The opening of the movie proffers LI Shu-tong's sadly languid "Song of farewell", the best known musical piece of the period in the warlord-troubled period of China of the early 20th Century. The transition to the farce that follows is a stroke of brilliance.
The main drawing card of the movie is of course three superstars in the Chinese language cinema today, JIANG Wen, CHOW Yun-fat and GE You – in the order of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. This is actually the second time Jiang has fashioned a movie in this way, the first one being "Tian di ying xiong" (2003) in which he also took the role of The Good, while roles of The Bad and The Ugly were taken up, respectively, by Kiichi Nakai and WANG Xueqi (who back then had not yet attained today's lofty status in the movie world). The beauty in that one was ZHAO Wei.
As mentioned in my summary line, to the main structure of "The Good, the Bad and The Ugly" is added certain elements of the Kurosawa's classic Yojinbo (1961). But while therein, the hero (played by Toshiro Mifune) is the guy between two opposite camps, here in "Bullet" it's the clown, i.e. The Ugly.
I am not going to go into the plot which can be summarized as a convoluted game of power struggles between two rivalling gangs for control a small town. Exciting action and outlandish black humour make the movie thoroughly enjoyable. The highlight is of course the acting of the three superstars. One scene, in particular, must not be missed – the first meeting between The Good and The Bad, with the Ugly as the balancing factor in the subtle confrontation. Just to witness how in this scene the three pull all plugs in their acting reservoir to outdo one another is worth the admission price.
The main drawing card of the movie is of course three superstars in the Chinese language cinema today, JIANG Wen, CHOW Yun-fat and GE You – in the order of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. This is actually the second time Jiang has fashioned a movie in this way, the first one being "Tian di ying xiong" (2003) in which he also took the role of The Good, while roles of The Bad and The Ugly were taken up, respectively, by Kiichi Nakai and WANG Xueqi (who back then had not yet attained today's lofty status in the movie world). The beauty in that one was ZHAO Wei.
As mentioned in my summary line, to the main structure of "The Good, the Bad and The Ugly" is added certain elements of the Kurosawa's classic Yojinbo (1961). But while therein, the hero (played by Toshiro Mifune) is the guy between two opposite camps, here in "Bullet" it's the clown, i.e. The Ugly.
I am not going to go into the plot which can be summarized as a convoluted game of power struggles between two rivalling gangs for control a small town. Exciting action and outlandish black humour make the movie thoroughly enjoyable. The highlight is of course the acting of the three superstars. One scene, in particular, must not be missed – the first meeting between The Good and The Bad, with the Ugly as the balancing factor in the subtle confrontation. Just to witness how in this scene the three pull all plugs in their acting reservoir to outdo one another is worth the admission price.