside are a pair of brown eyes. (Then Man-seok taunts him, not cool man, not cool.) Tae-sik loses his shit. He officially has nothing to live for. (Meaning? It's time for everyone to die! Can you say epic knife fight?!) Ramrowan draws down a bead on Tae-sik but doesn't pull the trigger, instead watches him kill every other person in the room. It seems he's a little impressed by Tae-sik's skills. He wants to go mano y mano. Blade to blade. When the fight is done (a very bloody) Tae-sik takes off after Man-seok (who ran! The coward!). He tries to drive off but Tae-sik shoots out his tires, making him spin out and hit a pole. As Tae-sik closes in on him, he calls the law! (Help! There's a crazed gunman coming for me! Eeee!) Tae-sik climbs on top of the car and shoots the moonroof. But nothing happens. (Damn bulletproof glass!) He drops onto the hood and glares down at Man-seok. (Who really needs to learn when the hell keep his mouth shut. You can't get me! Is not anyway to talk to a man who really really wants you dead.) All Tae-sik really needs is a little hole in windshield. (I don't think Man-seok knew that if you shoot the same spot over and over at close range, it'll eventually break the glass.) With Man-seok dead Tae-sik has nothing more to live for. With police sirens closing in, he raises the gun to his head. (You don't really think that's how it ends do you?) Just before he pulls the trigger, he hears a little voice calling to him. It's So-mi! She's alive! (And has both of her eyes! Huzzah!) All's well that ends well... until the cops arrive. (I guess they really didn't like him killing all of those people. But, come on, they had it coming!) They arrest him but let the two of them sit together in the back of the police car. With a final hug the credits roll.


I love a happy ending. Well semi-happy ending. I'm just glad neither of them died, lets put it that way. I like to think that in a few years Tae-sik gets out of prison (early for good behavior) and the two of them are reunited. But I am a bit of a softie at heart. (She says after watching a movie full of violence and death.) And yes it is a Korean movie so it is subtitled. But don't let that scare you away.