The Good, The Bad, and The Weird
2008
Directed by Kim Jee-woon
I inadvertently seemed to have left all the really sad foreign films for last, so I'm delighted that there is still an action comedy to stumble upon among my remaining titles. I feel like this refreshed me, and now I am ready to go back to watching solemn monks, starving children, or whatever else the List has to throw at me during my home stretch.
The film takes place in Manchuria on the brink of World War II. Park Chang-yi is the Bad, and enjoys cutting people's fingers off. He is hired to acquire a treasure map of a Japanese man traveling by train. His plan of stealing the map is thwarted by Yoon Tae-goo, the Weird, who gets to the map on the train first. In all the chaos, Park Do-Won, the Good, appears, who wants to claim the bounty on the Bad's head. Enough violence ensues to make Tarantino proud.
Well, a lot of this movie was watching action scenes, and if you're not the type to enjoy that, you might find this film rather dull. The ploy may be thin, but it's also exciting and energetic. I liked the homage to Westerns with a distinctly Eastern twist.
And the last twenty minutes of the move provides great pay off.
RATING: ****-
Interesting Facts:
Interesting Facts:
Kim Jee-woon refers to this as a "kimchee western," because it's spicy and vibrant, like Korean culture and people.
Most expensive film in Korean history.
I do read all your new posts, it's just that I haven't seen them so have nothing to add. But I've seen this.
ReplyDeleteI recall the opening sequence being breathtaking and the rest of the film being pretty good but not living up to that standard.
I've enjoyed most Korean films I've seen. I feel I should watch more of them.