Good, the bad, the weird

Once upon a movie age, Italy, France and other Western powers of the silver screen produced generations of gifted directors. Then Japan did. It's been South Korea's turn for more than a decade, and it's fitting that Ji-woon Kim decided to make a tribute to Sergio Leone.

It wasn't called a "noodle Western", rightly. That would sound even blander than its "spaghetti" inspiration. Released in 2008, The Good, The Bad, The Weird is Kim's self-proclaimed "kimchi Western", a spicy recipe with a very distinctive flavour.

Its setting is Japanese-occupied Manchuria in the 1930s. Korean independence warriors are up there, and so are two Korean renegades, a bounty hunter, Chinese bandits, Japanese troops and Indiana Jones clones on horses, motorbikes and steam trains.

It doesn't really matter who is the Good (Woo-sung Warrior Jung), Bad (Byung-hun Hero Lee) or Weird (Kang-ho Thirst Song) Korean guy. This is a movie with the intellectual subtlety of early Clint Eastwood. All it wants to be is a technically immaculate Korean celebration of Hollywood's Western conventions and comics, from Keystone Kops to Star Wars, Mel Brooks to Spielberg. Kim apparently decided to honour all their international offspring too, from Mad Max to gun-slinging samurais to pirouetting Hong Kong kung fu acrobats.

The screen is constantly, frantically busy, elaborately set and costumed, and captivatingly choreographed so that every extra does something detailed rather than just filling space. "The money's on the screen", as Hollywood producers used to boast: if guns can blaze, bombs explode, cavalry charge, motorbikes race and eyes glisten, they will, in vibrant cinematography and surround sound.

After the movie's initial 20-minute train chase, when the camera's flown over the surrounding desert and in, out and round period carriages, and a massive tableau of crooks have been assembled on the train, then dispersed, each chasing an unidentified map for possible buried treasure, the audience has no idea where it's being led, or which character it's supposed to cheer.

The ending kills off one of the trio, and a sequel seems likely. Or not. It doesn't matter, because this is just a fun fest best devoured in a big-screen environment as a very high-class Saturday matinee treat.