As the Korean peninsula falls into the hands of Japanese imperialists and countless Koreans seek refuge in the vast wilderness of Manchuria, a determined thief, a cold-blooded hitman, and a mysterious bounty hunter all vie for an elusive map that could lead them to a buried treasure from the Qing Dynasty. Tae-gu is "The Weird," a thief who comes into possession of the sought-after map while boldly robbing a train of Japanese military officers. But at the very same time Tae-gu attacks the train,
relentless assassin Chang-yi and his violent gang of bandits beset the locomotive as well. Chang-yi is "The Bad," and he'll kill anyone who tries to come between him and the untold treasures of the Qing Dynasty. Just as the cloud of gunpowder begins to clear, a shadowy stranger suddenly appears and rescues Tae-gu from certain death. That stranger is Do-won, "The Good." Do-won has been chasing Tae-gu in hopes that he can capture him and collect the reward money. Now, as these three resolute strangers converge in a sprawling landscape that none of them can truly call home, they quickly discover that Korean resistance fighters, resilient mountain bandits, and the Japanese army also covet the prized map. The fight on the train is only the beginning, too, because when the stakes are this high the action is bound to get bloody. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Thrill-seekers, rejoice. Here's the summer blockbuster you've been waiting for -- no, dreaming of. The Good, the Bad, the Weird is to Hollywood's puny efforts what the Large Hadron Collider is to a Hula Hoop.
With a nod and a wink to Sergio Leone, South Korean filmmaker Kim Jee-woon delivers a slam-bang western set in Manchuria after the Japanese invasion in 1931.
A giddy mashup of Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns and Lucas and Spielberg's Indiana Jones romps, this guns-a-blazing wide-screen Korean hit offers a nuttily staged, beautifully filmed, but kind of brainless homage to old-school Hollywood.
As vigorously staged as it all is -- sometimes confusingly, occasionally with camera-torqueing flair and impressive stuntwork -- the urge to thrill grows wearisome.
The production's blend of traditional cowboy tropes and 20th-century elements give it an out-of-time feel that's appropriate for what is basically a teenage boy's extended fantasy.
Pours a ton of genre influences into the archetypal Cuisinart, pureeing everything from chop-socky cheapies to The Road Warrior in a gargantuan, cheerfully anachronistic romp.
This film starts with a real bang, with a thrilling and lengthy train heist, chase and shoot-out sequence that would be the highlight of many movies. But there's still more to it than that...
It grabs viewers right from the start, carries them along at a breakneck pace for more than two hours and then sends them off into the lobby feeling dazed, dizzy and delighted over what they have just experienced.
Hollywood will try to sell you all summer long on their latest blockbuster being the thrill ride to beat this season. It will be a movie miracle if any of them are as straight-up entertaining as The Good, the Bad, the Weird.
A spaghetti western with Koreans?!?!? Hey, it works!Frenetic action, marvelous set-pieces coupled with quirky humor, and some of the most creative camerawork to grace an action movie makes "The Good, the Bad, and the Weird" an absolute marvel to watch. When the action dies down, the movie continues to offer a
surprisingly entertaining, albeit simplistic narrative that involves all its characters to be singularly focused on one goal: the map. It works but it simply isn't as memorable as it should be -- especially the last action set-piece; it was surprisingly boring with really sloppy action compared to the rest of the spectacular ensemble set-pieces.When all's said and done, "The Good, the Bad, and the Weird" may have some stand-out camera-workings paired with some inventive and adrenaline-pumping in-your-face action, but it hardly manages to be a memorable movie.
Its very stylistic and lets the story be both funny and serious! Its a great achievement in Korean Cinema and proves that they can make a great western just like americans!
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