Reviewed by Michael Edwards
Stars Song Kang-Ho, Lee Byung-Hun, Jung Woo-Sun,
Jo Kyeong-Hun, Kim Kwang-Il, Lee Cheong-A,
Ma Dong-seok, Oh Dal-su
Written by Kim Jee-Woon & Kim Min-Suk
Certification UK 15
Runtime 120 minutes
Directed by Kim Jee-Woon
The rise of Asian cinema as a global force has been an intriguing affair. Like many I was attracted to its dark difference, starting with the slow-burning and frequently violent works of directors like Takeshi Kitano and Takashi Miike. This lead to a spate of horrors, and subsequently to intriguing thrillers as masterfully exhibited by Korean director Park Chan-Wook's Vengeance trilogy. But it now seems that the world is ripe to receive a real range of films from Asia, and one man sure to benefit from that is Kim Jee-Woon. With an eye for movies of all genres (he's dabbled in horror, drama and romance) he has now been let loose on the Western.
Dubbed an Oriental Western, The Good, The Bad, The Weird is a superbly witty take on an old stuffy genre. He takes all of the tension, all of the hackneyed stereotypes and all of the bleak scenery and twists it on its head in an orgy of violence and confusion. If all of this sounds complicated, I'm explaining it wrong. The premise is simple: set in 1930s Manchuria, the film begins with a train heist. An opportunistic robber climbs on board to bag some booty from its wealthy passengers. However, he is unaware that representatives of the Japanese military are on board with a valuable map, a map which two more bands of thieves are about to storm the train in search of. Thus begins a huge chase film whose size is only dwarfed by its enormous entertainment value.
The beauty of the film is that Jee-Woon appears to have thought of everything. He saw that a new take on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly could be a bit tired, so he played with the idea - having the plot driven by the antics of the Ugly (or weird, in this case). He saw that this could just descend into a farce, and deployed some of Korea's finest acting talent to add energy and verve (Lee Byung-Hun is outstanding as the Good, and Song Kang-Ho's performance of the Weird is more subtle than you could ever hope for). The risk of making a chase predictable is challenged at every corner by a bigger and better twist. And to top it all off we have a sublime cocktail of martial arts and classic gun battles.
I guarantee that if you give this movie a chance you'll have more fun than at any other release this year. Witty, action-packed and clever, it's one of those rare films that sets the bar in its genre. Or in this case, creates a genre for other films to aspire to.