Netflix’s Blood-Soaked Revenge Thriller Is the Unofficial John Wick Spinoff We Always Wanted

In latest a long time, South Korea has launched a wide range of distinctive thrillers into the worldwide movie and TV scene. Bong Joon-ho‘s history-making masterpiece Parasite and Hwang Dong-hkuk‘s worldwide phenomenon Squid Sport each linked with worldwide audiences by their incisive have a look at the ills of capitalism. Park Chan-wook‘s devastating Oldboy and Kim Jee-woon‘s I Noticed the Satan take audiences and protagonists alike to darkish locations. Jung Byung-Gil‘s The Man from Nowhere is outstanding, whereas Na Hong-jin‘s horrific The Wailing is likely one of the higher supernatural horror movies in our period.

Many of those tasks mix unflinching seems at human villainy, visceral motion, shocking plot twists, and excessive manufacturing worth to create a number of the most watchable and heart-pounding thrillers we have seen. In Mercy for None, So Ji-seob powerfully adeptly performs an emotional juggernaut on a marketing campaign of revenge. A few of it requires suspension of disbelief, nevertheless it’s a gritty, action-packed, twisty thriller that satisfies the itch to see lots of of gangsters yeeted throughout a room by a really unhappy man.

What Is ‘Mercy for None’ About?

Eleven years earlier than the occasions of Mercy for None, legendary gangster Nam Ki-jun (So Ji-seob) has lengthy since deserted a lifetime of crime (severing his Achilles tendon to take action). When his youthful brother, Nam Ki-seok (Lee Jun-hyuk), is ambushed and killed, Ki-jun comes out of retirement to search out folks and leads to find who killed his brother and why. He places himself within the crosshairs of a variety of felony organizations as he plows by opposition, even coming nose to nose with unhinged younger mob inheritor Koo Jun-Mo (Gong Myoung) and his seemingly limitless provide of thugs. It spirals into enjoyably sudden instructions as betrayals, secret plans, and the implications of vengeance come to mild.

So Ji-seob offers a robust efficiency as grizzled protagonist Nam Ki-jun. He is definitely a personality who does extra with actions than phrases, however Ji-seob emotes effectively, plodding by obstacles and over our bodies with an evident disappointment befitting a personality struggling loss. He additionally capably handles the motion choreography, along with his fight feeling pure with skilled effectivity. The collection options a couple of distinct sociopaths who’re performed with aptitude, together with Gong Myoung as inheritor obvious Koo Jun-mo. An Kil-kang and Heo Jun-ho additionally adeptly painting dueling gang heads dealing with a weak truce.

Many tasks try and be John Wick-esque nowadays, however Mercy for None truly deserves the title. The “returned ultra-violent felony carves a body-strewn path by gangland” similarities are clear from Episode 1, however key variations in fashion set the tasks aside. Avoiding weapons permits struggle sequences to really feel gritty, shut, and private, nearer in spirit to Oldboy‘s signature hallway hammer struggle than to Wick‘s polished gun-fu. The struggle sequences are visceral, bloody, and intense, whereas So Ji-seob conjures his interior Michael Myers and regulates dozens of foes at a time. It isn’t at all times believable (generally he hits a person, they usually go flying in irrational methods), nevertheless it’s genuinely enjoyable to look at.

Characters from The Wailing, Parasite, and Memories of Murder

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Put together to be disturbed.

If You Need a Bloody Motion Thriller With Aptitude, Look No Additional Than ‘Mercy for None’

mercy-for-none-netflix — Picture through Netflix

There are minor quibbles that may very well be had with Mercy for None. It does not dive deep into the interiority of Nam Ki-jun or different main characters. Ki-jun is usually silent and perpetually vaguely unhappy, and infrequently will we get a deeper sense of any character past harmful motives like revenge or ambition. One has to easily settle for that issues are occurring and go away it there. That stated, Mercy for None lands its blood-soaked motion sequences and sufficiently shocking plotting to remain participating, alongside a stable set of central performances that elevate the threadbare characterization.

It is exhausting to explain Mercy for None in a manner that does not sound like a John Wick ripoff, nevertheless it leans into the tropes of South Korean thrillers to raise an in any other case easy revenge narrative. So Ji-seob is nice because the grieving however lethal protagonist, whereas supporting gamers give persona to generally underdeveloped characters. It is a easy collection that is aware of precisely what it is–an exploration of how breakable our bodies are — and on that rating, it delivers in regularly entertaining methods. Bones crack, our bodies fly, and blood stains the partitions of many villains’ hideaways. Among the characterization may very well be richer, particulars may make extra sense, and the physics of explicit motion scenes is often suspect, nevertheless it’s a well-executed thriller collection nonetheless.

Mercy for None

Followers of action-heavy South Korean thrillers cannot miss Mercy for None.

Launch Date: June 6, 2025
Community: Netflix

Professionals & Cons

So Ji-sub is nice because the grieving, violent protagonist, anchoring the character and touchdown the motion sequences.
The collection maintains the high-energy melee aptitude that one of the best South Korean thrillers have, with stellar struggle choreography.
The narrative is sufficiently complicated to maintain the story recent and shocking.