In regards to Korean filmmakers, Western audiences often sing the praises of Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho (especially after the latter’s Oscar wins), yet Kim Jee-woon can feel left out of the conversation. With a filmography that includes I Saw The Devil, A Tale of Two Sisters, and A Bittersweet Life, director Kim has built a name for himself as a genre maestro which leaves him deserved to be talked about with the same reverence as his generational peers. Nestled within his works is The Good, The Bad, The Weird, a sweeping epic that became one of South Korea’s highest grossing films.
Set in the 1930s, the story opens with a man of hierarchical importance demanding that a map be safely escorted to an unseen person. The importance is highlighted by his demand that the courier tells nobody so that bandits do not interfere, yet the boss soon hires the map to be stolen back by Park Chang-yi (Lee Byung-hun) – the Bad. Hired by an outside party to steal the map is bounty hunter Park Do-won (Jung Woo-sung) – the Good – who also intends to claim the bounty on Chang-yi. As the pair converge on the train, their combative intentions are unintentionally thwarted by thief Yoon Tae-goo (Song Kang-ho) – the Weird – who finds himself in possession of the map.
After setting up the titular figures, Kim Jee-woon has them cross paths amidst a fantastic set-piece depicting train-set pandemonium. For a lesser filmmaker, such a fantastic sequence would provide a highpoint that the remaining film could not reach. Here, it’s a fun taster for the unfolding story to come, as two opposing figures that fit into heroic and villainous archetypes find their combative action sidetracked due to a wildcard in the middle of it all.
Speaking of, Yoon Tae-go is a phenomenal example of how looks can be deceiving. He appears to be a fool who survives courtesy of luck and Buster Keation style slapstick, but he is actually more competent than he lets on. Despite a bounty on his head that equals the price of a used piano, he does not wish to give away how skilled he is, and Song Kang-ho effortlessly captures this ease at being dismissed as a petty thief.
As a fascinating contrast, Chang-yi is not so humble. He demands to be known as the best, and the implication that he is not leaves him ready to kill. This forceful and brutal nature is brought alive so wonderfully by Lee Byung-hun, who captures the character’s viciousness with a performance that hints at such terrors through his eyes. Rounding off the core trio is Do-won, an eagle-eyed sharpshooter who is the closest this film has to a moral centre, and Jung Woo-sung does terrific work making him an interesting presence on-screen.
Armed with slick direction, director Kim presents this gleefully entertaining work so stylishly, allowing the pulse-pounding and side-splitting moments to unfold in visually fluid ways. Admittedly, the runtime does feel longer than necessary at 135-minutes, yet it allows for the film to relish in the various parties circling around the MacGuffin map like predators waiting to strike.
It all builds towards a finale where everything and everyone comes together in maddening form, converging on the same location for a stunning chase sequence. As the extended chase unfolds in a desert setting that must be seen to be believed, this feels like the closest we will get to a Korean western version of Mad Max: Fury Road.
It then reaches a tense crescendo in a bloody shootout, as bullets fly in every character’s direction in a Mexican standoff that shows The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly inspired more than just the title. If you’ve never seen The Good, The Bad, The Weird before, do yourself a favour and pickup the Arrow release, because you will come out of it with a director’s filmography worth exploring.
The Good, the Bad, The Weird is out now on Arrow Video Blu-Ray
James’s Archive – The Good, The Bad, The Weird
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