The Man from Nowhere (2010 film)

Plot

Cha Tae-sik is a quiet man running a pawnshop. His only friend is So-mi, a little girl living next door. So-mi's mother Hyo-jeong is a go-go dancer and opium addict. Instructed by her lover, Hyo-jeong steals a large pack of opium being sold at the bar where she works and hides it in a camera bag, which she pawns to Tae-sik for safekeeping. Drug lord Oh Myung-gyu tasks his subordinate brothers, Man-seok and Jong-seok, with retrieving the opium. Jong-seok locates Hyo-jeong and tortures her in front of So-mi until she reveals the location of the drugs.

Jong-seok's lackeys Du-chi and Bear go to the pawnshop, but Tae-sik easily overpowers them. Holding So-mi hostage, Jong-seok forces Tae-sik to deliver the opium to Myung-gyu. Man-seok, tired of working for his brother, informs the police, but Myung-gyu evades arrest. Tae-sik is arrested after discovering Hyo-jeong's body, with her organs harvested, in the trunk of his car. Tae-sik escapes from the police station, alarming them with his display of combat skills. Upon further investigation, the officers discover that Tae-sik was a former covert operative for South Korean Army Intelligence, but retired after an assassin killed his pregnant wife.

The brothers track down Hyo-jeong's lover and kill him, while the brothers' bodyguard Ramrowan kills Myung-gyu, thus allowing the brothers to take over his operations. Following a lead from the burner phone Jong-seok gave him, Tae-sik tracks Du-chi to a nightclub. As Tae-sik asks about the brothers, Ramrowan walks in and shoots at them, killing Du-chi and wounding Tae-sik. Tae-sik escapes and finds his former partner, who gives Tae-sik medical care and helps him acquire a gun. Tae-sik goes back to the city and discovers a drug manufacturing plant; in the process of destroying it, he kills Jong-seok and frees the enslaved child workers.

Tae-sik confronts Man-seok's gang at his condominium. Claiming that he had So-mi's eyes harvested, Man-seok shows Tae-sik a container with two preserved eyeballs. Enraged, Tae-sik brutally kills the gang members, including Ramrowan and Man-seok. As Tae-sik prepares to commit suicide out of grief, a dirty but unharmed So-mi finds him. Ramrowan, who took pity on her because she had been kind to him, had spared her life—the eyes in the container belonged to the gangsters' surgeon. The police allow Tae-sik and So-mi to ride together after Tae-sik's arrest. When So-mi falls asleep, Tae-sik asks them to stop at a small convenience store where he buys a backpack along with other school supplies. Tae-sik tells So-mi that she is going to be on her own as the police have to take him away. Before leaving, Tae-sik asks her for a hug and breaks down in tears as they embrace.

Cast

• Won Bin as Cha Tae-sik
• Kim Sae-ron as So-mi
• Kim Hee-won as Man-seok
• Kim Sung-oh as Jong-seok, Man-seok's brother
• Kim Tae-hoon as Detective Kim Chi-gon
• Thanayong Wongtrakunl as Lum Ramrowan
• Lee Do-gyeom as Child at workplace
• Kim Hyo-seo as Hyo-jeong, So-mi's mother
• Lee Jong-yi as Detective No
• Song Young-chang as Oh Myung-gyu
• Jo Seok-hyuon as Moon Dal-seo
• Jo Jae-yoon as Jang Doo-sik
• Hong So-hee as Yeon-soo
• Hwang Min-ho as Nam Sung-Sik
• Kwak Byung-Kyu as Detective Kim
• Lee Jae-won as Du-chi

Release

During its August 6–8 opening weekend, the film recorded 712,840 admissions, taking the number 1 spot on the box office charts for five weeks straight. It had sold a total of 6,228,300 tickets when it finished its theatrical run on November 17, 2010. On October 1, 2010 CJ Entertainment gave the film a limited theatrical release to North American theaters where it grossed in 1 theater its opening weekend. After widening the release up to 19 theaters, the film grossed in the U.S. and Canada.

