Today’s quick review: The Good, The Bad, The Weird. Yoon Tae-goo (Kang-ho Song), an off-kilter train robber, finds more than just money when he sticks up a train: he stumbles across a map believed to lead to the hidden treasure of the Qing dynasty. But others are after Yoon Tae-goo and the map: Park Chang-yi (Byung-hun Lee), a cold-blooded killer, and his gang; a gang of local bandits; and Park Do-won (Woo-song Jung), a crack-shot bounty hunter out for the reward on Yoon Tae-goo’s head. The train robber leads them on a wild, four-way chase across the wild lands of Manchuria as he struggles to hang onto the map, find the treasure, and keep his skin.
The Good, The Bad, The Weird is a Korean Western set in the Japan-occupied Manchuria of the 1940’s. Using a treasure map as a plot device, it weaves a gun-toting, action-packed tale about the race for treasure. The chief draw of the movie is its action. The movie opens with the same train getting robbed by Yoon Tae-goo and then Park Chang-Yi, a situation that is further complicated by the appearance of Park Do-won and observation from afar by another gang of bandits. The other action sequences have a similar sense of mayhem, including a sprawling shootout throughout a market and a protracted and chaotic horse chase. The bullets are fast and plentiful. While most of the action is standard fare for the genre, there’s lots of it, and a few of the stunts are quite creative.
The other main draw is its stylization. The train sequence begins with a soaring camera shot that cirlces the exterior of the train, zooms into it, then follows Yoon Tae-goo down the length of it before cutting into the film’s first shoot-out, one near-continuous shot backed by an eager trumpet melody. Other inspired shots are peppered throughout the movie, interesting bits of cinematography that spice up a standard Western foundation. The soundtrack carries a surprising amount of weight; trumpet, electric guitar, and a driving beat blend traditional Western music with modern innovations and give the action scenes a sense of excitement.
Beyond that, The Good, The Bad, The Weird is a fairly typical Western. Neither the plot nor the characters are outstanding, but they have their charm. Missing historical background makes aspects of the story a bit harder to parse for a Western audience, but the interplay of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean grows clear enough by the movie’s end, at least for the purpsoes of its plot. Extra action, a strong soundtrack, stylish cinematography, motorcycles and artillery, and the scattered comedy that follows Yoon Tae-goo around are what sets The Good, The Bad, The Weird apart from other Westerns. Fans of Westerns, action, and creative direction should consider The Good, The Bad, The Weird for a light, action-filled watch. Those looking for a meaningful plot or realistic characters should look elsewhere.
7.3 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it 7.0 for being a decent Western augmented with unusual amounts of action and style.