Nowhere to Hide

NOWHERE TO HIDE, the sixth feature from Korean New Wave writer-director Lee Myung-Se is an arty police action film jam-packed with style and attitude. Fans of Asian directors Takeshi "Beat" Kitano and John Woo will recognize the iconographic character of Detective Woo (Park Joong-Hoon), a slouching, thuggish homicide cop in South Korea's port city of Inchon. Woo smiles like a mischievous child, but he carries a baseball bat in his car, and leads a stooge-like squad of cops brandishing iron nightsticks. Along with his straitlaced partner, Kim (Jang Dong-Kun), Woo embarks on a sleepless, months-long hunt for the brutal killer who murdered a drug kingpin on the city's centralized monument, 40 Steps. Woo and his gangster-like men violently clash with suspects in colorful freeze frames and slow-motion shots, accompanied by a pumped-up rock score. After being defeated in a slapstick dance-like fight, a drug runner leads Woo to a primary suspect's femme fatale girlfriend, Juyon (Choi Ji-Woo). The detective then begins an infuriating game of watch and wait. Full of visual panache and humor, Lee's stylish thriller climaxes in a glorious rain-drenched mano a mano between the brutally tenacious Woo and his elusive prey. (Verleiher-Text)