This little South Korean ditty is obviously an ode to the Spaghetti Westerns of, well, damn, those weren’t like THAT long ago. But it does seems to take a little time for shit to catch up over there apparently. I placed it somewhere in the mid 1800s by some of the looks, but I think it’s more like 1930s Korea or somewhere abouts. Manchuria? Is that even a place anymore? This might proceed some map-changins over there in Asiatown.
After the brief intro, basically starts with a train heist in said Manchuria. There seems to be several parties involved after a map of fabled treasures. Yeah, a fuckin treasure map. I don’t know for sure. I mean, it looked pretty authentic. How the fuck should I know? I wasn’t there, man. But a lotta guys are after it. There’s The Thief, who is one lucky S.O.B. kinda stumbles onto it, and the Bad-ass Bandit, who is looking to retrieve it, and then there’s… that other guy. Their fates plus a few more all get entangled, and it snowballs from there into a cray-cray post-Western with guns and horses and cannons and scuba-head gear. That part is actually kinda awesome, all things said and done. Is it like a retarded Indiana Jones movie? Yeah, it kinda is. If Indy was retarded.
This is a fun if not a bit too long of a Western romp. Some Liberties are taken with the style but it usually isn’t too distracting. Mostly the bad hair. Rest seems pretty legit. The plot is pretty thin but the action is spectacular and the Thief (Song Kang-ho of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, The Host, Snowpiercer, Parasite) is the comedic piece that ties it all together. Obvious heavy influence by The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, it takes its own course but giving it a little more modern flair. It has its own little political jabs it injects, but overall, you know where it’s gonna end up. Standoff, Mexico for a table of three.
