The Man From Nowhere

South Korea's top box office hit of 2010 is a slick underworld thriller starring matinee idol Won Bin as Cha Tae-Sik, who was once a highly trained government agent and super-spy but is now a shaggy pawn shop proprietor in a miserable slum. When an adorable little girl from the neighborhood—the daughter of a junkie stripper—is kidnapped by the Chinese gangs muscling into the local drug trade, our hero cuts his hair, takes off his shirt, and goes on a rampage, never once altering his stony expression. Director Lee Jeong-Beom sets this violent, visceral crime thriller of brutal cops and inhuman gangsters in a twilight underworld of drugs and human trafficking, where most of the action takes place at night, often in dungeon-like interiors of abandoned buildings and shadowy slum hovels. While there's nothing original or unique about The Man From Nowhere, the impressive action scenes and grim sensibility will likely appeal to fans of Asian action flicks. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)