No prizes for guessing which movie this is inspired by. South Korean helmer Kim Ji-woon (A Bittersweet Life) transplants Sergio Leone’s enduring epic to ’30s Manchuria, recasting Clint’s Blondie as a laconic, rifle-toting bounty hunter (Jung Woo-sung), Van Cleef’s Angel Eyes as a psycho hitman (Lee Byung-hun) and Wallach’s Tuco as a dim train-robber (The Host’s Song Kang-ho). Sadly, the ugly/weird character is entertaining, but Kim’s excessive tendencies soon tip us into a confusing morass of flashbacks, muddy motivations and a fizzle-out climax.
The Good Bad Weird Review
The Good (Woo-sung), the Bad (Byung-hun) and the Weird (Kang-ho) are on the hunt for a map revealing the location of ancient Chinese treasures buried somewhere in the Manchurian desert. But so are a clutch of rival gangsters, Korean guerrillas and most of the Japanese army...
Release Date:
06 Feb 2009
Running Time:
130 minutes
Certificate:
15
Original Title:
Good, The Bad, The Weird, The
A tangled narrative and damp-squib ending detract from an otherwise joyous Spaghetti Eastern.
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