Kimchee Western

The Good, the Bad, the Weird is another one of those Eastern Westerns, like Sukiyaki Western Django, but Korean this time.

It is set on the Korean/Manchurian border, a wild and lawless country. The Japanese hire the Bad to hijack a treasure map from a train. The Bad is Byung-hun Lee, one of those pretty-boy Asian dandy bad guys, with a little earring and long floppy hair down over one eye.

He gets to the train with a small army, but the train is already being robbed by the Weird, Kang-ho Song, a chubby little dude who rides a motorcycle and dresses in pilot's leathers like John Belushi in 1941, or maybe Porco Rosso. He gets the map, and the chase is on.

Song is pretty much the star of the show, with the Good, Do-won Park, only showing up at the margins. This makes it a comedy action, rather than straight action. There are lots of chases and fight scenes, often in outlandish settings, like the Mad Max style Thieve's Market.

The music has a nice Morricone feel, and references to spaghetti westerns abound. But this is nothing like a straight pastiche, and would be a blast if you'd never seen a western at all. A little confusing, possibly, but still a blast.