THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE WEIRD

Korea, 2008, 120 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Ji- woon Kim.

The title is certainly not false advertising. There is some good, a lot of bad and, indeed, most of it is weird.

Adapting the title of Sergio Leone’s classic and some of the plotline, the climax is a repeat of the three man shootout at the end of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. This time the setting is the desert on the border between China and Korea. The war is that of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in the 1930s. But, the film-makers have been looking at films like the National Treasure series or Indiana Jones stories, so there is a map of buried treasure which The Bad has to steal and bring back to a company head. He is a young snarling type with his fringe over one eye enabling him to scowl malevolently. The Good is a bounty hunter who is after The Bad and, despite the end, is sidelined for a lot of the action. The Weird, who gets most of the screen time looks like a fat comedy actor until his true deadly nature emerges.

The film is quite visually striking at times and the special effects contribute to the mood and energy.

However, this is a tribute to the spaghetti western tradition. After the Japanese made Sukiyaki Western Django, the Koreans want to do better – or, at least, more spectacularly and with a higher body count than any other and ingenious-brutal (and some really crass) ways of killing off the villains (or anybody for that matter). But you could hardly call it a ‘rice western’ or a ‘noodles western’.

So, the film-makers, admirers of Leone, obviously grew up on spaghetti westerns, became addicted to Sam Peckinpah violence and have now over-and-over-dosed on Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. What is the Korean for ‘Grindhouse Western’?

1.The popularity of the film? For fans of spaghetti westerns? Variations on this theme? The influence of Sam Peckinpah, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez?

2.The colour photography and style, the deserts, the parallels with the American west? The towns, the markets?

3.The special effects, for the battles, for the shootings, for the killings? Over the top? The musical score and its styles, parallel with the spaghetti westerns?

4.The title, the homage to Sergio Leone? The characters, their interactions, their quest? The build-up to the confrontation and the homage to Leone? The variation on the theme with the Weird? The parallel with spaghetti westerns?

5.The basic plot: the map, the merchant sending the messenger and then hiring people to rob the map? The role of the Bad, his reputation, going in pursuit of the map? The role of the Good, the bounty hunter? The Weird, his involvement in robberies, his size, comic style – and the later revelation of his ruthlessness?

6.The quest, the role of the Bad, his appearance, clothes? His henchman, the killings? The role of the Good, more clean-cut, seen less in the film, a supporting role, his victory at the end?

7.The role of the Weird, his robberies, his being caught? The encounter with the Good and having him on-side, listening to his stories? The pursuit of the Bad? His ingenuity, the map, the treasure? The comeuppance at the end?

8.The pursuit, the setting of the story in the 1930s, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria? The Japanese, the confrontations and battles? The Chinese and the Koreans and their involvement? The military?

9.The sequences in the market, the ordinary people, the children, the women?

10.The irony of the quest in the desert, the discovery of oil?

11.The film as over the top, the special effects, the various ways in which killings were done, the mounting body count? How well did the homage as well as the spoof counterbalance the brutality?