Reception

Russell Edwards of Variety wrote "Brutal violence dominates the dynamic Korean thriller The Man From Nowhere. Local heartthrob Won Bin (Mother, Tae Guk Gui) transforms himself into an action hero in writer-helmer Lee Jeong-beom's swift and blood-soaked yarn, about a mystery man who gets caught up in a gang war while trying to protect a child, recalling Luc Besson's The Professional."

Awards and nominations

Soundtrack

Soundtrack list:

1. The Man from Nowhere
2. In Tae - Sik s Memory
3. Trash Can
4. Mother In Danger
5. Chasing Her
6. Chain Of Mystery
7. Fights In Golf Club
8. Finding Clue
9. Dark Knight
10. Somi in Danger
11. Surviving Today
12. Agent. Tae - Sik
13. Dirty Cash - Mystery
14. His Path Of Life
15. There's No One But You
16. Shave Himself
17. Delivering Drug
18. Jump Off
19. Spit - Mystery
20. The Last Bullet
21. Ajussi
22. Dear - Mad Soul Child

Legacy

The Man from Nowhere, along with Park Chan-wook's The Vengeance Trilogy (2002–2005), influenced John Wick with "[their] minimalist composition and graphic nature."

Remake

In March 2012, Dimension Films acquired the rights to an English-language remake of The Man from Nowhere; plans are to have Shawn Christensen, who wrote and directed the 2012 short film Curfew, write the adaptation. On August 5, 2020, it was reported that the remake will be produced by John Wick director Chad Stahelski and Jason Spitz with a script provided by Derek Kolstad for New Line Cinema.

A Hindi remake titled Rocky Handsome, directed by Nishikant Kamat and starring John Abraham and Diya Chalwad, was released on March 25, 2016.

References

References

1. "The Man from Nowhere". [[Box Office Mojo]].
2. "The Best Selling Films of 2010". Korean Film Council via Koreanfilm.org.
3. "South Korea Box Office". [[Box Office Mojo]].
4. Edwards, Russell. (October 27, 2010). "Brutal violence dominates the dynamic, glossy Korean thriller ''The Man from Nowhere''".
5. "5th – Asian Film Awards Academy".
6. link. (May 26, 2011)
7. link. (November 26, 2010)
8. link
9. link. (January 6, 2011)
10. link. (January 6, 2011)
11. "LEE Tae-hun".
12. link
13. link
14. link. (January 28, 2011)
15. link
16. (November 18, 2010). "Won Bin won Best Actor Award in Korea Film Awards... 'The Man From Nowhere' won 7 awards".
17. link. (March 30, 2001)
18. link. Star News]]. (December 11, 2010)
19. (September 30, 2014). "Chad Stahelski & David Leitch, longtime stunt coordinators & performers, founders of 87Eleven Action Design, and the filmmakers responsible for the new Keanu Reeves action-thriller ''John Wick''... Ask us anything!". [[Reddit]].
20. Fuge, Jonathan. (February 17, 2025). "Netflix Loses Acclaimed Action Thriller 'The Man From Nowhere' This Month".
21. Brooks, Brian. (March 8, 2012). "Shawn Christensen To Write ''The Man from Nowhere'' Redo For Dimension Films". [[Deadline Hollywood]].
22. McNary, David. (July 26, 2016). "Korean Action-Thriller 'Man From Nowhere' Getting Remake From New Line".
23. Kroll, Justin. (August 5, 2020). "Chad Stahelski To Produce 'Man From Nowhere' Remake At New Line, Reuniting With 'John Wick' Scribe Derek Kolstad". Deadline Hollywood.
24. Bhattacharya, Roshmila. (April 7, 2014). "John Abraham plays a killing machine in 'Rocky Handsome'". [[Mumbai Mirror]] via [[The Times of India]].
25. (April 7, 2014). "John Abraham's Rocky Handsome to release in February 2015". [[The Indian Express]].
26. (September 7, 2015). "John Abraham, Shruti Hassan's next 'Rocky Handsome's release date announced". [[Zee News]].