Long-winded and often boring faux Western that didn't grab my attention for the complete run. The visuals, although vast, didn't give me a sense of scale and the gunfights often looked like a bunch of kids shooting blanks. None of the bullets seemed to have an impact and the parts of the movie that were supposed to feel exciting were lackluster... despite the music (which was also mostly a miss).
There are much better westerns out there (many, many of them) and much better Korean movies.
South Korea's wild, colorful modern homage to the spaghetti western wears its inspiration on its sleeve, throws caution to the wind and just goes for it. And, unexpectedly, it's an almost-unanimous success.
Although it's spiced by a fresh, eastern sense of direction and a series of "did they really just try that" camera angles, the mood feels right, the scenery looks right and the cast is right at home on horseback with their weapons drawn, cocked and pointed. It's much gorier than the Leone classics it tries to emulate, which makes it a bit less serious, but the three leads make up for that with their performances. Woo-sung Jung (The Good) is the standout, channeling Lee Van Cleef's lawful bounty hunter in Fistful of Dollars, but Kang-ho Song (The Weird) keeps him in good company with his impersonation of Eli Wallach's smarter-than-he-seems rogue from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Byung-hun Lee (The Bad) seems more like Prince in cowboy boots than a western gunman, but he does more to make the role his own than the others.
A fine blend of big-budget action and last-generation western ethos, it's just a bit long and the constant winks and nods to The Man With No Name trilogy occasionally wear thin.
I didn't find it as appealing as most people seem to.
I've watched a lot of Korean movies recently and this is one of the least impressive so far.
To be fair, I've enjoyed mostly crime thrillers.
The few enjoyable moments I found were comedy performed by the character Yoon Tae-goo.
Other than that, the story is scattered, characters aren't memorable; it is never revealed what the purpose of the map is.
An excellent film that is an absolute blast to watch.
one of my favorites of all time =)
Certainly the best Korean "Western" if not the best Asian Western overall, it's a blast to watch. Be sure to watch the original (Korean/DVD) cut instead of the international (Netflix) cut. The international version leaves out a couple of scenes at the end which tell you what happened to some of the main characters.
Certainly the best Korean "Western" if not the best Asian Western overall, it's a blast to watch. Be sure to watch the original (Korean/DVD) cut instead of the international (Netflix) cut. The international version leaves out a couple of scenes at the end which tell you what happened to some of the main characters.
This film was going absolutely nowhere until 45 mins from the end when it pulled off the best action/chase scene ive ever seen.
Given that this is from the director of I Saw the Devil and Bittersweet Life, it’s a big disappointment.
Nothing really noteworthy in the film.
4/10
The original title of the film is Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom.
Like a cross country trip where you only take back roads, this is longer than it needs to be, but oh the sights you'll see.
This was fun! I actually watched it twice in the same day lol. It was funny every time. Going to recommend it to everyone I know! :D
Shout by DeletedBlockedParent2015-04-16T18:34:50Z— updated 2019-03-19T18:16:55Z
This was probably the most fun i have had watching a Movie. I can´t recommend enough even for non Asian Movies watchers.