On the podcast this time, Steven and Sean are on the hunt for a mysterious hidden treasure and shooting at loads of people along the way with the 2008 film from Kim Jee-woon, The Good, the Bad, the Weird.
Perhaps this film won’t be anything that breaks any new storytelling ground—it is a new version of the classic The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly by Sergio Leone. Given the history of spaghetti westerns liberally borrowing from other films, that one was also probably a retread of other things, too.
There’s nothing original anymore; all the stories have been told. What matters now is telling familiar stories in fresh ways.
Friend, this one tells a familiar story in the freshest way imaginable. It’s a rollicking buddy-chase-shootout-caper western and that’s a fantastic combination of genres. Stick all those ingredients together and you’ve got a hell of a crazy stew going.
What’s great about this one is its ability to surprise. You may be familiar with this story, but it’s still not going to be what you expect. There’s plenty of heavy emotion and blistering action. It’s a truly stellar film from South Korea.
(Recorded on March 11, 2022)
Links to Stuff We Mentioned:
The Good, the Bad, the Weird - IMDb
The Good, the Bad, the Weird trailer - YouTube
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) - IMDb
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) - IMDb
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) - IMDb
How Stunt Horses are Trained to Fall in the Movies - Horse Illustrated
(Of course there’s a Horse Illustrated. I both do and don’t (but mostly don’t) want to see that swimsuit issue.)
The Princess Bride (1987) - IMDb
The Magnificent Seven (2016) - IMDb
