In 1930s Manchuria, three villains seek out a treasure map, and the winner takes all. THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD revives the Manchurian Western, a classic Korean film genre.

Chase, chased, chasing. Director Kim Jee-woon’s ambitious Manchurian western, THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD shoots all the character, action and plot from beginning to end without letting up on their reins. Starting with a linear spectacle in the imperial train, the film begins with a buffet action in the market, and then continues with the music, ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’ on the great plains. The terminus that brings everyone together to one point is a map that makes everyone believe there is something to be desired. A map leads all the desire to the coordinates, but gives the irony that it is just an empty sheet for those who do not know the meaning of oil. It is the character’s tension that fills the mistaken Macguffin position. They target each other according to Chang-yi (Lee Byung-hun)’s suggestion. The incarnation of a cool cowboy with a rifle, Do-won (Jung Woo-sung), and the cyberpunk-style grim villain, Chang-yi, the leading player who always gets away with the situation by ear, Tae-goo (Song Kang-ho), lead highly dense suspense to the climax. It is a film in which the energy of hybrid and chaos flows aimlessly, even though it goes in a straight line. There is no evil at all in the world of ‘guy, guy, guy,’ which is based on Revisionist Westerns, and the strange ambiguity, not the absolute evil or good, holds the answer. (LEE Ye-ji)