Introduction
Korean filmmaker Kim Jee-woon has created box office hits in Asia with
The Foul King (2000), A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) and A Bittersweet Life
(2005). This time he would take on the challenge of a new genre: an
“Oriental Western". Set in Manchuria in 1930s, the story deals with three
Korean men and their entanglement with the Japanese army, Chinese and
Russian bandits, accompanied with many exciting action scenes.
Synopsis
In the 1930s, the world is in chaos. In Northeast Asia, the Korean
Peninsula has fallen into the hands of the Japanese Imperialists. Many
Koreans have flocked to Manchuria, the vast terrain of horses and
wilderness bordering their homeland and China. Some of them, inevitably,
have turned into mounted bandits to earn their living in this barren
wasteland.
Es folgen Spoiler!
Tae-gu (The Weird) is a thief. He robs a train of Japanese military officers,
but the incident is not as simple as it first seems. In the middle of this
fierce gun battle against the Japanese, he obtains a mysterious map that
leads to a treasure from the Qing Dynasty, buried somewhere in
Manchuria.
Yet, the map is also sought by Chang-yi, the cold blooded hitman (The
Bad). Tae-gu must fight not only the Japanese but also Chang-yi and his
fellow thugs, who happen to attack the train at the same time. At the end
of this intense gunfight, a mysterious man jumps into the center of the
battle from nowhere and rescues Tae-gu with astonishing gunplay.
Having survived the battle, Tae-gu thanks the man for saving his life. Yet,
he does not know that this stranger is Do-won, the bounty hunter (The
Good), who has been chasing Tae-gu to turn him in for a reward.
These three men - Do-won (The Good), Chang-yi (The Bad) and Tae-gu
(The Weird) - will soon discover that the map they are battling for is also a
magnet that attracts others as diverse as the Korean resistance,
Chinese/Russian/Korean mountain bandits and the Japanese army. The
blazing gun battle in the train proves to be merely the beginning of the
rollercoaster ride to the final showdown to come.
Director's Statement
The broad plains of Manchuria offer a seemingly boundless landscape of
earth and sky, long ruled by wild men and their horses. It became a
battle field for great powers in 1930s. And it also became a land of exile
for Koreans wandering there.
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