Customer Reviews

Nowhere to Hide

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Every now and than comes a movie that just excites you from the opening credits to the ending credits. This Movie is one of them!

I remember seeing this movie at the video store and wonder: "what the hell is this about?" I put the dvd in the player, pressed start and the rest was magic! I loved it so much I watched it twice that day, and ordered it the next day.

If you are a big fan of film editing, this movie will amaze you! I have not been so excited from a movie by how it was cut! You have to see it for yourself, to see what I am talking about.

The story, plot, characters, sound, lighting, edit, and music are purely great! Myung-se Lee seems to be on the right road one day to be consider great among his peers, if he keeps up with this kind of direction for his movies.

As for now, I am becoming a great fan of his movies.. and cannot wait to see what he'll do next!

This film is Lee, myungse's first try at action genre, before he only made drama and romance kinda movies. At his middle of directing career, he finally found something different which was mostly a visual touch. It is not like an American film, it had no good plots, but the raw feeling and erie images are working at their best. You will remember some scenes; they won't go away easily from your brain. All I can say is that you will see something new and unique, and that is why this movie deserves my rating. (Creativity) Five Stars. Don't miss it!

I really do not understand why this film has been getting such a varied response! It may be true that the story is nothing new BUT VISUALLY I would even consider this a work of art - something that I've rarely said about an action film since the original new wave of Hong Kong cinema hit these shores way back (and was in turn, co-opted by Hollywood). Black & white, freeze frame, slo-mo, every trick in the book is utilized by this talented director creating an giddy head-swirling, brain-twisting, "what's next?" effect throughout.
Key scenes: "Holiday" - the set-up for the film's plot bounces between B&W & over-saturated colour. The "businessman" (crime boss) murder & robbery takes place in the rain (as does many of the dramatic high points - in rain or snow) as the melancholy BeeGees' 1st album track plays (back when they were imitating Sgt. Pepper, prior to imitating KC & the Sunshine Band!). "The Duel" - the INCREDIBLE fight scene during a downpour (of course!) is the epic climax of the whole wild ride which is definitely one of the greatest bits of filmmaking I've seen in hundreds of films! In fact, never have I seen as exciting a movie fight with less than a dozen punches thrown - kind of the reverse mirror effect of a Jackie Chan/Sammo Hung/Yuen Biao style hyperactive stunt-fest. This very scene is where "The Matrix" comparison comes from - NOT THE PLOT but the visual style, for those above who seem confused about this point. I've watched this sequence dozens of times and it never fails to amaze! The cherry-bomb on top of this thrill cake.
I can only add the cool acting - especially our anti-hero "thugs with badges" who are armed with baseball bats and tear gas guns and have no moral reservations about beating handcuffed suspects for information and the lineup of bad guys - not only our main villain radiating cool in his sunglasses, trenchcoat & machete, but guys named "Fish Head" & "Meat Head". I also add the startling music selections to the "plus" column & recommend this to anybody that appreciates Asian action cinema at its finest. I'm looking forward to more from this director and just wish there would have been a sequel!

First off, the posted run-time of 100 minutes means that this is the shortened version. The true length should be 112 minutes. I'd suggest tracking down a copy of the all-region Korean version if you want to see the uncut film. I've not seen the shorter version, so my review will be of the 112-minute version.

I have to start out by asking "Did I see the same movie as other people?" Not because I disliked the movie, but because on the box and on this site and in other reviews I've seen the action compared to "The Matrix". I have to admit, I saw nothing even resembling that film here. No kung fu, no wires, no bullet time, no CG, no slick choreography. Other than the fact that some of the fight scenes are done quite artistically, there's nothing that is reminiscent of "The Matrix" here. That is not to say that it is a bad movie, quite the contrary. I just think it is unfair to put that tag on a movie. It'll only attract people that will be disappointed. Now, onward and upward.
This is a solid movie. It was recommended to me by a friend whose tastes I respect. And he didn't disappoint. The story can be described simply as two detectives track down a murderer. But, once you see the first main scene (which is quite violent) juxtaposed against the simple, sweet melody of the Bee Gee's "Holiday", you know you're in for something different.

What separates this film from the standard fare is that the characters have heart. They bring you fully into their world, no matter how simple or sad or angry. They have personality and dimension. Welcome doses of humor are found throughout that keep the film from sinking under a heavy weight that seems to hang over our main character.

