Set in 1988, this Korean action comedy follows a blithe driving team that goes undercover with holdovers from the old military leadership.
On the surface, the Korean action comedy “Seoul Vibe” resembles any studio product getting a kick out of careening cars and snazzy retro gear. But the setting is 1988, when South Korea was transitioning toward freer elections after years of military dictatorship. The heroes of the movie are a driving team with their own custom-car garage, while the baddies hail from the corrupt old regime and have millions stashed away. (Chun Doo-hwan, the era’s ruling general, died last November and was in fact convicted of collecting massive bribes.)
Not that any of this history offers more than curiosity value. “It is a fun and brainless action film,” Yoo Ah-in, who plays the star driver, Dong-wook, opined at a recent news conference, and he’s partly right. In the shapelessly long movie, Dong-wook’s team goes undercover for a government investigation, posing as couriers for a big-hair crime boss (Moon So-ri, aptly hard-boiled) and a psychotic ex-military man (Kim Sung-kyun).
Dong-wook and his goofball mates (played by Ko Gyung-pyo, Lee Kyoo-hyung, