Sergio Leone meets The Wacky Races in Kim Jee-woon’s Asian Western – it’s a real blast!…
Set in 1930 Japanese-occupied Manchuria, we find our Good, Bad and Weird in three displaced Koreans: Tae-goo (The Weird, played with superb comic timing by Song Kang-ho, Memories Of Murder, Sympathy For Mr Vengeance), the scooter-bound train robber who little knows what he’s letting himself in for when he comes into possession of a treasure map; Chang-yi (The Bad, played by Lee Byung-hun, A Bittersweet Life, Three Extremes: Cut), a merciless hired killer and his gang, beaten to the punch for reclaiming the map and with his own reasons for catching up with Tae-oo; and his nemesis Do-Weon (The Good, played by Jung Woo-sung, Musa The Warrior, Beat), a bounty hunter who wants to add Chang-yi and Tae-goo for the money they’re worth.
Add to that the ramshackle ghost town gang, and the Manchurian/Japanese forces themselves, all with a vested interest in the map, and the chase is on to claim it and the treasure it conceal it. And Tae-goo’s right out the front…
Never one to get pigeonholed under any genre, writer/director Kim Jee-Woon follows psycho horror A Tale Of Two Sisters (with it’s upcoming Hollywood makeover The Uninvited) and film noir A Bittersweet Life with a very entertaining western. Shooting action with a good eye for using widescreen to it’s full potential – rather like those old Italian directors did themselves – following characters through complicated tracking shots while everything, often literally, explodes around them. It’s already been stated that Jee-woon put his cast through the steps, making them perform much of their own stunts. There’s a ‘lo-fi’ nature to the stunts that reminds you of the excitement you used have watching the original Indiana Jones movies.
Indeed, while America seems to be returning to the Western genre with a heightened reality – all serious issues, grimy clothing and clumsy action – the rest of the world seems intent to have a lot more fun. Japan’s Takeshi Miike (who remade Jee-woon’s debut The Quiet Family as The Happiness of the Katakuris) recently released his first English language movie (soon to be seen in the UK) Sukiyaki Western Django with Quentin Tarantino. Meanwhile India’s Shashank Ghosh has taken an equally irreverent look at the genre with his Tamil comedy Quick Gun Murugan.
Jee-woon delights in enjoying the full potential of the genre, paying full homage to Spaghetti Westerns with three-way duels and opium dens (not to mention plenty of references to Asian films like King Hu’s Dragon Inn). The finale wonderfully encapsulates the scale of Leone’s The Good, The Bad And The Ugly with all the separate groups in pursuit of Tae-goo, including the Manchurian/Japanese army, complete with a cavalry, trucks and cannons like something out of The Wacky Races (who’s Muttley?). Utterly ridiculous, of course, but there’s nothing to take too seriously in Jee-woon’s latest film. It’s come under criticism for it’s lack of real plot, but that’s not the point. This is pure entertainment, beautifully made. (And let’s not forget that Leone himself had quite a sense of humour and self-reverence.)
Reunited with Jee-woon for the first time since The Foul King, Song Kang-ho once again employs his comedic talents so rarely seen elsewhere. His Keaton-esqe physicality and natural comedy timing combine with the ability to give his character real pathos. (Indeed, you wish he showed this side off more often.)
Byung-hun is perfect playing a much darker role than we’re used to, a heartless killer who really is only interested in being ‘the best’ –hardly the more sympathetic characters we’re used to from A Bittersweet Life and Park Chan-wook’s segment from Three Extremes. Similarly, Jung Woo-sung is impressive as the ‘straight man’, making you realise we really don’t see enough of him in Korean movies.
This may be a case of switching you brain off to enjoy the action, but it’s rare that such a film gets made so well! It’s easy to see why this film has been such a hit in Korea. So sit back, enjoy – this will, literally, blow you away!
The Good, The Bad, The Weird was shown as part of the 2008 London Film Festival and the The London Korean Film Festival 08. was released on UK DVD and Blu-ray by Icon Home Entertainment on 15 June 2009. We exclusively talked to director Kim Jee-woon and his leading star Lee Byung-hun in November of last year.
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DVD details
Distributor: Icon Home Entertainment (UK)
After a slightly delayed start, the UK DVD and Blu-ray release is finally out, and it’s a pretty awesome package, particularly for an Asian release, which too often miss out all most of the bonus features.
Along with a good transfer of the picture and sound, there’s also the original Korean ending, a somewhat less ambiguous affair than the International release. Then comes the bonus disc, and for once you will not be left wanting from a 2-disc DVD.
There’s a fantastic hour and a half long ‘making of’ documentary, featurettes on cinematography, action sequences, production and set design, costumes and much more, and a very amusing four-way interview between the director and his three leads, Song Kang-ho, Lee Byung-hun and Jung Woo-sung. (With Byung-hun suggesting they talk about Kong-ho’s latest collaboration with Park Chan-wook, Thirst, instead!)
Then you get over forty minutes of deleted scenes, including a cut subplot involving the Korean Independance Fighters, more scenes with Song-yi and Do-Weon’s dream rifle. And then there’s four more alternative endings, many picking up on some of the subplots that were cut. It’s apparent it that Kim Jee-woon’s vision extended far beyond the eventual version of the film, and this is a fascinating insight into the films creation.
Okay, so there are a few features missed off from the impressive 3-disc Korean edition: namely the director’s commentary on the deleted scenes (not to mention the original commentary on the film itself) and the multi-angle feature on the alternative endings. Both were muted to be on this version, and perhaps may have been cut due to those production problems. Anything else? Well, it would be nice if the packaging was anywhere near as nice, but then I guess that's overheads. There's a reason DVD releases in Korea and Japan tend to be comparative more expensive...
However, this is a quality DVD/Blu-ray release, with no indication of those problems on screen, and a fantastic way to see the film.
