Review | The Man from Nowhere borrows from Luc Besson action thrillers, but its star Won Bin is no Jean Reno

Starring: Won Bin, Kim Sae-ron Director: Lee Jeong-beom Category: III (Korean)

The Man from Nowhere is an ultraviolent action flick that confirms our suspicion that when it comes to serving up exploitative thrillers, Korean cinema is now in a league of its own.

Directed by Lee Jeong-beom, the film stars Won Bin as Tae-sik, playing a former secret agent-cum-assassin who leads a secluded life as an unassuming pawnshop owner in a poor neighbourhood. He is later befriended by a fatherless little girl, So-mi (Kim Sae-ron, right with Won), whose mother, a heroin addict, is in trouble after running afoul of a gang of thugs. Predictably, Tae-sik is forced into action after the gangsters butcher So-mi's mother and then sell the girl into slavery.

The plot borrows heavily and shamelessly from French action thrillers Leon: the Professional and Taken, which Luc Besson directed and co-wrote, respectively. Yet while Besson brings stylised direction and occasionally an almost artsy approach to his lowbrow offerings, The Man from Nowhere suffers from being bland and maudlin.

A major problem with the movie is that Won is no Jean Reno or Liam Neeson. There's a cool tenderness to Reno's tough hit man character in Leon and a ruthless efficiency to Neeson's vengeful daddy role in Taken. Yet Won's heartthrob features are too soft to be a theatrical image of vengeance.

Also the film lacks a steady rhythm. However with The Man from Nowhere it is quantity - a body count that doubles every five minutes - rather than quality of action that is highlighted. The incessant gunfights and hand-to-hand combat, albeit choreographed with care, simply lack the electricity and wound-up tension to be thrilling.