Saturday, July 7, 2018

The Good the Bad the Weird (2008)

Here is a Korean version of the Sergio Leone classic The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.  The movie takes place in Manchuria during World War II.  There is a treasure map that is purported to show the location of a hidden treasury of the Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1912).  Chang-yi (the Bad) has been hired to steal the map.  Tae-goo (the Weird) stumbles upon the map and flees with it.  Do-won (the Good) is a bounty hunter who is after Chang-yi; he knows Chang-yi is after Tae-goo and thus keeps close to him, essentially joining forces: Good and Weird.  That is about as far as the story goes.  There are twists and turns with plentiful action and often slapstick comedy at Tae-goo's expense.  Tae-goo is a goofy hapless rogue who is easy to like.  He had Jackie Chan charm without the martial arts prowess.  Chang-yi is cold-blooded villain with an extra helping of nasty.  He kills his patron, he kills his followers, and he even shoots a woman because she is screaming in terror.  Though he gets all the money he could possibly need about half way through the film, he continues on his path.  There is more between him and Tae-goo than the map; revenge drives him.  Do-won is cool gunfighter personified, which made him the least interesting of the trio.  Unlike Tae-goo and Chang-yi, he has no backstory.  Of course, like the movie upon which it is modeled, the trio all find themselves at the X on the treasure map and face off in a three-way gun battle.  It is a big letdown by comparison.
 
There are lots of funny scenes and entertaining action but the overall movie is mediocre.  The action is too often over the top and the ending is unsatisfying.

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