The Good, The Bad, The Weird (15)

Alison Rowat's Review

As the title suggests, this eastern-set western is not a gunshot away from Sergio Leone’s classic in its tale of three oddballs on a treasure hunt. But Kim Ji-Woon’s furiously paced picture has a swagger all its own.

Set in Manchuria in the thirties, it tracks Do-Won the bounty hunter, Chang-yi the bandit leader, and kooky Tae-goo as they battle each other and the Japanese army to find the loot first. A massive hit in its native South Korea, Ji-Woon’s ferociously macho picture won’t win any awards for being right-on, but the action is relentless, the styling is pretty cool and the cast give it both barrels.

Paul Greenwood's Review

It’s no coincidence the title of this nutty Korean western is just one word away from Sergio Leone’s 1966 masterpiece.

But though it borrows from The Good, the Bad and The Ugly in its buried loot scenario (even occasionally pilfering entire scenes), and there are similarities in its three lead characters (a bounty hunter, a bandit and a vicious assassin), it also serves up plenty of its own ideas.

Kicking off with a frenetic train robbery that sets the tone for the action to follow, the whereabouts of a highly sought- after treasure map is the cue for a madcap race through 1930s Manchuria to find the fortune.

It’s an old fashioned adventure, packed with extremely stylish shootouts and chases, and though by turns played for laughs then disconcertingly violent, it’s always a whole lot of fun, complete with a triumphal horn-and-whistle soundtrack, parched landscapes and insane close-ups that pay fine tribute to Leone’s original.