Save your money for something good and enjoyable

just watch it!

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Emblazoned on the cover of the UK DVD release for 'Nowhere to Hide' is a line of text taken from a newspaper review claiming it is "a sure-fire hit with fans of Hard Boiled." Written on the back is another similar exclamation, stating "Is the world ready for the next John Woo?" In terms of marketing they certainly picked their strategy yet it's an extremely misleading tag. In fact, I'm not sure either of those quotes come from people who have actually seen it, because this is more of a Dirty Harry style cop thriller than a Chow Yun-Fat shoot 'em up with a body count so astronomical it's a miracle there's anyone left alive in East Asia.The story (what little of it there is) revolves around two Detectives, Woo and Kim as they attempt to track down a killer named Chang Sungmin. And that's all you need to know really because there's very little in the way of expanding on this in the film whatsoever. The murder committed at the start which triggers the hunt is given no explanation or motive, simply brushed off as 'drug related' and the rest of the running time seems committed to sticking in as many fancy camera tricks as possible and this is where it all falls flat."Nowhere to Hide" you see, wants to be cool. Desperately. It wants to be spoken of in the same breath as Tarantino and it yearns for this hipster status so much it falls flat on it's face, the posturing braggard's mask slipping and revealing the sweaty nerd underneath. Just look at the characters walking in slow motion towards the camera with rock music playing behind them, the whole sorry enterprise just screams "LOVE US" so much it makes you cringe. And this is carried over into leading man Joong-Hoon Park's performance. He's one of these stereotypical 'bad guy' cops you see that defies the regulations and matches it with a cocky swagger. And this loosely translates as him beating people up, threatening women and setting his face to maximum leer and gurn mode throughout while his attempt at swaggering has him walking like a hunched over prat for the whole movie.One area it does succeed however is in the dizzying showmanship of the numerous cinematography gimmicks on display. The first five minutes for instance are filmed entirely in black and white and there are loads of intriguing tricks littered throughout, providing a pulsing sense of adrenalin that the plot cannot provide. It may go overboard at times (do we really need to have the shot of several policemen running into a hiding place in Matrix style slow motion?) but this flashy excess does help it stand out from the crowd.In short then, not a successful movie. If you want a good Asian cop thriller, ignore this and go straight for Infernal Affairs. If you've already seen it, just watch it again. This is no substitute at all. The camera tricks may provide a good talking point, but the irritating lead, non-existent story and frankly rather rubbish action scenes let everything down. Style over substance to a T.

This film is not an obvious one for everyone. To quote the main star "You don't think this is your normal cops & robber film do you?". The story follows primarily the chase between a clever and elusive gangster, charged with murder, and a very unorthodox detective.The setting is South Korea, home of the best cinema in the world this decade, and the race is taken against a backdrop of mixed directorial styles such that it overtakes the story, although this is no bad thing. The direction blends together styles that Tarantino I'm sure would be jealous of, as it puts his effort in the same vein (kill bill) to shame.This shouldn't be though to forget the acting with the lead role of Detectie Woo being a great charismatic character even with all his faults.If you want to watch a strong movie with style and originality. Then this is it. Engaging and interesting, and very very modern, will be a seminal movie for the genre in years to come.

I really enjoyed watching this film, I was on the edge of my seat most of the time.It's great to watch a film where the director is in love with the possibilities of film, making use of every trick in the cinematic book. This everything-and-the-kitchen-sink style seems popular in Asia as Tears of the Black Tiger had used a similar approach. Sure, the detective's are made out to be as vicious as the criminals they're chasing but I can't think of too many films that portrayed the police in a positive light (ok, I'll let you have 'Police Academy'). The only problems for me were the somewhat plodding pace between the action sequences and that the audience never got to know anything about Sungmin.

The entire first half of this film seems to be far too over produced. Edits are fast and out of place, stylish cuts are made and leaps from black and white to colour, from moving to stills. It's just all too much, without enough content. The characters are given a light glossing over and there's no depth to them, you don't care for anyone, and indeed end up hating everyone, except for a slight liking for the bad guy who at least looks cool. Much of the film tries to leap between serious and comic for no apparent reason. One moment a fight scene will be moody and cool, the next there's a waltz and the characters are dancing. This just seems to be an exercise in creating an MTV film…cool and shallow, and it fails on the first point. I almost switched off during this, and I have to say I hardly ever do that, I can always find something good in a movie…not this one.