No Mercy Movie Review

No Mercy (Korean: Yongseoneun Eupda)

                                                                                                                
No Mercy (Yongseoneun Eupda) is a Korean revange thriller drama movie released in 2010. This movie is written by Hyeong-Joon Kim and Jeong-ho Lee and directed by Hyeong-Joon Kim. The major characters of the movie No Mercy are played by Frank M. Ahearn, Hye-jin Han, Sang-wook Park, Nam Kyung-eub and Ji-ru Sung.

No Mercy tells the story of a professor and medical examiner (coroner) who investigates a case about a girl's death. Just when the police think they have found the killer, the story turns around and the past of the coroner comes into play. The coroner tries everything to prove the killer innocent.

Kyung-gu Sol and Hye-jin Han in a scene of No Mercy

Plot:

The movie No Mercy starts with a photographer finding a dead body by a river. The police come to the scene and find the dismembered body of a girl. Then we get introduced to professor Kang Min-ho who is a very experienced coroner. He was planning to retire and spend his times with his daughter, who is coming back from U.S.A. after finishing her studies. The police request his help in solving this case and he agrees. One of the investigators, Min Seo-young was a former student of him.

At first, the police suspect the dead girl's boyfriend for the murder. They arrest him, but can't find him guilty. Kang runs an autopsy of the dead body. They find the whole body of the victim except one hand . The whole police force look for the missing hand and soon they find it. Detective Min finds some relation with the type of murder and the writing of an environmentalist. Although a colleague of her mocks her abilities, but using the clues and a footprint, they arrest that environmentalist named Lee Seong-ho. They arrest Lee and surprisingly, at the very first questioning, Lee confesses his guilt.

Meanwhile, while Kang is waiting for her daughter's arrival at the airport, he receives an envelop. The envelop has some photos of her daughter, which show she has been kidnapped and held somewhere. He rushes to the police station and face Seong-ho. Seong-ho tells Kang that Kang has to get him out within 3 days and only then they will spare Kang's daughter.

Now, to show Seong-ho as innocent, Kang tempers with the murder weapon. He removes the trace of blood from that and put his dog's blood. He also mislead Min to show Seong-ho as innocent. Next day, Kang meets Seong-ho again and asks him about the real murder weapon, so he can hide it from the police. But Seong-ho doesn't disclose that. He gives Kang some clues about his motives. Kang then beats Seong-ho. He goes to Seong-ho's house to find the weapon and the police also reach there for the same reason. He hides from the police. Later on, from the local police, he gets the address of the man who gave him his daughter's photos.

He goes there and finds some news cuttings. The man also comes there and tries to run away. Finally he beats Kang severely. Later on, he comes back to the police station and faces Seong-ho, who gives him more riddles. Meanwhile, all these raise suspicion in Min's mind and when she proceeds to arrest Kang, Kang tells her the truth.

Then Min tries to find the relation between Kang and Seong-ho and finds one. At the same time, Kang manages to implant some clues which connects the murder of the girl to that girl's boyfriend. But before Min finds the truth, Seong-ho's accomplice hits her and she becomes unconscious. Min wakes up in a hospital and then from a friend, learns the story for which Seong-ho holds a grudge against Kang.

In the meantime, as Seong-ho is proved innocent by the attempts of Kang. He also gives police the murder weapon, which has been in front of their eyes for the whole time. Seong-ho gets free and the victim's boyfriend is framed for the murder. Kang goes to Seong-ho's home to free his daughter. After knowing everything, Min also heads there, followed by her backups.

But why does Seong-ho want to take the revange on Kang? Who is the real bad person here? Can Kang finally save his daughter? Lets watch No Mercy till the end for these answers.

My Review About the Movie No Mercy:
First of all, No Mercy seemed as an awesome drama thriller.

The plot of No Mercy is brilliant. Although at the end of the movie, it will not leave you with a good feeling, but still the plot will seem brilliant. The twist at the end was not expected throughout the whole movie. The whole movie keeps on changing directions and it felt exciting. The duration of No Mercy is a little over two hours, but you will no feel bored at any moment. The direction is good, so is the screenplay. The director has successfully been able to keep the tension high for the whole two hours in No Mercy. The cinematography were just ok, nothing special.

The acting of all the major characters were good. All of the actors and actresses were good fit for their characters. The dialogues were also good, although nothing extraordinary. But the whole No Mercy is in Korean language, so you will need subtitle to understand them.

No Mercy didn't have much of special effects, as they were not needed. But the costume design and make ups were perfect. The music and the sound effects were pretty good too. The lighting,camera effects and the locations for No Mercy also seem nice.

No Mercy contains some nude scenes and also some gore scenes. Some (but not all) of the gore scenes will seem unnecessary and avoidable. The director could avoid them without harming the plot. So clearly, this movie is not for children.

So, finally, I enjoyed watching No Mercy. The thrill in its plot picks up soon after the movie starts and it will keep you attached for the whole time. The only time this movie may disappoint you can be at the tragic ending. Other than that, it is a nicely balanced movie. I'll recommend watching No Mercy as a must see to all thriller lovers. But if you are a fan of Hollywood movies, I'll also recommend you to watch this, for having a good change of taste.

