Written by Jee-woon Kim & Min-suk Kim
Directed by Jee-woon Kim
This is how Jee-woon Kim operates, he takes a concept and reinvents it with his own style. Many filmmakers do this, but what makes him different is he always takes an abrupt 90 degree turn, keeping the character types, the situations, and the settings of a genre, but then turning the film and putting those genre expectations firmly on their ear with style and panache.
From the rollicking opening on the train, to the final shootout, The Good, the Bad, and The Weird is indeed his retelling of Leone's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly with The Good (Woo-sung Jung), a straight as an arrow bounty hunter, The Bad (Byung-hun Lee) an ice cold assassin without remorse or feelings, and finally, The Weird (Kang-ho Song, another of the finest Asian actors alive at the moment) the loveable, unkillable scoundrel Tae-goo.
Like Leone's film, this one is about 3 men fighting for a map that is supposed to be the location of a large plot of treasure, but to get to it they must outwit each other, transverse 1940's Manchuria, escape the Chinese bandits, and the Japanese army.
Although the tone is akin to The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, there are elements of goofy comedy, and enough swashbuckling adventure to rival any Indiana Jones or Pirates of the Carribean movie. Most impressive are the methods he employed to get these shots, I'm still not sure how he got one shot that comes from behind the train and follows Tae-goo as he runs away before the train explodes. Aesthetically beautifully and technically marvelous all at once, with a rocking soundtrack that glides the action along.
All of these are the trademarks of a great director, and with only a short list of films on his resume, Jee-Woon Kim is quickly become a South Korean to watch, with the whole nation a hotbed for intense, exciting films. The whole thing looks and feels like an epic American western, all on what I'm sure is a relatively low budget. A great crew crafted a fantastic looking movie with tons of great acting and exciting sequences. I'm looking forward to his next movie, which will most likely be an American debut. In the meantime, The Good, The Bad, and The Weird is great fun.
9.3/10 (A)
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