Kim Jee-Woon’s “The Bad, The Weird” Action-Western 2008 film 2008 is up to the three adjectives of its title. This title was, of course, inspired by The famous 1966 of Sergio Leone “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” of 1966 “ A film that featured – in their respective moral roles – Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach. As any filmmaker can tell you, the classic of Leone, which takes place in 1862, concerns his three main characters in search of a hidden cache of confederate gold hidden in a cemetery. The film lasts 161 minutes (or 171 if you watch the director’s cup), and it offers many violent picaresque adventures on the path of its famous three shootout.

In Kim’s film, the three title roles are played by-also respectively-Jung Woo-Sun, Lee Byung-Hun and Song Kang-ho, although it takes place in the wild of Manchuria in 1939 just before the widespread hatching of the Second World War. Like Leone’s film, however, “Weird” largely concerns the three principles that argue an buried treasure. This time, it’s a card that the “bad” character tries to fly on a Japanese train, only to be missed by the “bizarre” character. The BAD (named Park Chun-Yi) is soon targeted by the “good” character (named Park Do-Wan), a pure-hearted bonus hunter more interested in generosity than treasure cards.

The treasure is ultimately revealed to be the remains of the Qing dynasty, which ended until 1912. For “good, bad, bizarre”, the film deals with recent Chinese history and echoes of Chinese imperialism. This is parallel to the historical themes of Leone’s original, which dealt with the racist history of the American civil war.

Oh, and did you notice how sexy Lee was? It is that of the long black leather jacket, emo hair and leather finger holster. You could also know him for his many other roles, including Hwang In-Ho in “Squid Game”.