'No Mercy' Leaves Audience Hanging

By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter

New domestic movie "No Mercy for the Rude" (Yeuiomnun Kotdul) is a story about a lonely professional killer, who decides to eliminate those who demonstrate disrespect and coarseness in their lives.

From the very beginning the black comedy twists familiar conventions used in typical action or gangster movies to create a peculiar sense of humor and jokes.

In the film, clumsy killers are far from "being cool" and things often get messy with silly and unexpected sequences.

But such funny little moments and interesting characters are loosely combined and the story spirals off without a specific direction. The result is that audiences can't cope with the huge jump between early humor and a sudden tragic end.

Directed by Park Cheol-hee and starring Sin Ha-gyoon and Yoon Ji-hye, the film revolves around a professional killer with a speech impediment (played by Sin), who is believed to be mute. The truth is he doesn't talk because of a silly sounding voice created by his short tongue.

He chooses the job to earn enough money for an operation on his tongue so that he can talk like other people. He leads a lonely life with few contacts except for other "silly" killers.

When he is assigned to commit a brutal murder, the mute killer creates a rule. That rule is he will kill only impolite and rude people as the movie's Korean title "Yeuiomnun Kotdul" means "people without manners". None of the characters in the film have names, and are known as "killer", "boss", "detective", "woman at a bar", etc.

But his seemingly peaceful life encounters unexpected guests, putting him in a dilemma.

An attractive yet strange woman at a bar where he often goes after murdering a victim and a homeless kid, whom he meets on a street, want to live with him.

He finds himself in real trouble as a crime gang chases him, seeking revenge for their boss, whom he murdered.

The film begins with the promise that this is not a conventional movie. It hints that it will deliver a message on corruption through the eyes of the killer with its black humor. It is somewhat successful in its aim to be unconventional. But it is hard for audiences to follow the development of the story as each sequence is fragmented and lacking connection with the tragic end.