KDrama Review: The Good, The Bad, and the Weird

Show Length

Full Length Movie

My Ratings

Theme Depth: ★★
Uniqueness of Plot: ★★★★
Acting: ★★★
Technical Elements: ★★

Genres

Mystery
Comedy
Action
Historical

Plot

Somewhere in the heart of Northern China lies a mysterious treasure, marked only by an ancient map leading the way. In the middle of a run-of-the-mill stick-up, Weird locates the map and escapes with it into the back alleys and deserted roads. Following closely on his heels is “The Bad,” who holds some mysterious grudge against the Weird and who wouldn’t mind getting a slice of the treasure himself. Following closely on The Bad’s heels is “The Good” who also holds some mysterious grudge against The Bad and who is hired by the Korean Independence Movement to claim a slice of the treasure as a bonus. Following closely on all of their heels are about 3 different warlord gangs, the Japanese military, and the Korean Independence Movement. All together, they embark on a dangerous, blood-thirsty, race through the desert in search of this long forgotten goldmine and perhaps a good dose of revenge.
My Thoughts

I have to admit, I’m going to give this one a “Meh.” It wasn’t exactly bad, but it wasn’t real great either. Bonus points for the hottness value of Lee Byung-hun and Jung Woo-Sung, and I admit I’d probably watch the film just to see Lee Byung-hun, because he’s simply gorgeous. More bonus points because the cast did a fairly good job in their roles and the technical elements weren’t too badly done. All in all, it was a fairly well made little adventure story, full of angst and comedy in a “holy heck! what just happened” kind of way.

I loved the cowboy feel to the show; the characters were dressed like wild, wild west characters, and the shootouts were classing western-style. It’s kind of like Korea’s take on an old comedy/angsty western. I also liked how the character were related, and it had some great comedic moments. The great chase was pretty funny, and the Good and Weird pulled off some touching moments.

Honestly, most of my problem was the plotline flaws. For one thing, the violence and gore was a little more pronounced than I tend to prefer. I’m not terribly fond of that much torture and gratuitous evilness. Let’s just say the Bad is really, really, really BAD. It’s actually a bit more gruesome than I’ve come to expect from Korean works, and I’ve watched A LOT of mysteries and crime shows.

Then there were all the plot holes. Korean dramas have a tendency to just drop storylines without explanation, and this movie had a bunch of them. What happened to Weird’s friend? Why did he do what he did to the Bad guy? Did he change his personality? What was that story?!? Why does the Good hold such a grudge? Why don’t they understand the treasure when they find it? Why is the Bad so Bad? Was he always that Bad? How did he meet his boss/father figure? What happened to the treasure?

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