por Scott Marks
Crítico de cine SDUN

“The Good The Bad The Weird” (2008)
Directed by Kim Jee-Woon
Written by Kim Jee-Woon & Kim Min-suk
Starring: Jung Woo-sung, Lee Byung-hun and Song Kang-ho
Rating: ***

Since Asians invented spaghetti, it stands to reason that Korea’s Kim Jee-Woon should be able to try his hand at a spaghetti western.

“The Good The Bad The Weird” is a free-for-all-out tribute to the genius of Italian visionary filmmaker Sergio Leone. In 14 years and seven films as a director, Leone invented his own spectacularly unique cinematic language. On his best day Kim Jee-Woon would be fortunate to have his name mentioned in the same paragraph with that of Sergio Leone. Kim found much greater success tackling the horror genre (“Two Sisters”) than he does Leone’s west. It’s also a shame that they didn’t spend as much time trying to replicate the work of Leone’s composer Ennio Morricone. The original music by Dalparan and Jang Yeong-gyu frequently resembles that of ’70s porn.

The film brings together three of Korean cinema’s top male action stars. Park Chang-yi (aka Bad) is the top killer in the land. As played by Lee Byung-hun (“3 Extremes,” “A Bittersweet Life,” “G.I. Joe.”), Bad is Billy the Kid with Victoria Beckham’s spiky bob haircut, a punk loner who spends his downtime going to the movies and listening to Glenn Miller’s “Moonlight Serenade.”

Song Kang-ho (“Lady Vengeance,” “The Host,” “Thirst”) stars as Yoon Tae-goo, the Weird. He’s a train robber by trade who doubles as comic relief and is terribly hurt to learn that the reward money on his head doesn’t amount to much more than the value of a used piano. He prefers motor scooter to horseback, and according to Song, Tae-goo “appears comedic but he is the most desperate character out of the three.”

Clint Eastwood was issued a more complex character and received twice the screen time when he played the role. If nothing else, Jung Woo-sung’s (“Born to Kill,” “Daisy,” “Mutt Boy”) baby-faced bounty hunter can take his rightful place sailing alongside other flying people in the Wu-xia Hall of Fame.

As fate (and cinematic contrivance) would have it, three strangers meet up and the hunt is on for a great treasure, sought after by both bandits and soldiers alike, buried somewhere in Manchuria. The opening extended train robbery sequence establishes character while capturing many of Leone’s stylistic nuances. Part of the appeal of Leone’s films is they never went in the direction of self-parody. It’s maddeningly frenetic – and with a performance as broad as Kang-ho’s, it’s surprising that the picture is as centered as it is.

The press notes promise “100% Real Action Without Substitutes” and go on to shout about how the film’s three principles and all of the extras performed their own stunts. Okay, it’s conceivable that the film was made without stuntmen. What I have trouble with is the assertion that the film was made without the help of computer graphics. What do they call the CGI eagle that swoops and soars during the train robbery? Just because no digitized cowboys fell from their horses doesn’t mean the film didn’t employ CGI.

In spite of all its visual huffing and puffing the film never lives up to any part of its title. It’s never bad, not exceptionally good and nowhere near as weird as anticipated.

“The Good The Bad The Weird” is now playing at Landmark’s Ken Cinema.

“Iron Man 2”
Directed by Jon Favreau
Written by Justin Theroux
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Sam Rockwell, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle and Scarlett Johansson
Rating: **

Each year ComicCon lines San Diego’s coffers with millions and millions of tourists’ dollars but for me it will always be one thing: A celebration of everything that’s wrong with contemporary cinema. It’s one thing to make movies for 9-year-old boys. In order to broaden their financial base Hollywood needs to appeal to adults with kids’ cravings. This year they are doing a lousy job of tapping into what they perceive to be the 9-year-old-boy in all of us. “Kick-Ass” did not perform as well as expected and “The Losers” lost out at the box office.

One of the few watchable and genuinely entertaining comic book movies of the past decade was “Iron Man.” How that came to be remains a mystery. Comedian Jon Favreau, who was fortunate enough to find a seat in the director’s chair on the monster hit “Elf,” lucked into “Iron Man.” His work behind the camera turned out to be bland, efficient and just impersonal enough to make the film a success with fans and critics.

“Iron Man” appears to be one of those “happy accidents” of cinema. An inexperienced director working with an unfinished script and a cast that could improvise dialogue turned out an across-the-board hit. Perhaps there was too much planning on the sequel to reconstitute what made the first one hum.

The last World’s Fair I remember being conscious of was held in new York in 1964 and the only reason it sticks out in my memory is because of a comic book I had when I was a kid that featured the Flintstones celebrating its arrival. The idea of commencing a comic book film at an expo struck a cord and for a few minutes I thought this was going to be a repeat of the first installment.

No such luck. Downey was so pleased with the work Justin Theroux did on “Tropic Thunder” he suggested the screenwriter for the “Iron Man” sequel. The first film did an exceptional job of establishing the rules by which its fantasy universe operates. Hipster Theroux quickly transformed this into a comedy super-hero movie, not a comic book with occasional laughs. Too much talk, not enough action and a few too many one-liners instantly set this apart from its predecessor. With his Boris Badenov accent and electric lariats, Mickey Rourke’s bad guy is no match for Jeff Bridges’ brainy Obadiah Stane. Rourke is at his best sharing crackerjack dialog with the villainous Sam Rockwell (who was one of the original candidates to star as Iron Man).

Scarlett Johansson must have thought she was making amends for languishing in another comic book dud, “The Spirit.” Her performance here is equally lackluster as she bides her time until a third act fight scene calls for her to interact with a stunt double and CGI effects. Samuel L. Jackson clearly decided to walk through this role only after cementing a nine-picture deal to play Nick Fury in a slew of Marvel Studio productions. Don Cheadle agreed to play Rhodey after Terrence Howard had a falling out with Marvel. It was the role Cheadle was bored to play.

“Iron Man 2” follows the “bigger is better” school of sequels. If audiences enjoyed one Iron Man, they are bound to go gaga over watching dozens of them do battle. You may need to pop a handful of vitamin B12 when you feel the symptoms of iron deficiency anemia setting in.