Nowhere to Hide

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FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 76 WIDTH="491"><div> <B>DVD <script language="JavaScript"> function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write("<a href=javascript:popUp('http://buybox.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=reelmoviecriticc&link_code=xsc&creative=23424&camp=2025&path=/dt/assoc/tg/aa/xml/assoc/-/B00005A05O/reelmoviecriticc/ref=ac_bb1_,_amazon')><img src=http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/associates/remote-buy-box/buy1.gif border=0 alt='Buy from Amazon.com' ></a>"); document.close(); </script> <noscript> <form method="POST" action="http://buybox.amazon.com/o/dt/assoc/handle-buy-box=B00005A05O"> <input type="hidden" name="asin.B00005A05O" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="tag-value" value="reelmoviecriticc"> <input type="hidden" name="tag_value" value="reelmoviecriticc"> <input type="image" name="submit.add-to-cart" value="Buy from Amazon.com" border="0" alt="Buy from Amazon.com" src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/associates/add-to-cart.gif"> </form> </noscript>  </B></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="575"><div> <B>Nowhere To Hide </B>**1/2 (R)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> Reviewed By George O. Singleton</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="549" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="545"><div> Wasting time is what detectives do</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="580" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Detective Woo:  Park Joong-Hoon </div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> Detective Kim: Jang Dong-Kun</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Juyon: Choi Ji-Woo </div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Sungmin: Ahn Sung-Kee </div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Director: Lee Myung-Se </div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="304" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>30 Second Bottom Line</B>: After a drug dealer is killed, a rogue police detective aggressively pursues a hard to catch murderer. This "road movie" covers a lot of ground, without leaving the metropolitan area of the seaport town of Inchon, South Korea. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Story Line:</B> Detective Woo (Park Joong-Hoon) is the smart, rough and tumble police officer in charge of investigating the murder of a drug kingpin. He first chases street thugs to find out who the leader is and where he is. Working his way up the chain of command, one of them reveals to Woo the mobile number of the drug czar, Sungmin (Ahn Sung-Kee). By searching phone records, Woo is led to Juyon (Choi Ji-Woo), Sungmin's female companion.</div> <bR> <div> After staking out Juyon's apartment, Woo and his partner Detective Kim (Jan Dong-Kun) have their first face to face confrontation with Sungmin. The confrontations intensify when the police kill one of Sungmin's men. A trap is set, with Woo and Kim disguised as   railroad employees working onboard a train where a drug deal is scheduled to go down. As Sungmin once again escapes, he stabs Kim in the stomach.</div> <bR> <div> Woo strong-arms Juyon into luring Sungmin to meet her at an isolated bus station. With the sudden death of his mother, Sungmin has gone home for the funeral. Woo goes there also and the two men face off in a powerful showdown, which leaves no one standing, as they fight like animals in the pouring rain. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Tell Me More About It</B>: <I>Nowhere to Hide</I> is a very good film in many ways. However, with some editing, it would have been much better. It's shot with a color and cutting style that gives a feeling of elegance. At times the cuts end with a photo still that reminds you of a Leonard Neiman painting. </div> <bR> <div> The running scenes here (and there are a few) are similar to those in <I>Run Lola Run,</I> to include the frenetic pace and eclectic music. At other times the music is pure <I>Charlie's Angels</I>, and in the scenes with reflective moments, symphonic music is used.</div> <bR> <div> What detracts from the film is an opening action sequence in black and white, with hard to read subtitles, which does not make a connection to what the film is about, other than that it will be highly stylized. The murder scene, which sets up the movie, is beautifully photographed and choreographed.  That alone would have been as good a jump-start to the film as the opening scene in <I>Mission Impossible: 2.</I></div> <bR> <div> Director Lee Myung-Se says this film is about "movement", rather than the story and characters being the main focus. The analogy he draws is that as in a Monet painting, the theme is not the water lily, because its purpose is to be the <B>object</B> to paint light upon.</div> <bR> <div> The chase scenes in the latter part of the film are excellent. However, they do not fully make up for the earlier ones showing excessive abuse of citizen's rights. Watching the police perform gross physical abuse of suspects; humiliating them by undressing in public and breaking into people's homes without the remotest pretense of a search warrant, makes it hard to develop character warmth for the ever smiling and charming Detective Woo. It's akin to saying that it was OK for Mark Furhman (of the OJ trial) to frame a guilty man. Political Correctness can be taken to an extreme, but sending a message that criminal behavior <I>justifies</I> criminal behavior by those who are supposed to be the good guys is even more of a problem. </div> <bR> <div> There are two parts to this film. First is the set up, with not very funny scenes trying to be humorous; second is a highly effective series of chase scenes with the bad guys pursuing the good guys. </div> <bR> <div> If you give me a choice of a seeing a film that starts out strong and ends with a whimper versus one that begins weakly and ends on a high note, I'll take the second option every time. Lee Myung-Se has made a thrilling film, which shows me, he has the potential of giving us something like the best action film of last year, <I>Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. </I>If he is not on your up and coming outstanding director's list, do give him some consideration.</div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> R (nudity; drugs; violence; language)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> George O. Singleton © 2001</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> <A HREF="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com"><U><U>George@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> Mini Filmography </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 96 WIDTH="286"><div> Ahn Sung-Kee: Considered Korea's leading star and "national actor". Normally  his role is that of a gentle public figure rather than a murderer. <I>Spring in My Hometown</I></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><div> Park Joong-Hoon: Best actor's award for <I>My Love, My Bride</I> at 1991 Asian-Pacific Film Festive</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 38 ><NOBR><div> Jang Dong-Kun: <I>Love Wind, Love Song</I></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><div> Choi Ji-Woo: <I>First Kiss</I> and many commercials </div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Lee Myung-Se: <I>Their Last Love Affair</I></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="286" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="507" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="501"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="501" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="519" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="513"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="513" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>