Le bon, la brute et le cinglé

The Manchurian desert in the 1930's has become the Asian cinematic version of the American West. A number of action films have been set here but this is the first to make an outright reference to a classic western that I've seen. While taking off from Leone's "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" this film goes in it's own direction although the mix of horses, trains, motorcycles, Chinese and Western costumes and some very odd characters makes this film resemble the Mad Max films more than anything else. An extended chase scene towards the end really seems influenced by the George Miller films.

Influences aside, the ingenuity in crafting the action scenes in this film makes it a joy to watch. Photography is great. The lead actors are good and the story while a little daft is easy to follow for the most part.The music is good but nowhere near the Leone films. The violence is typical for Korean action and might be a little hard to watch at times. Long but pure fun for the most part.

This is probably the best action film I've seen in a while.

As a fan of "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" I was intrigued when I saw a film entitled "The Good, The Bad, The Weird", when I saw it was a Korean western set in the deserts of Japanese occupied Manchuria I just had to see it even though I was sure it wouldn't be as good as it sounded... thankfully I was wrong, the plot may have been slight but the action was relentless and frequently very funny.

While it was obviously inspired by "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" it was not a remake, the main similarities where the three main characters; Once again The Good was a bounty hunter, The Bad was a sadistic killer and The Weird replaced The Ugly as the comic relief. The plot involves The Weird robbing a train, amongst the items he steals is a map... a map The Bad was planning to steal as well although he is interrupted when The Good arrives with the intent of collecting the bounty on him. In the confusion The Weird escapes and the rest of the film follows the attempts of The Bad, a group of bandits and the Imperial Japanese Army trying to get their hands on the map.

The action is spectacular and well done with numerous gunfights, knife fights and chases on foot, horseback, motorbike and car. While there is a focus on action the characters are fun too, especially The Weird who stole the show. While it is a comedy it does feature a few violent scenes which some viewers expecting only laughs might not like, I know I winced when one character tried to cut off another's finger with a knife.

I'd definitely recommend this to fans of westerns who are looking for something different as well as to fans of Asian cinema.

Off-kilter Korean neo-western "The Good, the Bad, the Weird," is a frenetic genre mash-up packed with visceral, loopy violence. That isn't a complement so much as it is a description.

Suffice it to say, if you're into a modernist, freewheeling foreign take on Leone's "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," with cartoony characters and outrageous action, you're going to have a blast; if you're looking for a substantive or meditative reflection on the period or the original film, you're in the wrong line.

Personally, I'm caught between the two perspectives. I appreciate the pure Peckinpah punch of the gunplay, but was in equal parts bored and bewildered by the overall film. Perhaps the principal flaw in writer/director Ji-woon Kim's script is that he indulges in too much of a good thing. His action sequences are a lot of fun, and the über-stylized retro/modern aesthetic delivers bizarre and inventive visuals like a gunslinger in a deep-sea diving helmet.

But the deafening sound effects and quick cutting style wear thin if not appropriately paced, and "The Good, the Bad, the Weird," is almost relentless in its drag race to the final showdown. I'm loathe to draw a comparison to "Transformers" here, but Kim proves that even good action has a threshold, and there are times in his film where it's easy to let your eyes glaze over.

In its more quiet moments, the story, a very loose retelling of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" follows a band of misfit thieves who come into possession of a treasure map sought by both Chinese thugs and the Japanese military. What's maybe most interesting about the film is seeing the conventions, chronology, and geography of the western customized to fit eastern ideology, and China's Taklimakan desert stands in for Manchuria circa 1940.

The tone is played as loose as the history, however, and Kim is never bogged down by self- seriousness or the oft-stringent requirements of a period piece. "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" is closer to a gleeful "Kill Bill" in tone than South Korea's own operatic, ultraviolent "Oldboy," and benefits from it. Kim easily leapfrogs from hard-hitting shoot-outs to charming comedy, a phenomenon that has everything to do with his incredible cast. Each of the title characters, Park Do-won (Good), Park Chang-yi (Bad), and Yoon Tae-goo (Weird), brings with him a distinct tonal octave that lends the film some much-needed variety. My lone gripe in this department is that it would have been nice to get to know them a little bit better. As it stands, their rifles seem to have far more to say.

And for many, that won't be an issue. I've no question that there exists a very appreciative audience for this film—I'm just not it. Nevertheless, I'm only too happy to report that everything basically works. The cinematography is frequently gorgeous, the performances are stellar, and the action is kinetic—There's just too much of it. By the end of the two-hour engagement, what should be a satisfying, visceral finale comes off as extravagant hoopla.

As viewers we shouldn't be conditioned to expect non-stop action, because once you pass the threshold, there's a diminishing return on adrenaline, impressive as any sequence that follows may be. "The Good, The Bad, The Weird" gets all its forward momentum right, but could benefit from applying the brakes more frequently.

Then again, maybe that reckless pace is what made it such a fast, fun ride to begin with.

There are few things more enjoyable than watching a film made by a filmmaker who clearly has a passion for his subject - especially when he seems to determined to pass that enthusiasm on to his audience as Ji-woon Kim does with The Good, The Bad, The Weird, a kind of cockeyed homage to Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

Ji-woon goes for all out action, forsaking any romantic involvement or depth of plot that might slow the full-on action that begins with a chaotic shootout on a steam train and culminates with a madcap, full-on chase through the desert involving the good guys, the bad guys and a few hundred red army soldiers in jeeps, motorbikes and on horseback. Ironically, because of this the film's main weakness is that we seem to be moving from one shootout to another with a few minutes of padding in between to allow the audience to catch it's breath. And while the action set-pieces really are breathtaking, it does feel as though something is missing at times.

Nevertheless, the exuberance of Ji-woon's direction will sweep you up and keep you watching (and enjoying), and given that the final Mexican stand-off drags in comparison to the original on which it is based - and which lasts two or three times longer than Ji-woon's version - it's perhaps for the best that he didn't try to emulate Leone's genius for creating tension out of seemingly endless set pieces. Either way, this is a film you're not likely to forget in a hurry.

This is a stunning visual film to watch. The cinematography is exceptional through-out the movie. The framing, the lighting and the colors are outstanding. This alone makes the movie a joy for me to see.

The problem with the film is that it lacks depth. The director uses archetypes from the Italian Westerns of the 1960s and 1970s. Some of the dialogue and action is lifted directly from Sergio Leone's "man without a name" opus. Most obviously The Good, The Bad and the Ugly; but also a heavy splattering of the others. The problem is not the reworking of Leone's work, but I do not think the director quite understands how to work subtext into his script. In fact, the director leaves far too much exposition to the end which makes the movie drag at the end of the epic battle scene (I thought this might be a cultural issue, but I do not know if it is).

Another thing that bothers me (and here comes my western sensibilities), I know stunts.... and there were horses hurt during the filming of the battle scene. The reason I say this is that I could see trip wires. So for the photography I give this film 6 points out of 10. I also suggest that the director rent some of the Ford Westerns. As good as Leone was Ford was better.