The Good, The Bad, The Weird
Chang-yi (Lee Byung-heon), a dandy hit-man with a perpetually bemused, go-ahead-call-me-a-psycho grin on his face, is hired to retrieve a certain map currently in the hands of a Japanese banker. Unbeknownst to him, meanwhile, bounty hunter Do-won (Jung Woo-sung) is sent by the Korean independence army for the same mission. To their irritation, however, the map is snatched by train robber Tae-gu (Song Kang-ho), who is convinced that it leads to the fabled treasures of the fallen Qing dynasty.
– KYU HYUN KIM, KOREANFILM.ORG
A Kimchi Western that draws shamelessly on its spaghetti forebears (Italo-Western) but remains utterly, bracingly Korean.
– DEREK ELLEY, VARIETY
A frequently exhilarating if often maddening mash-up of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns, George Miller’s apocalyptic road movies and a frantic brand of comedy that’s quintessentially Korean. In Japanese-controlled Korea in the 1930s, bandits, soldiers and scoundrels of all stripes knock heads and exchange fire during the hunt for a treasure map.
– JASON ANDERSON, EYEWEEKLYDuration: 120 min
Dialogue: Korean, Standard Mandarin
Subtitles: English
