“No Mercy” Korean Theatrical Poster
Director: Im Kyung-Taek
Cast: Lee Si-Young, Park Se-Wan, Lee Joon-Hyuk, Choi Jin-Ho, Lee Hyeong-Cheol, Kim Won-Hae, Kwak Min-Suk, Kim Ki-Moo, Yoon Song-A, An Se-Ha
Running Time: 92 min.
By Paul Bramhall
Not to be confused with the 2010 movie of the same name starring Sol Kyung-gu and Ryoo Seong-bum, the 2019 No Mercy is a DTV action vehicle for amateur boxer turned actress Lee Si-young. The list of boxers who have turned to acting is a short one (and no, Mike Tyson doesn’t count), and female boxers even shorter, so Si-young’s talents have always offered up a unique proposition for any director willing to utilise them. The Korean film industry doesn’t have a particularly big market for action actresses though, and even when they do crank out an action-centric production with a female lead, it’s usually with an established star (Kim Ok-vin in The Villainess and Kim Hye-soo in A Special Lady for example). As a result Si-young has mostly found herself in comparatively conventional roles in flicks like The Divine Move and Descendants of Hong Gil-dong.
Thankfully after her scene stealing turn as a firefighter in the 2020 Netflix series Sweet Home, Si-young found herself in the spotlight, and audiences only had to look a year earlier to find a production that places her action talents front and centre. The world of Korean DTV action flicks is a decidedly low budget one, and ones starring a female lead are a rarity, with 2012’s Lady Furious being the only other that springs to mind, which was a vehicle for stuntwoman Jo Joo-hyun. However No Mercy feels most comparable to another entry in the Korean DTV action genre, in the form of 2011’s The Beast. While the plot involved the rather ridiculous scenario of Jung Suk-won’s characters sister being kidnapped to star in an online porno movie, No Mercy features a similar riff on the same theme.
Here the recently released from prison Si-young returns to care for her 18-year-old sister, played by Park Se-wan (Collectors, Omok Girl), who has a disability which means her mental age is more like that of a 10-year-old. While the pair have a close bond and would do anything for each other, little does Si-young know that in her 3 years away, Se-wan has been subject to constant violence and sexual abuse from an undesirable group of characters in the school she attends. Thanks to movie magic, on only the second night Si-young is out of prison Se-wan mysteriously doesn’t return home.
Clearly taking inspiration from 2016’s Derailed, it turns out she’s been forced to take part in a prostitution scam – one where a girl goes to a hotel room with a client, pretends to use the bathroom so she can text her location, then a gang burst in and steal all the client’s cash and cards. Also like in Derailed, when one of the clients they attempt to ambush turns out to be a character they’d be better off not crossing paths with, in this case a vicious loan shark, Se-wan is kidnapped and forced into sex work. If that all sounds a little grim, you wouldn’t be wrong. The world that No Mercy takes place in seems to be one where every male character is either already a misogynistic rapist, or has the potential to be one just bubbling underneath the surface, and mentally challenged 18-year-old girls appear to be the ultimate turn on to a cast filled with degenerates.
The purpose of all of this cruelty is of course so that we can get behind Si-young and her mission to bring her sister back to safety. In the opening scene we first meet her driving a beat up and battered Ford Mustang (an obvious nod to John Wick) into a local garage. Stepping out in a striking red dress and matching high heels (which she wears for the duration), the sight of her dragging a sledgehammer across the floor to dispense of just one in a long line up of men who have done her sister wrong gets No Mercy off to a solid start. The sophomore feature of director Lim Kyeong-taek after his 2007 debut Angel, an entry in the erotic thriller omnibus Temptation of Eve, No Mercy struggles to maintain it’s good first impression despite a punchy runtime of just over 90 minutes.
