"The Good The Bad The Weird" is a 2008 Korean western. Yes, you read that correctly. Or rather, though the movie is a tribute to classic spaghetti Westerns, it would be more appropriate to call it a Northeastern as it takes place in 1930s Manchuria.
First of all, a little history lesson. Manchuria was a geopolitical region that now mostly encompasses northeastern China. Parts of it are or have been in Russia as well. It is an ethnic melting pot of sorts as Han Chinese, Mongols, Russians, Koreans and Manchus (whom the area is named after) among others, all live there. In the 30s, the time period this movie is set in, Manchuria was a puppet state of Japan with Puyi, the last emperor of the last dynasty in China, the Machu-led Qing Dynasty, as "Emperor," though he was only a ceremonial head of state. At the same time, the Japanese occupied Korea and forcibly suppressed Korean culture. The Korean independence movement was just as prevalent among Koreans in Manchuria at the time as it was for Koreans in Korea.
From the start this movie let's the viewer know exactly what kind of film it is. Every classic Western trope it utilized and in the beginning the one employed is a train robbery. The Bad, Park Chang-yi (Lee Byung-hun), a gang leader with a crazily intense fiery stare as well as a hipster mullet and emo bangs, is hired to steal something from Japanese military officials on board the train. He doesn't count on two other parties entering the fray. The Weird, Yoon Tae-goo (Song Kang-ho), a pudgy, goofy thief is after the same thing. The Good, Park Do-wan (Jung Woo-sung), a stoic bounty hunter in cowboy hat of the Clint Eastwood type, is after both of them.
The prize the two outlaws are after turns out to be a treasure map made by the Chinese before the Qing Dynasty fell. What the treasure is the map doesn't specify. But since the map was in the hands of the Japanese officials it is believed to be worth a hefty sum. After a heated gun battle aboard the train between the three adversaries, The Weird gets away with the map. A group of Manchu bandits witnessed the train robbery from afar on a hill and want the map to sell on the black market "Ghost Market." After they attack The Weird he attempts to flee into the desert but is caught by The Good. They strike up a deal to find the treasure together though it's revealed that The Good only agrees to root out The Bad, who he believes committed horrible crimes in Korea as "The Finger Chopper." Some of his actions certainly seem to lend evidence that he is that notorious criminal.
The movies is basically one long chase of some kind of another and ends with all parties, The Good, The Bad and his gang, The Weird, the Manchu gang and the Japanese army racing towards the treasure. This scene is somewhat reminiscent of "Raiders Of The Lost Arc" in that there's elaborate gun play on horseback against military vehicles with big automatic weapons and cannons. The Good manages to take a lot of the soldiers out with his twirling rifle and shotgun skillz but they still decimate The Bad's gang and the Manchu bandits. Like any great Western, the movie ends in a classic stand-off showdown between the main adversaries. Revelations about The Bad and The Weird comes to light, like why the Bad has a vendetta against The Weird and why he wears gloves throughout the whole movie. The truth about the treasure is also revealed. In other words, nothing is as it seems. The Weird's sheer dumb luck ends up looking more and more like actual skill as the movie progresses.
A lot of the comedy in this movie comes from the interactions between these two. The Good's matter-of-fact demeaner works as a great jumping off point for the Weird's motor-mouth silliness. Also, The Weird wearing a heavy diving helmet as armor during a labyrinthine urban gunfight is hilarious. Some side characters provide funny moments as well, like the Japanese agent posing as a Chinese opium den proprietor pretending to be a Korean freedom fighter who's sexual proclivities announce themselves following a sword injury to a particular bodily area or a placid forgetful old women who lives among thieves.
The sets and costumes help portray the Western vibe as well. The Good's brim-over-the-eyes cowboy hat and long coat perfectly capture the Western hero archetype. The Bad's slim-fitting black suit and popped collar work for the gangster look and the Weird's ear-flapped motorcycle hat and knee-high pants fit the oddball nature of the character well. Much of the movie was filmed on location in the area of China formerly known as Manchuria. It's nice to see that kind of authenticity. The buildings that make up the urban scenes look appropriately hodge-podge and weathered, as you might expect a frontier Asian town to look like in the early 20th century, one foot stubbornly in the past and one racing too fast into the modern age.
In once sense, there is not a lot of character development in this movie. There is absolutely no back story for The Good and very little for The Bad and The Weird. But in another sense, though, ending twists aside, you don't know these characters' pasts, who they are as people in the here and now is done very well. Each have distinctive personalities that are believable, a testament to the actors' skills. The best way to look at this movie is not a life story for The Good, The Bad or The Weird but as a singular adventure in their lives.
"The Good The Bad The Weird" is writer/director Kim Ji-woon's baby. In an interview on the DVD, he said he always wanted to make a Western but didn't think a Korean Western was possible. He proved himself wrong with this one. The attention to detail, the non-stop interesting action scenes, the archetypal but unique characters and the touch of comedy, history and politics provide a very well-rounded and, possibly most importantly, a very fun movie. Pulling out all the stops could have had the potential to be negatively chaotic and disjointed but the talent of the cast and crew molded this concept into a loving homage, rather than parody, of the Western genre and just a great movie in it's own right despite genre labeling.