To find the best deal on the movie on amazon, click here.

Have you watched this movie? What are your opinions? Don't forget to share them in the comments.

To know more about it:
Wikipedia link : No wikipedia link of this movie was found on wikipedia.
IMDB Link: No Mercy

Compulsion Movie Review

Compulsion

                                                         

Compulsion is a Canadian independent drama thriller movie released in 2013. This movie is written by Floyd Byars and directed by Egidio Coccimiglio. The movie Compulsion is a remake of the South Korean film named '301, 302', which was directed by Park Chul-soo. The very limited number of major characters of Compulsion are played by Heather Graham, Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Dillon and Joe Mantegna.

Compulsion is about a lady who is obsessed with foods. Her level of obsession for food is revealed more after a detective comes to question her about her neighbour, a famous actress who has disappeared.

Heather Graham in Compulsion

Plot: 

The movie Compulsion starts with Amy, who is utterly obsessed with food. She loves preparing foods so much that her whole day is spent for only different phases of cooking. She hates fast foods and believes that foods must be prepared with utter care. She wants to launch her own cooking show and she practices for her speeches of that show herself. In those speeches, she compares different stages of cooking with sex.
 
One day, while Amy was fantasizing (and practising) about her cooking show, a detective comes to her house. He says, he is investing the case of her missing neighbor Saffron, who is a famous actress. Amy doesn't seem very concerned for this fact. After questioning her, the detective goes so Saffron's house where Amy comes. Then by the discussion between Amy and the detective, we learn about her life.

Amy used to live with her boyfriend, who pays for all her obsession. Amy is a perfectionist regarding preparing food. One day they saw their new neighbor Saffron who is not a social person. But soon Amy discovers that she is her favorite movie actress Saffron, who is now famous for writing a column about sex in a magazine. Amy tries to talk with her, but Saffron doesn't seem interested to socialize. Saffron herself is passing a hard time after getting rejected for roles for her age.

One night while dining, Amy's boyfriend expresses his dissatisfaction to life for Amy's obsession for food. Amy tries to comfort him using more food, which makes the situation worse. That nigh, Amy keeps some desserts for Saffron at her doorstep. Next day, Amy finds her boyfriend having fast food with his female colleague. This makes Amy sad and angry. That night, Amy cooks his boyfriend's pet part and feed that to him. Being disgusted, he leaves Amy.

Then Amy tries to befriend Saffron. She cooks food for Saffron regularly and takes them to her house. But Saffron doesn't eat those even when Amy resists. One day, Amy finds all the foods the cooked for Saffron in a bin. Amy gets angry and makes Saffron eat some of them. Then Saffron tells Amy for her eating disorders. Then both of them become friends.

They start to spend times together and and Saffron starts to eat foods which Amy cooks specially for her. Then in one of her auditions, Saffron faces the man who molested her in her childhood. Saffron runs away from there and breaks down when she comes home. Amy consoles her and then they have sex.

But what happens to Saffron after that? Where has she disappeared? Can the detective solve the case? Lets watch the movie for these answers.

Heather Graham and Kevin Dillon in Compulsion

My review about the movie Compulsion:

First of all, I didn't like the movie Compulsion much.

The plot of Compulsion is very straightforward. Although it has a twist at the end, but throughout the whole movie, the plot went straight and slow. Some more characters or some more interactions between these same characters could make this movie better. At several times, the movie seemed boring. So the screenplay didn't seem very interesting. The direction was just okay, nothing extraordinary.

The acting of all the characters in Compulsion were good, but again, nothing extraordinary. The acting of the leading character Heather Graham didn't impress me much, as sometimes it felt like she was overacting. We have seen better acting from her in other movies. But the acting of Carrie-Anne Moss were impressive. The dialogues were good in Compulsion.

The editing, music and sound effects of Compulsion were also good. Same goes for lighting and camera effects. But I didn't like the costume designs, as several costumes (specially for Heather Graham) were used repeatedly. In a movie like this, it could use better variations. The set design also looked boring for the same reason, lack of variations. At different places, the set design could be better.

Although Compulsion doesn't contain any direct nudity, but for the context of this movie, it is not suitable for kids. But from the same context, this one could have a good use of some nudity.

So overall, I didn't enjoy watching Compulsion. This movie had the opportunity to do far better, but the director couldn't use them. Even the charm of Heather Graham may not make it up for you. I won't recommend watching Compulsion to thriller or drama lovers. 

To know more about it:
IMDB Link: Compulsion movie on IMDB
Wikipedia Link: Compulsion on Wiki

If you are still interested to give Compulsion a try, then you can find the best deal on it on Amazon here: Compulsion Movie

Ending explanation of the movie Compulsion:

The below part contains spoiler, so that is written in the white font. To read that part, click and hold your mouse button and drag to select the below paragraph:

The very last fading scene before the credits, the shape of the food and the reaction of the detective – all these suggest that, somehow Amy has killed Saffron and has fed part of her to the detective. 

How did you like this movie? Don't forget to rate and share your comments about Compulsion !