Kyeong-taek seems to struggle in particular with pacing, a fact confounded further by a repetitive script from first-time script writer Kim Min, for which No Mercy remains the sole entry in his filmography. There is an overarching plot linked to the character responsible for putting Si-young behind bars, but by the time it’s revealed it just feels like it’s there, with no build up or particular relation to the events that precede it. The events in question largely involve Se-wan getting passed from pillar to post through a variety of unsavoury scenarios – from the prostitution scam, to being under the duress of the loan shark, to being forced to work in a massage parlour, to eventually being held hostage by the villain of the piece. If there was an award for the unluckiest character of 2019, Se-wan’s would likely win it.
The unfortunate series of events may be more bearable if we at least get to know her character more, but she remains largely 2 dimensional, there to scream, cry, and struggle through each of the demeaning situations she’s placed in. Almost as if the Kyeong-taek realised that the story is too slight to fill 90 mins, combined with a lack of creativity and budget, the plot is padded out further by additional reveals that the local convenience store owner also raped Se-wan, and so did the local photograph studio owner, and so did the local garage owner. The grimness is piled on, and despite there being no nudity on display, the repulsiveness of what’s suggested, and the fact that it’s all centred around assaulting an underage girl with a mental disability, come together to make No Mercy sometimes feel like a gruelling watch.
What’s left is the action, and the reveal that Si-young’s character is special forces trained means that she’s able to dispatch bad guys quickly and efficiently in close quarters combat. Her ability is put up against opponents who outmatch her in both size and strength, which leads to a number of short but mostly satisfying confrontations, one’s which favour reality over any kind of stylistic fighting. A highlight sees her taking on the loan shark, played by Lee Hyung-chul (Deranged, Love Phobia), in a stationery car. It’s an effective scene, however the budget once again rears its head as the filming of it is less than stellar. The framing struggles to capture the action, and is a little too obviously reliant on filming through an open trunk or the windows, trying to keep up with the action rather than complimenting it.
Where No Mercy is more effective is when it allows Si-young to resort to brute force, with some surprisingly bloody moments. Her use of the sledgehammer on the garage owners’ hand is a highlight, resulting in an open wound which she then stands on (or in?) with the stem of her heel, resulting in a suitably wince worthy moment. The finale also sees her go full on The Man from Nowhere, taking on a group of suited attackers in a scene which incorporates planks of wood (lots of them), knives, guns, and a taser. Si-young acquits herself well in these scenes, not only relying on her boxing skill, but also incorporating in kicks and grappling. It’s more the potential that these scenes show that keep the interest than the content of them though, hinting at what she could be capable of if allowed to headline a higher budgeted production with someone like Jung Doo-hong doing the action choreography.
In the end No Mercy fails to elevate itself above the same problems that most of Korea’s DTV action output suffers from – inconsistent pacing issues, too many plot holes to ignore, thinly drawn characters, and action that shows potential but is let down by the way its shot. While in the end the sisters that Si-young and Se-wan play are reunited, what’s next for them remains ambiguous, with an uncertainty hanging over what it means to live in a world seemingly filled with sexual predators around every corner. Director Kyeong-taek may have thought he was going for a dark and gritty piece of filmmaking incorporating hard hitting action scenes, and indeed that’s likely how No Mercy is sold on paper. The reality is much more lacklustre, with a final product that frustrates much more than it fulfils.
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 5/10
It’s unfortunate that this had to be lackluster. Coincidently, an American film with a very similar plot and concept just came out called Catch The Fair One which stars boxer turned actor Kali Reis. It’s also about a boxer who tries to rescue her sister from a human trafficking ring. While she’s good in it, and there’s some interesting (and disturbing but inexplicit) parts, the film ultimately wastes her talents and makes the plot unremarkable.
I guess it was never meant to be an action film and more of a slow boil character study, but the marketing made it look like The Woman From Nowhere. Now we got two similar movies that let the audience down.
Ironically the Korean title for this one can be translated as ‘Older Sister’ (Eonni), while the Korean title of ‘The Man from Nowhere’ can be translated as ‘Older Brother’ (Ajeossi), so based on titles alone they pair quite nicely!