The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2010)
The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2010)
3.4/10
The Good, the Bad, the Weird is a misguided, uneven and vastly overlong attempt at fusing together the Spaghetti Western, Hollywood westerns and Asian action elements with an additional large dose of comedy. Boosted slightly by performances by Song Kang-Ho and Lee Byung-hun, the film has many considerable flaws and does not succeed on either a character-based level or an action-based one for various reasons. Kim Ji-Woon’s latest effort is, in short, a mess with intermittent moments of potential.
The film takes place in 1930’s Manchuria and involves the contents of a map which supposedly leads to treasure which is thought to have been buried by the Chinese before their government’s collapse. The Weird, a thief named Yoon Tae-goo (Song Kang-Ho) steals the map from a Japanese official on a train at the start of the film. The Bad, a hitman named Park Chang-yi (Lee Byung-hun looking gorgeous) is hired to acquire the map himself. The Good in the meantime, a bounty hunter named Park Do-won (Jung Woo-sung) is trying to track down the Bad. The Japanese army wants the treasure as they believe it can save the Japanese empire. The film is filled with alliances and betrayals as people’s goals and motivations change, each looking out for themselves.
This is the basic plot of The Good, the Bad, the Weird and it does not go much further than this. The version I saw of it clocked in at 2 hours and 15 minutes which is a half hour too long. It does not offer enough to justify its length. The action scenes are in general, poor and go on for at least 5 minutes too long with some action set pieces going on for over 10 minutes. The action scenes themselves are poorly constructed in both conception and execution. Conceptually, the action scenes have nothing inherently interesting about them. There is not much to differentiate them from each other and the dynamic of the scene are not interesting enough to generate much investment. The execution is even more problematic. In certain action scenes, such as the opening one on the train, Kim Ji-Woon shoots frenetically but instead of adding tension it is all over the place, dissolving any sense of tension and making things generally confusing. There is also no sense of energy or excitement to these scenes and they drag on without building tension let alone having it to begin with.
Action scenes take up a little more than half of the film. Looking to fall back on interesting characters, the film is disappointing in this regard as well, if to a lesser degree. While there are a few scenes, such as one at a campfire with the Good and the Weird that establishes character, they do not stick out enough to be memorable or appealing. The characters are not flat but they are forgettable. This especially goes for the Good, who is boring and largely irrelevant. Song Kang-Ho and Lee Byung-hun bring something to their roles and manage to entertain with their mere presence. There is material for them to work within the script; unfortunately it is just not enough.
Additionally, the film fails tonally. In a film that functions on its ability to bend genre and bring something new to the table it fails in its fusion of different elements. It is not serious enough to be taken serious but not funny enough to be all that funny. It meanders in the middle, not using any of the elements and influences it takes from to create something fresh with energy, instead creating something that is painfully mild while clearly believing it is not.
There are things to admire in the film. Certain scenes make their mark such as one that takes place in a brothel. The performances certainly bring some added interest to the film. In the end it does not do much of anything. With overlong middling action scenes and characters that do not generate much additional interest and a general failure to fuse anything of substance together from its influences, The Good, the Bad, the Weird is a disappointing film that sort of just sits around for over 2 hours asserting its irrelevance.
3.4/10
The Good, the Bad, the Weird is a misguided, uneven and vastly overlong attempt at fusing together the Spaghetti Western, Hollywood westerns and Asian action elements with an additional large dose of comedy. Boosted slightly by performances by Song Kang-Ho and Lee Byung-hun, the film has many considerable flaws and does not succeed on either a character-based level or an action-based one for various reasons. Kim Ji-Woon’s latest effort is, in short, a mess with intermittent moments of potential.
The film takes place in 1930’s Manchuria and involves the contents of a map which supposedly leads to treasure which is thought to have been buried by the Chinese before their government’s collapse. The Weird, a thief named Yoon Tae-goo (Song Kang-Ho) steals the map from a Japanese official on a train at the start of the film. The Bad, a hitman named Park Chang-yi (Lee Byung-hun looking gorgeous) is hired to acquire the map himself. The Good in the meantime, a bounty hunter named Park Do-won (Jung Woo-sung) is trying to track down the Bad. The Japanese army wants the treasure as they believe it can save the Japanese empire. The film is filled with alliances and betrayals as people’s goals and motivations change, each looking out for themselves.
This is the basic plot of The Good, the Bad, the Weird and it does not go much further than this. The version I saw of it clocked in at 2 hours and 15 minutes which is a half hour too long. It does not offer enough to justify its length. The action scenes are in general, poor and go on for at least 5 minutes too long with some action set pieces going on for over 10 minutes. The action scenes themselves are poorly constructed in both conception and execution. Conceptually, the action scenes have nothing inherently interesting about them. There is not much to differentiate them from each other and the dynamic of the scene are not interesting enough to generate much investment. The execution is even more problematic. In certain action scenes, such as the opening one on the train, Kim Ji-Woon shoots frenetically but instead of adding tension it is all over the place, dissolving any sense of tension and making things generally confusing. There is also no sense of energy or excitement to these scenes and they drag on without building tension let alone having it to begin with.
Action scenes take up a little more than half of the film. Looking to fall back on interesting characters, the film is disappointing in this regard as well, if to a lesser degree. While there are a few scenes, such as one at a campfire with the Good and the Weird that establishes character, they do not stick out enough to be memorable or appealing. The characters are not flat but they are forgettable. This especially goes for the Good, who is boring and largely irrelevant. Song Kang-Ho and Lee Byung-hun bring something to their roles and manage to entertain with their mere presence. There is material for them to work within the script; unfortunately it is just not enough.
Additionally, the film fails tonally. In a film that functions on its ability to bend genre and bring something new to the table it fails in its fusion of different elements. It is not serious enough to be taken serious but not funny enough to be all that funny. It meanders in the middle, not using any of the elements and influences it takes from to create something fresh with energy, instead creating something that is painfully mild while clearly believing it is not.
There are things to admire in the film. Certain scenes make their mark such as one that takes place in a brothel. The performances certainly bring some added interest to the film. In the end it does not do much of anything. With overlong middling action scenes and characters that do not generate much additional interest and a general failure to fuse anything of substance together from its influences, The Good, the Bad, the Weird is a disappointing film that sort of just sits around for over 2 hours asserting its irrelevance.
Horrorphile
20/20 Filmsight
For the most part, I thought this was a lot of fun, but far too long - by the time we got there, they ending couldn't come soon enough.
Still, there was a lot that I liked - the train sequence was great IMHO, and I didn't really have a problem with the tone. Ultimately, though, even if the rest of the film was awful it would get a pass mark from me for the diving bell helmet joke - perhaps he should have kept it on for the second half...
Bryn: Sukiyaki! Now there is a film I was meaning to see back in the day but completely forgot about. Hmmm, perhaps tonight...
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