And while the action is not "The Matrix", it is definitely a thing of its own. The fight sequences could be described as artistic, but not in any poetic way. The director uses camera tricks (frame rates and shutter angles), color, still frames, shadows, and various other tricks to show us action that would seem otherwise familiar. The artistic approach certainly doesn't take away from the sheer brutality of some of the violence. Don't let the pretty appearance fool you into thinking that the film somehow glosses over the bone-crunch factor. The director just shows it to you in a new way. In fact, he does this in many places throughout the film.

In one scene where the characters are staking out a nightclub, the director employs a technique that is genius and fitting, regardless of whether it was done to save on budget or not (which I'm not aware of). But, the same scene shot in a more standard fashion would seem out of place in the film.

Sure, we've all seen this story a million times. But the package it comes in is new and refreshing. Our main detective is the antithesis of the supercop. Lumbering and oafish, and possibly not the brightest bulb in the bunch, he still possesses a charm and street smarts that more than make up for it. The humor plays well. And by the end you really feel like you've got a grasp of who these characters are-and that makes a difference.

I saw this work several years ago and every time I think of it the memories are great. The action is wonderful and the characters come to life in a rugged grimy setting. If you like a wild ride through a dark dreamlike world in pursuit of a powerful underworld killer while dealing with their own demons you will love "Nowhere to Hide".

Very good movie, excellent use of filming techniques, soundtrack was a little bit off at times but still worth the watch, and one thing, it does ran like cats and dogs with sun shining in the background, visit korea sometime!

This movie is not meant for the casual moviegoer. It is enjoyable if you are willing to just accept is without question. The sporadic shifting of mood, enviornment, and camera style are very confusing at points. I saw this movie in it's original form, (Korean soundtrack, without subtitles) but for those who don't speak Korean, should stick with the DVD version, not the VHS. I am not sure how clear or fluently written the subtitles are, as I have not watched this on DVD. It is a fun, oddball action movie, and as the Amazon review says, the closest comparison I can draw, is to Charlie's Angels. Another thing that may compare is that this movie was Myung-se Lee's director debut, similar to McG's Charlie's Angels. If you want to see a truly epic Korean action film, though, get Shiri (also sometimes, Swiri) Shiri is in my opinion, the Korean equivilant of say, The Killer or A Better Tomorrow from Hong Kong. I don't know if Amazon carries Shiri, but if they do, GET IT!

this has to be arguably one of the stupidest f'n movies i've ever seen in my life. maybe 20 yrs ago, it would have been somewhat creative/original but not now. don't waste your money or time on this piece of Sh't movie. the action, story, comedy ALL SUCK... AND i'm KOREAN!!! i support my people's films but this movie is absolutely atrocious. anyone who wrote a favorable review on this film is either working for their distribution company or an f'n moron

Yes it doesn't have a heavy plot but if you like action movies then you have to see this.

Nowhere to Hide (Myung-se Lee, 1999)

A surprisingly large portion of the IMDB discussion board for this movie is full of people arguing over whether the Wachiwski Brothers ripped off pieces of this movie for various and sundry scenes in the Matrix trilogy. I'm not sure about any given scenes, but it certainly seems to me that there is a kind of similarity in the two films by way of them both being piles of dung with unbearably stupid tissue-thin plots that exist for the sole purpose of stringing together uninteresting fight scenes. (But then, you can't fault these movies alone for that sort of thing, not by a longshot.) No, strike that, it's an insult to Nowhere to Hide, which is at least mildly amusing now and again. It's better than The Matrix, but I have to say, that's setting the bar pretty darned low. (In case you haven't figured it out yet, I loathe The Matrix.)

Woo (Joong-hoon Park) and Kim (Dong-Kun Jang) are detectives trying to track down a murderer. Yeah, that's pretty much the entire plot, the simplicity of which leads us to subplot beginnings that die after one scene (not that we care, given that none of these characters is ever developed), silly twists and turns, a whole lot of extraneous explanation, and, of course, lots and lots of fight scenes. Have to fill that time somehow. Aside from Woo having a few snappy one-liners (which is actually kind of out-of-character for him, since the script attempts to paint him as a delusional loser), there's absolutely nothing about this movie worth watching unless fight scenes alone make a movie watchable for you. One to avoid. *