No Mercy (2019)

Again another example of K-fandom rating anything that doesn't appeal to their fangirl midnight fantasies, being rated below 8 or even lower than 5, when pure visual nonsense like Hwarang gets a plethora of 10/10s.

Yes this is a seriously dark movie, and at times it had me feeling nauseated and extremely infuriated. But was any of that towards the script, author or the industry? No, for once it was out of empathy. This was absolutely horrible, and that's what it was trying to deliver, the worst parts of society. It was extremely immersive and acting was just so convincing that at the end, I had almost forgotten this wasn't a work of fiction. The blood effects and other props were on point as well.

This movie absolutely killed me inside, to project yourself into the protagonist or just empathize with her was a purely painful experience -- but it felt so very real and that's what mattered. The rape scenes weren't excessive, and I liked that, in the sense that the development team wasn't trying to capitalize on cheap semi-nude shots like almost every movie similar to this -- which usually just feels like insult to injury.

I honestly cannot think of a better actress for the role, the subtle displays of dismay, suffering and unconditional love from her.

Cinematography was on point as well but at times it felt inconsistent, although the overall quality was still good. Fight scenes had room for improvement, and South Korea's attitude towards weapons had this movie switching between conventional and unconventional weaponry and fight scenes.

The music was absolutely perfect, resonated very well with the highs and lows of the movie and delivered heartbreaking moments very well.

You're not going to feel happy watching this and you're not supposed to. Don't blame the movie for how you feel, but blame yourself for not knowing what to expect.

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Please don't watch this film if you are triggered by rape.

Halfway through this movie, I got so disgusted and almost couldn't finish it. I tried to watch to the end hoping the ending would finally make the movie mean something, but it didn't. There was just no point in this film. It's like we got Lee Shi Young is a badass action actor. (check) Men are trash narrative (check) Violence (check) a ridiculous outfit for the female lead (check) Skirt shots (check check check) This movie tried to disguise itself as some sort of badass empowering film (from the pictures at least) but it doesn't achieve any of that in my opinion.

The film is basically about a young mentally challenged girl has been sexually assaulted not once but 6 times by six different men. And the message ended up being about sisterhood and violent revenge? Like I felt like the movie was just using the female characters instead of actually telling a meaningful story about them. I'm always excited to see Lee Shi Young in action roles but this movie was a mess with no true plot and just gross. I'm all here for revenge plots but they weren't even satisfying revenge scenarios. If I wanted to watch stories about sex offenders who don't get any real justice then I'd stick to watching the news. Yes, the movie provides us with a type of violent revenge. But what does that do for the victim? What does a couple of lost fingers and bruised faces do for all her pain? Those men still got to live. And even if they didn't the movie doesn't give you any type of closure after all of this.

The movie was just sad, disgusting and left a bad taste in my mouth. I don't recommend it at all.

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The Good
No Mercy doesn’t mess around when it comes to action. It starts off with high intensity from the get-go, and maintains it throughout its duration. And that’s what this movie does extremely well; giving the audience a badass action movie with an equivalently badass female lead.
It’s filled with very refreshing action sequences, as one can tell from the trailers, and despite it seeming cheesy in the previews, the fight scenes were quite satisfying in the movie itself. The film goes through a lot of different phases, but action was a mutual quality that ran throughout the runtime.

To be completely honest, Lee Si-Young’s acting wasn’t anything spectacular. However, her ability to carry out the strenuous actions the movie demanded was incredible. I believe Lee Si-Young actually performed all of her action scenes without a stunt double, which makes it even more impressive. Some may say this was just another revengeful movie, but it actually had several social messages.

The Bad
As with any other movies, there’s always room for improvement. By no means was a perfect film. One negative about the film in my opinion was the cinematography they chose to go with. It felt kind of old school at times, but modern at others, making the tone seem inconsistent.

And finally, one of the main reasons why I feel like was rated R was due to its vulgar language. The Korean equivalent of the “F” word was used like every other sentence. Yes, there were other elements that contributed to the film being rated 19+.

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Just Turn On The Evening News for the same CRAP!

I cannot justify giving this film any higher of a rating...

