2008 ‘좋은 놈, 나쁜 놈, 이상한 놈’ Directed by Kim Jee-woon
The story of three Korean outlaws in 1930s Manchuria and their dealings with the Japanese army and Chinese and Russian bandits. The Good (a Bounty hunter), the Bad (a hitman), and the Weird (a thief) battle the army and the bandits in a race to use a treasure map to uncover the riches of legend.
Song Kang-ho Lee Byung-hun Jung Woo-sung Yoon Je-moon Song Young-chang Lee Chung-ah Kim Kwang-il Ma Dong-seok Jo Kyeong-hun Lee Hang-soo Kang Hyun-joong Lee Sung-min Oh Dal-su Kim Min-jae Son Byung-ho Ryu Seung-su Kwak Do-won Jin Sun-kyu Jo Deok-jae Min Young Kim Sun-young Seo Seung-won Hakuryu Lee Tae-rim
Le Bon, la brute et le cinglé, The Good, the Bad. the Weird, El bueno, el malo y el raro, The Good, The Bad, The Weird, Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom, Os Invencíveis, Os Invisíveis, The Good the Bad the Weird, Hyvä, paha ja outo
Sometimes I hate logging on Letterboxd because I get embarrassed that I haven't seen some of these films until now. Films can slip by.
Anyway, I was very much in to the Korean New Wave and have basically seen all the highlights... even most of Jee-woon Kim's films. But never this one.
Anyway, Mubi put this up and I finally checked it out. Fantastic film. Kang-ho Song is great as always... as well as the entire cast. Beautiful cinematography, production design and stunt coordination. And there are some shots that I have NO IDEA how they pulled off... remember this is 35mm and before drones were commonplace... so the shot that soars over the train in to the desert, then…
What in tarnation. I really wish I'm unpredictable, even for once. But shit, man. Why is this film so good? Why is everything I watch so good? I'm handing out four to five stars like free candy. I'm like some five years old kid in Disneyland rating every ride "best ride in the whole wide world". Fuck me. Here, take my cinephile badge, I don't want it anymore. TGTBTW is better than the Eastwood original, I don't give a shit. Once upon a time in the what? I'm done reviewing. Goodbye.
(Seriously though, what a glorious piece of art. Park Chang-yi is one of the best villains of all time. TGTBTW doesn't try to be anything other than weird and fun. Perfect blend of comedy and action. Awesome soundtrack. Thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.)
Part of Axel's Project.
The Good, the Bad, the Weird is one of the best westerns ever made. What a stylish, badass and splendidly entertaining - riff on Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad & the Ugly. The sheer sustained energy of this thing is breathtaking. Song Kang Ho, Lee Byung Heon and Jung Woo Seong brought their A game here!
It's hard to do justice in words to it's wall-to-wall visceral action, insane practical stunts and brilliantly composed sequences. The camera movement and shot compositions are amazing, Kim Jee-won puts most Hollywood filmmakers working on much bigger scale to shame.
Lee Byung-hun is simply way cooler than I'll ever be and I just have to accept that. Him killing a bug is cooler than anything I could ever dream of doing.
I'll say it: Kim Jee-woon is a better director than Park Chan-wook
A western from the eastern side of the world, The Good, the Bad, the Weird is a slick, stylish & rousing adventure of gunshots, violence & vengeance from director Kim Jee-woon (A Bittersweet Life & I Saw the Devil) and, as perceivable from its name, is a refreshing take on Sergio Leone's spaghetti western classic, The Good, the Bad & the Ugly but its inspiration comes not only from that film but Leone's entire Dollars Trilogy & Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark as well.
Set in Manchuria at the time of World War II, this South Korean western tells the story of three gunslingers whose paths cross each other in pursuit of a treasure map. The Good is a bounty hunter who's hired…
"I've never seen a Korean so mean and vicious" -The Weird,
When I used to go to hip bars some of the establishments would have movies on the TV that just look cool and you couldn't hear the sound. If I ever had a hip bar I think The Good, The Bad, The Weird would be one of the films I would show on the TVs. The action choreography and cinematography is some of the best I've ever seen and it's just all around a pretty looking film. Every scene is filled with color and something fun happening and the people all have an interesting vibe or look to them. This isn't to take away from the story, which is…
While everyone else is busy being the epitome of coolness, (e.g. Lee Byung Hun's rather ridiculous haircut and Jung Woo Sung's terminator-style one-hand shotgun twirl) the main highlight of this western parody actually belongs to its weirder side that is Song Kang Ho. His out-of-place clownish behavior serves as the movie's main source of comedic energy, almost effortlessly propelling the story forward ever since his first appearance during a crazy train heist. The director Kim Jee Woon made it obvious that the ultimate goal of the film is to be as silly as possible, and he had achieved it with Song alone, who, surprisingly now that I've checked, has only a handful of comedic roles in his career so far.
We need more.
Spaghetti westerns: go on and do your thing, but how about this kimchi western??!?
More like "The Great, The Badass, and the Weirdly Overlooked", amirite? This fun and lively period western/adventure/comedy from the excellent director Kim Jee-won (A Tale of Two Sisters) will hopefully see its international audience grow with the rising exposure to Song Kang-ho (and SK Cinema, in general) from the success of Parasite. It's basically just a wild chase adventure with an old treasure map McGuffin being pursued by several parties, including, but not limited to: the good (bounty hunter), the bad (hitman), and the weird (an eccentric thief). The film is set just prior to WWII with the Koreans still under Japanese rule.
This is a…
Boy, was this fun!
This is a two hour long rollercoaster ride that is paced to perfection. It is directed with creative gusto, has some unbelievable action sequences and is incredibly funny.
Definitely one of the best action/adventure/westerns I've seen in a long, long while.
The Good, The Bad, The Weird was one of the few films that got me into film. Which is weird, since this film practically owes its own existence so many other films - of which the obvious The Good, the Bad and the Ugly I am yet to see.
Nowadays, this film is my go-to film. When I want to wind down, or relax after six hours of non-stop typing on my keyboard trying to rush an essay. This is the film I choose when I want to be entertained. It's the bombastic chase through a motherfucking desert in motherfucking Manchuria with motherfuckers like Park Chang-yi, (The Bad - Lee Byung-hun) megaawesome bandit assassin with a habit of being cooler…
Is this one of the best westerns I've ever seen? I channel my inner Ingmar Bergman and say "Nay", for it is in fact two things: firstly, it is the best western I have ever seen, and secondly it is one of the best films I've seen period.
"The bounty on your head is 300 won."
This is because it has just incredible pacing. I loved Hero the most of all wuxias because it has incredibly constant and impeccable pacing, wherein the fight scenes are interwoven with the story in regularly alternating sequence; thus while it eschews the traditional build-up then break-down (though it has it in its own way) it's able to create a consistently entertaining and moving piece.…
Part of my Double Features list with THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY
Didn't really intend to watch nor was in my watchlist but this is my first full on korean action film. All I've seen in revenge and thriller flicks. My second Kim Jee-Woon movie. Song Kang Ho definitely carries the film, although it's based on the OG it really has its own moments.
