The Good, The Bad, The Weird

It is the late 1930s and the desert wastelands of Manchuria have become a melting pot of villainy and lawlessness where guns and knives are essential for anybody hoping to survive these turbulent times. The lives of three disparate strangers – a cool bounty hunter, a homicidal gang leader and a bungling train robber – fatefully cross during a raid on a train that reveals the existence of a map indicating the location of a hidden treasure. As the three men vie for possession of the document, their individual efforts are hampered not only by each other but also by the attentions of the Japanese army and a gang of ruthless and heavily armed bandits. As the deadly battle for the map escalates, it becomes apparent that nobody is going to get out of this particular caper completely unscathed.

Directed by Kim Ji-woon (whose 2003 horror hit A Tale Of Two Sisters has recently been remade as The Uninvited) the action-packed, hyper-kinetic homage to Sergio Leone’s classic spaghetti westerns, THE GOOD THE BAD THE WEIRD comes to DVD and Blu-ray in June riding a wave of critical acclaim that saw the Daily Mirror calling it “a fistful of fun” and MTV hailing it as being “everything that the latest Indiana Jones flick should have been.”

The film brings together three of Korean cinema’s biggest stars – Jung Woo-sung (The Warrior), Lee Byung-hun (soon to be seen starring as Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra) and Song Kang-ho (The Host; Sympathy For Lady Vengeance) – starring as the eponymous trio of outlaws, each of whom has his eye on an ancient map that promises to lead its possessor to an untold fortune.

A smash hit box office sensation in South Korea, the “oriental western” THE GOOD THE BAD THE WEIRD is a unique and hugely enjoyable ride through a genre you think you may have seen before, but never quite like this. Full of jaw-dropping action set-pieces that knowingly reference the works of directors such as Sergio Leone, Sam Peckinpah and Steven Spielberg, amongst others. “Dazzling” (Time Out), “thrilling” (Q Magazine) and “fantastic” (Guardian Guide), this genre-hopping action-comedy is a blast from start to finish.

THE GOOD THE BAD THE WEIRD (Special Edition) will be released as a two-disc DVD (£19.99) and single disc Blu-ray (£24.99) by Icon Home Entertainment on 15th June 2009.