Sure, the main actresses, both sisters, played theIr parts well, the support cast did an excellent job playing the vilians, and the other bit parts all added to the overall "feeL" of this film...both supporting the main actresses and making the plot believable.

The colors were vivid, especially the over-use of the color 'red', not just the blood, either.

But WHY would anyone in the their right mind would want to sit through a movie that 'insinuates' a 'special needs' teenage girl being raped several times, even though it was most suggestive rather than blatantly excessive; no nudity, thank God! Also, why would anyone want to see a lovely lady, dressed in red (probably to hide her bleeding if she got hurt; I am joking here), but the color 'red' is a major symbol in this movie, but I am not going to go there in this review).

You can watch Clint Eastwood in his DIRTY HARRY series, you can watch Bruce Willis in his John McClan character in the DIE HARD franchise, or a dozen other similar films. Does the 'hero' being a 'heroine' beating everyone up make this film any more worth watching?

The older sister Park In Ae (Lee Si Young) was justified trying to rescue her younger sister (Park Eun Hye, played by Park Se Wan) but other avenue could have been taken: get the media involved and the girl would become so hot that they would gladly give up gettng their money back and protecting their 'business' overall.

I agree with a lot of what was said by other reviewers before me, but my main reason for writing this review is

1) When was the line between justice and overstepping boundaries crossed in this movie?

2) The worst part of this movie is that it shows how GREED and LUST drives the sexual slave market; everyone, including an old man, who wanted to get a piece of the teenage girl and even try to make a buck off of further sexual 'use' of her; it's all I could do to fast forward through the blood and guts and the passing on of the girl to someone else!

I guess my work in emergency services: ambulance attendant, Emergency Room technician, Warm and Hot lines, and Rape Advocacy over the years, took control of me in the opening sequences; I enjoy a good shoot-em-up and 'Dirty Harry'-type movie occasionally, but not involving teenage (especially) special-needs girls being molested time and time again.

I feel that the director 'sold' out to make this movie more appealing to an American audience, my main problem with the way a lot of newer Asian movies are slanted!

RE-WATCH: Never again!

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The Darkness Could Get You Sick

This movie is action packed like no ones business. It also broke my heart.

I mean it had a very clear path for how the plot would unfold. It’s just that the further we went in the film the more darkness was uncovered. Hidden secrets coming to light in such a terrible fashion. Aside from trying to can to her end goal there truly wasn't too much plot or backstory. The only thing would be uncovering the pasts of the sisters. I will reiterate the action and violence was next level. Very realistic. I feel satisfied with the ending if not a little empty. I wish there had been a bit more justice dealt out. One can only assume the true ending.

The casting was very well done, and I got to see some actors in a very different light. This film made me sick to my stomach at times. It was more heart-wrenching then I thought it was going to be. Yet I knew it was going to be sad and dark . Oh my goodness just so dark and terrible. The sheer amount of assaults that happened in this film are tragic, but its showing a side of reality that not everyone chooses to acknowledge.

The film left me with a lot of emotions still swirling around. If some time passes I could see it being watched again.. If there was absolutely nothing else to watch. I mean i love Lee Si-Young, she's just awesome in everything I see her in. The music was also relatively well placed and matched the movie really nicely. This is a thriller, vengeance, revenge film..and it was quite good. I just wouldn't recommend it to everyone.

Sara Rojas JULY 22 2021

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Gritty Movie - Not for Everyone

First: Some scenes may offend many. Second, don't read this review if you don't want spoilers - there are many. This is purely a recovery and revenge movie. Accomplished " BY ALL AND ANY MEANS NECESSARY". What is scary about this movie from a woman's perspective is to replace yourself as the victim. Who comes to your aide when you are being victimized. by every segment of society? I felt a sense of vindication watching this movie. When women call for help - little or no response and when you have slight or severe mental diseases as a woman you are easily preyed on and frankly as indicated in this movie - who cares?

I started this journey by accident - bored on a lazy evening I decided to check out Asian Crush. This was the first movie in the cue so I started watching without knowing anything about the storyline. I was quickly drawn in with feelings of outrage staring with the uncaring school associates allowing a mentally disadvantaged person to be abused and participating in the abuse. The first level of disgust.

