The Man from Nowhere (film)

The Man from Nowhere
Original Korean poster
Hangul
Revised Romanization	Ajeossi
McCune–Reischauer	Ajŏssi
Directed by	Lee Jeong-beom
Produced by	Lee Tae-heon
Written by	Lee Jeong-beom
Starring	Won Bin Kim Sae-ron
Music by	Shim Hyun-jung
Cinematography	Lee Tae-yoon
Edited by	Kim Sang-bum
Distributed by	CJ Entertainment
Release date	August 4, 2010 (2010-08-04)
Running time	119 minutes
Country	South Korea
Language	Korean
Box office	US$43 million

The Man from Nowhere (Hangul: 아저씨; RR: Ajeossi) is a South Korean action-thriller film starring Won Bin and written and directed by Lee Jeong-beom. It was South Korea's highest grossing film in 2010 and had 6.2 million admissions. The film was released in the United States and Canada on October 1, 2010. The film follows the story of a decorated ex-black operations soldier (Won Bin) who embarks on a bloody rampage when the only person who seems to understand him is kidnapped.

Cha Tae-sik leads a quiet life running a pawnshop. His only friend is a little girl, So-mi, who lives next door. So-mi's mother, Hyo-jeong, is a heroin addict who steals drugs from a feared organized crime group. She pawns her camera bag to Tae-sik; he does not realize it has the stolen drugs inside. Crime lord Oh Myung-gyu sends his subordinates, brothers Man-Seok and Jong-seok to retrieve the drugs; Jong-seok and his henchman Lum Ramrowan torture Hyo-jeong to find the drugs' location, then kidnap her and So-mi. Two gangsters, Du-chi and "Bear" go to Tae-sik pawn shop, but Tae-sik easily overpowers them. When he finds that Hyo-jeong and So-mi have been kidnapped, he gives them the bag, and Ramrowan kills Bear to set him up as the fall guy.

Realizing that Tae-sik may serve better as a mule, the gang brothers force Tae-sik to perform a delivery to Oh Myung-gyu, who they have set up. Police arrest Tae-sik and discover Hyo-jeong's body, with her organs harvested, in the back of the car he used to make the delivery. Tae-sik escapes from the police station to search for So-mi, and during his escape, the police are bewildered at Tae-sik's display of power, combat techniques, and agility. On further investigation, they discover that Tae-sik was a former covert operator for the South Korean Army Intelligence, with numerous commendations, but he retired after he was wounded and his pregnant wife was murdered by an assassin.

Tae-sik tracks Du-chi to a nightclub, beats up two of Du-chi's guards, and stabs Du-chi with his own knife. As he asks where the brothers are. Ramrowan walks in and shoots at Tae-sik, killing Du-chi in the crossfire. The two fight to a standstill, and Tae-sik suffers a bullet wound. Tae-sik chases after Ramrowan and the brothers as they flee, but he is too late; Tae-sik barely escapes from undercover cops. Critically wounded after his encounter with Ramrowan, Tae-sik finds his former partner, who performs an impromptu surgery. Tae-sik then acquires a gun from him and continues on his journey.