The Good, the Bad, the Weird: Review

Last Year's Most Anticipated Korean Film By Kim Jee-woon

Feb 11, 2009

This parallel of Sergio Leone's masterpiece 'The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly' is much more than a whacky re-make.

Set in the Northeast provinces of China in the 1930’s, Manchuria is under the colonial rule of the Japanese, acting as an equivalent Rhineland to the powers of Russia, China, and a Japanese-occupied Korea.

A perfect setting then, for the kind of lawless lifestyles captured in the original spaghetti Western, where news has spread of a highly sought after map being carried on a cross-country train by Japanese officials.

Arriving to steal the document is hitman Park Chang-yi (Lee Byung-hyun) and his mercenary gang, followed by Park Do-won (Jung Woo-sung) who’s been hired by Korean freedom fighters. Both are beaten to the map, however, by Yoon Tae-goo (Song Kang-ho), who’s just out for a train robbery.

Add to that the onlooking Manchurian Bandits and the stage is set as all parties vie to track down Tae-goo and what he supposes to be a treasure map.

At this point it may sound a little like the Good, the Bad, and the Rat Race, but history between the three men surfaces as they repeatedly cross paths. While Do-won is also after the bounty on Chang-yi’s head, he’s tempted by Tae-goo’s offer to split the treasure and Chang-yi himself seems vengefully driven to confront the ever-elusive Tae-goo.

The Good, the Bad, the Weird: Summary

This is not a commercially driven re-make of the like we’re often treated to in the East-to-West tradition. That’s clear from the fact that at $17 million this is the most expensive film production in Korean history (which may be pretty meek by Western standards, but these are directors and crewmen used to working with much, much less).

There’s a sense of scale to the production with big fights, big scenery and big set-pieces, where an elaborate market provides the setting for one prolonged shoot-out, but even that is dwarfed by a sequence in which Tae-goo is chased across the Gobi desert by bounty hunter, hitman, mercenaries, bandits, and the Japanese army. It’s pretty damn breathtaking.

So it definitely has BIGNESS, but these extended scenes of sweeping violence do come at the cost of narrative depth. For instance, more could have been made of the national struggles between Korea and Japan, as it was with the American Civil war in Leone’s Epic.

Jee-woon’s version, however, makes no attempt to retain the heavy-hearted conflicts around the main trio and the film’s levity should tell you that it’s a celebration of the original, intent on pursuing it’s own style and humour. So it’s either not a re-make, or what every re-make should be.

This is highlighted by Chan Young-gyu’s music score, which brings plenty of the right spirit for this film, but doesn’t try to capture Ennio Morricone’s famous opening or ‘The Ecstasy of Gold’ track, in what might just be the greatest film score ever composed.

Comparing the film then, to Leone’s original just wouldn’t be right. This is film-making with genuine flair, a lot of laughs, and has rightly been praised by most critics and viewers alike.

The Good, the Bad, the Weird: Cast

Jung Woo-sung (known for films like Beat, Musa, and A Moment to Remember) has the least developed character of the central trio as the analogue of Clint Eastwood’s ‘Blondie’. Where Clint was only relatively clean for the setting, Jung’s youthful features appear completely untouched by the environment in a deliberate nod to the premise. Nonetheless, Woo-sung remains perfectly passable in a character whose heroics are a basis for some great stunts.

Lee Byung-hyun (Joint Security Area, A Bittersweet Life) is another top Korean actor, here as the counterpart of Lee Van Cleef’s ‘Angel Eyes’.

There’s been plenty of characters in this archetype (i.e: cool, brooding, psychotic, talented killer-type) but Byung-hyun would make any director proud to have him as their own cool, brooding, psychotic, talented, killer-type. Between the calm exterior fasade and the venomous rage that’s eating away inside, Byung-hyun intensely portrays the unhinged middle ground, giving him a vulnerability to go with his lethal prowess.

Song Kang-ho, meanwhile, is the star of Weird just as Eli Wallach was for Ugly. Like the irrepressible Tuco, he’s neither heroic bounty hunter or mercenary killer, but a thoroughbred survivor. Here, there is the added dimension of his history with Chang-yi, which works well for both characters and a film whose plot is, albeit, paper-thin.

Song Kang-ho started his career under Kim Jee-woon’s direction, with an early appearance in Jee-woon’s debut film, The Quiet Family (which also featured a part for Choi Min-sik) and had the lead role in The Foul King. Kang-ho has since become an award-winning actor and, suffice to say, is faultless in the part of Tae-goo.

There’s a lot of notable bit-part players as well – but there's just no room for 'em.

Director Kim Jee-woon Filmography

Kim Jee-woon has been successfully plying his trade across genres. Working here with a capable crew, even the extended version of the film feels pacey, with great cinematography and dynamic camera-work. If it’s not amongst the very best in Korean cinema, it’s still very close and of a high quality.

For anyone interested in pursuing other films by this director, this is what Jee-woon’s filmography looks like:

A Western release date for Weird remains anticipated, but you can find a good quality trailer Here.

The copyright of the article The Good, the Bad, the Weird: Review in Asian Films is owned by Michael Pantazi. Permission to republish The Good, the Bad, the Weird: Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.