Another fresh treatment of an old premise to come out of South Korea, this time giving new panache to the retired-agent-on-a-vendetta action film. At times reminiscent of Man on Fire (2004), this emotionally violent quest for an abducted little girl stars Won Bin as Cha Tae-Sik, a silent, cold-blooded retired government agent with a tragic past now living under the guise of a simple pawnshop owner. His only acquaintance is young Somee (Kim Sae-Ron), the lonely daughter of his junky neighbor who pops in from time to time to take a breather from her heroin-induced convulsing mother. When gangsters come looking for their missing narcotics, they make the mistake of kidnapping Somee and her mother in the process, initially using them to blackmail Tae-Sik into doing their dirty work. When they deliver the mother's corpse with no sign of Somee, finding her becomes his only objective, sparking a hell fire that puts both criminals and law enforcement on his mysterious trail. Supported by solid, vulnerable performances, Nowhere takes the viewer into a dark world whose only hope for redemption comes from the people who taint it in the first place. While there are super-villains with no conscience in this film, being 'bad' is not seen as being unifyingly definitive, as the entire concept of the anti-hero would also seem to support. Far from his portrayal of the confused, slow-witted son in Mother (2009), Bin is highly convincing as a man fighting hard to become emotionally numb, a feat that becomes harder and harder as his quest progresses. Kim is perfect as the orphaned girl, her eyes filled with defiant innocence, simply looking for proof that the world is not all hate. Action-wise, we are treated to hand-to-hand combat sequences a la Jason Bourne, its quickness matched only by its efficiency in handling outnumbered enemies. As entertainment with heart and smarts, Man from Nowhere is refreshing in a creatively familiar way.
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