Man of Vendetta (2010)

[daisho2004]

OK I haven't seen this movie but I see a few of you Guys have made some comparisons to this movie to that of the Man From Nowhere has anyone seen it it looks pretty good?

Synopsis :Joo Young-Soo (Kim Myung-Min) is a minister whose daughter (Kim So-Hyun) gets kidnapped. Eventually the minister loses his faith in God, quits the church and opens a business. 8 years later, Young-Soo's wife (Park Joo-Mee) still works feverishly to find their daughter and in the process becomes hospitalized. Then out of the blue, the abductor contacts Young-Soo and demands a ransom for his daughter. The former minister must make the most difficult of choices. He then sets out to rescue his daughter once and for all ...

Here is the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8T9NdPywtc

[One Armed Boxer]

Patience patience buddy....it's in the mail! I plan to watch it as soon as it comes!

By the way it was me that claimed that is sounded similar to 'The Man From Nowhere'....but that was only in regards to the story being that of a child who is kidnapped and an adult going on a mission to get her back....which is virtually a genre of it's own in South Korea (see also the recent 'No Mercy').

[daisho2004]

True it was you, and I'm most likely going to get it also, so let me know how it is as soon as you watch it.

[Biozombie]

I thought it was just okay. Reminded me a little of The Missing Girl (World Of Silence) but nowhere near as good.

[One Armed Boxer]

I have to second Biozombie, having just got through watching this movie I would say it's definitely a middle of the road affair, not good enough to recommend, but not bad enough to slate entirely.

The movie wants to deal with some pretty weighty subject matter...loss of faith, dealing with your child being kidnapped and never knowing if they're alive or not, the effects on the family as a result...however it simply doesn't have a strong enough plot to support all these issues.

The plots biggest problem comes in the shape of the villain, played by Eom Gi-joon. His motivation for kidnapping and raising the main characters (played by Kim Myeong-min) daughter for 8 years is simply too bizarre to comprehend - he wants to buy an expensive amplifier.

Or at least, that's his motivation for contacting him again after 8 years....what was the motivation originally? Was it always to save up for the expensive amplifier!? It's never explained. Nor when it's hinted at that Myeong-min's daughter is not the first girl he's kidnapped is any further elaboration given. Why is he doing this? We never know.

All of this would be laughable, if the movie wasn't done in such a heavy handed way. There is no humor here, and the plot unfolds in completely straight faced fashion, while never delivering anything particularly surprising or interesting to keep our attention.

'Man of Vendetta' either needed to go 2 ways....give us a pair of fully fleshed out main characters which we understand and root for and against such as in 'The Chaser', or just go for visceral thrills such as with 'I Saw the Devil'. Sadly the movie doesn't do either, we have a villain who borders on being cardboard cutout, especially towards the end when he simply starts killing anyone that crosses him, but on the other hand the movie doesn't offer any kind of excitement to make you look past these flaws. People looking for an action movie will definitely be dissapointed by what's on offer here, it sadly fails to rise above being anything more than a stock standard game of cat & mouse.