Nowhere To Hide: Reviews

Detective Woo (Park Joong-Hoon) is the determined police detective who pursues the elusive Sungmin in a chase through the maze of the city streets and hideaways. Along the way, Woo and his men hunt down the nefarious figures of the drug world.

They also find Jugo (Choi Ji-Woo), the woman who loves Sungmin. But Sungmin remains at large, a master of disguise and elusiveness, until the final spectacular showdown with detective Woo in the suburbs of a coal-mining town. Brace yourself!

I jumped into this film not knowing what to expect other than the fact that it was a Korean crime film that looked interesting. Still, after the first 30 minutes, I was trying to get comfortable with what I was dealing with. It wasn't even the plot that I was trying to grasp. It was the overall style of the film that seemed to have as much assortment as a box of Crayola Crayons - the BIG box that came with the plastic sharpener, you know, the one you could never talk your mommy into buying you which caused you to end up with the cheapy 12-color version.

Though not nearly as drastic as those acid-camera techniques seen in Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers", "Nowhere To Hide" falls somewhere in between that and the norm, maybe a little more towards the norm. The film opens with a black and white (with a sorta brownish tint) scene that introduces it's two main characters: hard-edged cops Joong-Hoon Park and his partner (It's gonna take a little time ID'ing these Korean actors so just bare with me). The light-action opening sequence comes with it all: sinister-like screams, extreme close-ups of things to be used as weapons, and exaggerated sounds of shoes screeching against the floor. And let's not forget slow-motion shots and freeze frames.

After all that black and white stuff, the big transition occurs. We get a fun-loving opening title sequence with the words "Nowhere To Hide" (in bright shades of purple) whizzing by thinking we have just been transported into another movie's credits. Following the credits of Prince's favorite color, we get to sit back and enjoy the tragic moment in which the movie revolves around: The "Inchon's 40 Steps" murder scene where our main bad guy, named Chang Sungmin, is about to do a very bad thing. During this entire scene, a nifty remake of the The Bee Gees' "Holiday" overlaps what's happening and gives it a very melancholy feeling - it almost seems like we're watching an MTV music video with some beautiful, and extremely violent, imagery.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't that "style over substance" bullshit that seems to be popping up more and more in recent films, especially Asian films. "Nowhere to Hide" definitely has a plot and cast that holds it's own , possibly enough to where we can almost ignore all the imagery flashing in and out of the movie. It's not everyday you see a movie where a guy punches another guy and he gets thrown 50 feet back, then boom, you're back to a gritty, dramatic, realistic crime story that you set yourself into. That's what makes this film so special.

The entire cast seemed to fit the spaces pretty good - especially Joong-Hoon Park who I really look forward to seeing in more films. He delivers a unique flavor to his tough-guy role which may take the average viewer a while to like or get used to, especially with that grin of his.

"Nowhere To Hide" is a definite must-see. It has a few minor flaws that includes a totally out-of-placed rock soundtrack (the soundtrack consists of many different types of music, but only the rock soundtrack is a bit annoying) that seems to come out of nowhere. It's also not your typically paced action film which may be a let down for some. Why don't we put it this way, If you can enjoy a Beat Takeshi film like "Fireworks" and also appreciate a film like "Gen X Cops" then you should be fine. I may be using bad examples but fuck it - it's your choice.

Pretty terrible on all accounts. My second venture into Korean action cinema turned out to be a real stinker that could easily pass for a bad American B-movie or an equally bad music video. A true example of nerd filmmaking - the movie tries so hard to be stylish and cool that it just comes off as being pathetic. (in fact, it really reminded me of films like "Killing Time", "Killer Tongue", and "Razor Blade Smile" in style and execution) A gangland murder takes place in the opening minutes of the film, and the dorky and violent Detective Woo (Park Joong-Hoon) spends the entire movie tracking down the murderer and terrorizing everyone else along the way. He's rude, crude, and sloppy and has a real hip-hop goofiness about him. His partner is Detective Kim (Jang Dong-Kun), who's a very sharp and sexy chap. After beating up enough people and terrorizing the bad guy's very attractive girlfriend (pretty Choi Ji-Woo), Woo and his team finally catch up with the villainous Sungmin in an abandoned train railyard. Woo and Sungmin face each other in an unconvincing hand-to-hand showdown in the rain and mud before Sungmin is finally arrested.

First of all, it's boring and unattractive. The cinematography is fair, but the editing is atrocious. The film flaunts a rebellious and aggressive attitude in an attempt to overcompensate for the lack of a plot and the absence of any interesting characters. What few special effects there are, are poor and unnecessary. The film also tries to be funny, and fails miserably. A real chore to sit through, but at least Choi Ji-Woo is pretty to look at.