Then my second level of disgust - other women clearly seeing her condition and participating in sexual abuse. A woman hero. Yes her sister is the hero - no holes barred - kickass - throw caution to the wind - recovery efforts that can only be described as supernatural.

The story takes on another level of disgust (my third) when the sister goes to the store based on a possible lead - only to discover MORE disgusting people. Her sister's sense of retribution and payback was pure satisfaction. Again, you have to ask yourself -- if the younger sister was not mentally disabled - who would help her?

Unable to quit watching because you have to find out the outcome, you are drawn further into human depravity. The common citizen doing their " I am not a good samaritan role. The only physical attempt by the victim to save herself results in nonchalant uncaring people on a bus filled with other women. No cameras, no heroes - no nothing - this was also disgusting. Watching her scream all the way off the bus and the door closing without a word brought tears to my eyes.

Yes, the fighting is over the top and bad sometimes - but the accomplishment of a goal and a lesson for all of us is taught in this drama. Your loved ones are sometimes your only lifeline. The actresses that played both roles were exceptional and I give them both A+ in their portrayal. Not a Man From Nowhere but close to it.

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Bad on all fronts

First, the story isn't for everyone. I did not like the underage aspect of it and my distaste started there.
But this is a Rescue+revenge movie so let's see how it plays out right?
Wrong. Everything is made to "look" real but it isn't, overacted, exaggerated, forced and lame combat scenes. Very disappointing action (and acting).
Most of all, she didn't even beat the girls who started it all.
I did not think I would ever find a Korean piece (Movie or Drama) that could be worse than Forecast love and weather, well look no further: This is my new low and I was generous giving it a 2.
While I absolutely LOVED the short series "Little Girl K", I thought this would be somewhat similar: I was wrong.

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Disturbing to say the least

This movie has the basest yet most disturbing plotline I've seen in a while and the thought this was made in 2019 almost brought me to the brink of despair. The scriptwriter has to have been a sadist otherwise there was absolutely no reason to tell this half-assed story about a special needs young girl who was raped repeatedly -on screen- in the most harrowing of circumstances. What was the point of this?

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I saw where this movie could have gone and things they could have done differently, but you could say that about almost any film.

It starts out unclear exactly what In Ae went into prison for considering the opening scene and was hard to invest in her character and story. But we cling on to the revenge aspect knowing what her sister has been through as we see it unfold in the film. Her sister on the other hand who had a lot of character development was well written. There were a lot of loose ends and no real "revenge/justice" for those who wronged Eun Hye. They all got off basically Scott free other than a few broken bones and busted lips, you may think that's harsh but considering what they've done, its nothing in comparison.

The production of the film is quite good, the actors who played evil characters did a very convincing job. Truly making us hate them and want them to get everything they have coming ( although in my opinion it wasn't enough). The action and fighting scenes were well done Lee Shi Young is never disappointing when it comes to that. the cinematography takes some interesting angles, adding to some scenes. The minor but important characters had some strange contradicting moments which were confusing and if done differently could have added much more ( the well dressed mean girl in the brothel who suddenly became obedient and dressed childishly, and the man in the suit who suddenly changed his mind).

Even with the jumps in the "logic" and having some confusing story choices it didn't cause the story to lose too much. I wasn't able to become fully invested in the story and characters but it still isn't an awful film.

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Dark mood

I've just spent 1h30 imagining myself killing people left and right...
Now it's over, and i'm in a crazy fool mood,
Here's the kind of story this is.
If you enjoy bisounours and wanna have faith in the goodness of the human race, never watch this.

Now for my review...

The music, sound effects, work for me.
It's dark, it suits the movie's story.

The visuals are very good, the red dress kicking ass FL thematic is super effective.
The action scenes are very well done.

The acting is excellent(special mention for Park Se Wan).

The story works as intended. You will support the lead, hate the vilains, and wish for a good ending.
But the FL finds her targets so easily sometimes that it's not always credible.
Some parts of the movie are a bit weird or rush, exemple: the link between the neighbors and the last villain.

Overall, i will give this movie a very good rating, yet there will be no rewatch.
It will take me some time to digest it.

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