The Good, The Bad, The Weird (2008/IFC/MPI Blu-ray)
Picture: B- Sound: B- Extras: C+ Film: C+
Trying to imitate the
Spaghetti Western is usually a bad idea and doing so visually is a recent
phenomenon after its original era ended in the early 1980s. Following Robert Rodriguez and Sam Raimi,
this new cycle has been only good visually if that and has really done nothing
new in the Western genre, no matter what new ideas or items outside of that
cycle have been added. Kim Ji-woo is
known for his Horror genre films A Tale
Of Two Sisters and The Uninvited,
so what would he do with the genre in The
Good, The Bad, The Weird (2008)?
Well, he has certainly
made an ambitious project, an expensive one and the idea of Korean robbers
being chased by Chinese robbers and the Japanese Army in 1930s Manchuria
(making that Army the Imperialist pre-WWII kind) has its potential, but the
screenplay (co-written by the director) becomes more about is visual style than
about actually telling a story. The
actors are good in their roles and the money is on the screen, but it is
everything we have seen before and if anything, it is the opposite of the best
Spaghetti Westerns in that the costumes are too well-made and set-ups too
clean.
This is
the 130 minutes-long version and not the reportedly 139 minutes long Korean
version, but that cannot save what is wrong with this now and it simply cannot
compete with the original Django
(1966, reviewed on Blu-ray elsewhere on this site) let alone the Leone classic
its title references. Diehard fans may
like it, but even Takashi Miike’s Sukiyaki
Western Django (2007, also reviewed on Blu-ray elsewhere on this site)
looked dirtier and though I was not fan of that film either, it was closer to
the original sources of inspiration. Now
you can see for yourself.
The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image is shot
in digital High Definition video and to the credit of all, the color is better
and richer than most such shoots to date, but too often, you can see a lack of
detail or noise from the HD shoot that would not be there if this were shot on
film. Lee Mo-gae (who lensed A Tale Of Two
Sisters) and Oh Seung-Chul
handled the cinematography. The Dolby
Digital 5.1 Korean mix is the only option, with surprisingly no lossless mix,
but I liked the sound design and wonder if a lossless 5.1 mix would have worked
better.
Extras include two
Making Of pieces, Theatrical Trailer, Behind The Scenes piece, Cannes Highlight
Reel and interviews with the Director and three leads.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
