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The Good, The Bad, The Weird -
Does this movie bear a striking similarity to another Western from the '60s beyond the title? Yes. Is that a bad thing? Not at all. First of all, you may be thinking, "a Western in Korea?" While it is quite funny at times, it is not just a tongue in cheek genre homage. It's rooted in actual history; namely, the situation between China, Japan and Korea you may remember from The Last Emperor that indeed made Manchuria resemble the Wild West. Luckily, the movie familiarizes you with this period organically and without relying on talking heads too much. Where this movie really shines, though, is that it's freakin' awesome!
The average Korean genre movie from the 2000s to...well, pretty much today is as reliable as entertainment gets, with this entry demonstrating that this rule does not just apply to action, crime and horror. I've seen Chinese and Hong Kong movies set in environments resembling the American west, but I was still struck by how much the Korean desert in this one also resembles it and how endless the movie makes it appear. As for the action, which features fistfights, gun, knife and sword play, it is even more thrilling and tactile than you would expect given the pedigree. The highlight is a chase scene that is among the most thrilling action scenes I've ever watched in a movie, Korean or otherwise, that to quote Nicolas Cage in Adaptation, defines "technology vs. horse." Last but not least, as high as the standards of the Western tropes in this movie may be, they would be for naught if the good, bad and ugly, ahem...weird trio did not also meet them, but that is thankfully not the case here. As much as I love Woo-sung and the venerable Kang-ho's work here, it is Byung-hun whose other work I want to explore the most and not just because I am the least familiar with it. If you're wondering why I did not mention who is who, well...I will say no more.
Again, this movie proves in highly entertaining fashion that every genre is apparently fair game for Korean filmmakers. It also manages to tell a fascinating history lesson about the consequences of occupation and puppet statehood at the same time. If you don't find the latter as interesting as I do, you will undoubtedly enjoy everything else regardless. Oh, and that especially goes for Byung-hun's impossibly cool Park Chang-yi, who I would cosplay if I could, but I'm honestly not sure if anyone could. I mean, does anyone else in the world have such good hair?
Does this movie bear a striking similarity to another Western from the '60s beyond the title? Yes. Is that a bad thing? Not at all. First of all, you may be thinking, "a Western in Korea?" While it is quite funny at times, it is not just a tongue in cheek genre homage. It's rooted in actual history; namely, the situation between China, Japan and Korea you may remember from The Last Emperor that indeed made Manchuria resemble the Wild West. Luckily, the movie familiarizes you with this period organically and without relying on talking heads too much. Where this movie really shines, though, is that it's freakin' awesome!
The average Korean genre movie from the 2000s to...well, pretty much today is as reliable as entertainment gets, with this entry demonstrating that this rule does not just apply to action, crime and horror. I've seen Chinese and Hong Kong movies set in environments resembling the American west, but I was still struck by how much the Korean desert in this one also resembles it and how endless the movie makes it appear. As for the action, which features fistfights, gun, knife and sword play, it is even more thrilling and tactile than you would expect given the pedigree. The highlight is a chase scene that is among the most thrilling action scenes I've ever watched in a movie, Korean or otherwise, that to quote Nicolas Cage in Adaptation, defines "technology vs. horse." Last but not least, as high as the standards of the Western tropes in this movie may be, they would be for naught if the good, bad and ugly, ahem...weird trio did not also meet them, but that is thankfully not the case here. As much as I love Woo-sung and the venerable Kang-ho's work here, it is Byung-hun whose other work I want to explore the most and not just because I am the least familiar with it. If you're wondering why I did not mention who is who, well...I will say no more.
Again, this movie proves in highly entertaining fashion that every genre is apparently fair game for Korean filmmakers. It also manages to tell a fascinating history lesson about the consequences of occupation and puppet statehood at the same time. If you don't find the latter as interesting as I do, you will undoubtedly enjoy everything else regardless. Oh, and that especially goes for Byung-hun's impossibly cool Park Chang-yi, who I would cosplay if I could, but I'm honestly not sure if anyone could. I mean, does anyone else in the world have such good hair?