The Good the Bad the Weird (Joeun nom, Napun nom, Esanghan nom) – South Korea – 2008 – Action, Western, Adventure
Directed by: Kim Jee-woon
Written by: Kim Jee-woon; Min-suk Kim
Main Players: Song Kang-ho; Lee Byung-hun; Jung Woo-sung; Ma Dong-seok (aka Don Lee)
This review is for the International Cut.
A hand slaps hard down on the map on the table below: “Pay attention!” the boss says. It is the 1940s and in Manchuria. A man is to take this treasure map to a Japanese contact Kanemaru, and bring back payment. If word gets out, bandits will swarm like hungry wolves. This is a high-level secret and must be protected. Say nothing. Trust no one.
Other parties fear the map is already in Kanemaru’s hands, and hire nefarious parties to board a train, and retrieve the map for their own purposes. Enter gruff and scowling outlaw Park Chang-yi (Lee Byung-hun).
On this train, chaos awaits all parties. It is packed to the gills with all sorts of characters and forces. Enter zany outlaw Yoon Tae-goo (Song Kang-ho). He roams the train until he finds his targets, shooting up an entire car and looking for loot.
On his way down the train however, he passed confident outlaw Park Do-won (Jung Woo-sung). He is on his missing of righteous action to capture Chang-yi.
The train blasts forward as do multiple plot lines and forces as the Japanese Army and Chinese outlaw raiders are sprinkled in. The chaos is strong, and how things plays out is ever entertaining.
The Good the Bad the Weird is a slick Korean action western. The acting is great and the creative presentation helps keep the film chugging along strongly and steadily. Bullets fly, horses charge, and good, evil and otherwise face off in typical western fashion. The movie is visually pleasing and pretty cool overall with a very solid script. Who will get the map? Will it even matter?
Exploring who really is Good, Bad or Weird is also a fun game, as the director did mean it to be a bit ambiguous as to who was who.
The Korean Cut of this film features a longer runtime, an extended alternate ending, and a focus on Korean resistance fighters, while the International Cut has other extended scenes.
See This If You Liked:
Let the Bullets Fly (Rang zi Dan Fei); A Fistful of Dollars (Per un Pugno di Dollari); For a Few Dollars More (Per Qualche Dollaro in Più); The Good the Bad the Ugly (Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo); Kung Fu Hustle; Desperado; The Magnificent Seven (1960; 2016); The Hateful Eight; The Wild Bunch; Once Upon a Time in the West (C’era una Volta il West); Bullet Train
Score:
8.5