Nov

3

2006

No Mercy for the Rude

Posted by luna6

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Movie : No Mercy for the Rude aka Killer / Yeui-eomneun geotdeul / 예의없는것들
Release Date : August 08, 2006
Country : South Korea
Director : Cheol-Hee Park
Starring: Ha-kyun Shin, Ji-hye Yun
Runtime : 113 Minutes
Editor Rating : 7.3
Users Rating: 7.13 1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars6 Stars7 Stars8 Stars9 Stars10 Stars (8 votes)

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Plot Synopsis : “Killer” grew up in an orphanage, teased incessantly because of a speech impediment. The taunts that he had to endure as a child became bad enough that he simply stopped taking altogether. The only good memories he has of his childhood days, was of another orphan girl that took care of him and treated him like a normal person. She pushed him to stand up for himself and they soon became best of friends.

As an adult, Killer worked at a neighborhood restaurant making use of his best talent: his mastery of the knife. While spending his days working at the restaurant, he decided to see if he could get his speech impediment fixed. The doctor that he saw told him that his tongue was abnormally short and to fix his problem would require a specialist. He told Killer that the price of the operation would cost $100,000.

In order to get the money for his surgery, Killer decides to make use of his talent with the knife and become a killer for hire. His one rule would be that he would kill only rude people. Driven by his desire speak normally, he has nearly acquired the $100,000 and with one last job, he would be able to pay for his surgery. Unfortunately the last job involves a hit on the one person he needs to get his operation and to complicate matters further, the person that is paying for the hit is someone he is intimately close with.

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Movie Review : No Mercy For The Rude centers around the character named Killer, who is a mute by choice. The actor that played Killer (Ha-kyun Shin) has performed in many other impressive films like Save The Green Planet and JSA, and Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance. Coincidentally, JSA and Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance were directed by Chan-Wook Park and his revenge trilogy (Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, Sympathy For Lady Vengeance) seemed to have been an influential starting point for No Mercy for the Rude.

The similarities between Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and No Mercy For The Rude would start with the actor Ha-Kyun Shin. He plays a mute in both movies, although in No Mercy For The Rude he is a mute by choice. Another similarity would be that in both films the mute character has to raise money, to pay for an operation, by morally questionable means.

The influence of Oldboy (the second in Chan-Wook Park’s trilogy on revenge) plays a heavy hand in No Mercy For The Rude as well. When Killer decides to become an assassin, he places a life size poster of the human anatomy on his wall. He did this, to practice stabbing at vital body points. Visually, this scene looked a whole lot like the scene in Oldboy, where Oh Dae-Su punches a chalk drawn human body on his wall. Furthermore, the surprise twist at the end of No Mercy For The Rude, was delivered in a way, where you couldn’t help but think of Oldboy as well.

To finish off the trilogy, the influence of Sympathy for Lady Vengeance was noticeable as well. The nighttime shots of Killer’s girlfriend, walking near her apartment, looked eerily similar to the nighttime street shots in Sympathy For Lady Vengeance. The musical score even recalled Sympathy For Lady Vengeance at various points in the film. Finally the main villain in No Mercy For The Rude was played by the same actor who played the Priest in Sympathy For Lady Vengeance.

With these similarities, you may think this movie is a cheap knock-off of Park’s films. I did have such thoughts while watching certain portions of No Mercy For The Rude, but by the final scene, I was just immersed in the movie for what it was. A very stylistic action noire, that had some absolutely to die for cinematography, well choreographed action sequences, and top notch acting by the two main leads. The ending was unexpected and quite poignant, which swayed my impressions on the film from being a Chan-Wook Park knock-off to a very slick film inspired by Chan-Wook Park. I should also note that Ji-hye Yoon, who played Killer’s love interest, was very impressive throughout the film (looked very good in the nude as well!).

No Mercy For The Rude is a very stylistic action noire, that takes inspiration from Chan-Wook Park, but is able to develop its own compelling storyline. The ending was one of the more memorable finales I have seen this year. Ultimately, the camera work, Ji-hye Yoon, and Ha-kyun Shin were the stars of this film and they all were very impressive. Recommended if you crave something along the lines of Park’s Revenge Trilogy, the Professional, and Kill Bill.

buy No Mercy for the Rude from YesAsia

Cast:
Ha-kyun Shin - Killer
Ji-hye Yun

Su-hee Go
Ye-rin Han
San Kang
Byeong-ok Kim
Eung-su Kim
Kwang-il Kim
Min-jun Kim
Tae-won Kwon
Han-wi Lee
Kil-soo Park


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2006 Movie Reviews, Korean Movies, Movie Reviews, Movies |

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1 Comment so far

  1. 1 ragundo Says: November 4, 2006

    Pending to see

    Thanks for the review.

    Greetings from Spain