Good, The Bad, The Weird, The

Original Title: 좋은 놈, 나쁜 놈, 이상한 놈
Release Date: July 17, 2008
Director: Ji-Woon Kim
Screenplay By: Ji-Woon Kim, Min-Suk Kim
Cast: Byung-Hun Lee, Kang-Ho Song, Woo-Sung Jung, Je-Moon Yoon, Sung-Soo Ryu,

Set in 1930’s Manchuria, this odd Korean, Chinese, Japanese spaghetti western focuses on three men all gunning for the same treasure.

Kang-Ho Song plays “The Weird”  Tae-Goo Yoon, a goofy man who appears to blunder about, surviving merely by luck. Tae-Goo happens upon a map that appears to lead to a great treasure, the only problem is that Chang-Yi Park “The Bad” (Lee) was already on a mission to find the map. “The Good” Do-Won Park (Jung) gets into the mix on the train trying to capture both of the men for the bounties on their heads.

Chang-Yi chases Tae-Goo, while Do-Won chases both and then things spin around and around, until the audience isn’t quite sure who to follow and root for anymore.

I was fortunate enough to see this movie at the theater with a friend who was kind enough to go along with me. Ten minutes into the movie, I turned to her and said, “Are you having as much fun as I am?!” She nodded big and smiled.

That’s the feeling that you get with The Good, The Bad, The Weird. It’s an exciting romp through 1930’s Asia, and I love seeing the great mix of Korean, Chinese, and Japanese costumes and hearing all three languages, as if all of my fanbases were coming together just for me.

Ji-Woon Kim has a way of getting the most out of his actors. They all admitted they had been wanting to work with each other and felt fortunate to have been able to make this movie together, but that they were exhausted after working in the sand-storm swept deserts of China.

In all, this movie takes a simple plot — three men, all after the same thing chasing one another — and makes it interesting and entertaining. If you’re looking for a film without any romantic entanglements that will ensure you a good time — this is a must-see.

Rating: ★★★★¾ 

Part of the Korean Film Blogathon by newkoreancinema.com

Jenna

Part-time student, full-time media whore, fan of all things Asian.

7 Responses

  1. julili says:

    OPPA! BYUNG-HUN OPPA!

  2. amy says:

    Yup, this one is one exciting SOB. xD Blockbuster goodness all around, too bad it didn’t make it down here! Such a pity that foreign markets depend on America to get distributed anywhere else — at least in Latin America. If it doesn’t open there, we don’t get it.

    Do you know how well it did in the US?

    • Jenna says:

      @amy, It opened here in select theaters – does it have to be a big open for it to make it down there?

      • amy says:

        @Jenna, it needs to be big. Last Asian film to get here was Departures, and it was because it won Best Picture. LOL Before that was Curse of the Golden Flower…

        or they take years to get here. We just Mongol, after years.

  1. January 20, 2014

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    […] of genres that wouldn’t necessarily go together but loved seeing here. Think of it as The Good, The Bad, The Weird meets Inglourious Basterds turns into The Message, that’s as close a description as […]

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