The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008)

Cautiously Recommended

South Korea

Feature Film

Original Title: 좋은 놈, 나쁜 놈, 이상한 놈

Director: Kim Ji-woon

Writers: Kim Ji-woon, Kim Min-suk

Cinematographer: Oh Seung-chul

Composer: Chan Young-gyu

Cast: Song Kang-ho, Lee Byung-hun, Jung Woo-sung, Yoon Je-moon, Ryoo Seung-soo, Song Yeong-chang, Son Byeong-ho, Oh Dal-su

Big, loud, and relentlessly quickly paced, Kim’s Oriental Western – which would perhaps have been better titled The Bad, the Bad, and the Bad; following Korean gangsters, Japanese soldiers, and a dogged bounty hunter as they all search for an unknown treasure, promised by a much sought after map – certainly won’t win any prizes for subtlety, but, never the less, with its strange mix of infantile black humour and sickeningly casual violence, it proves to be strangely, guiltily pleasurable if pretty much instantly forgettable. Iain.Stott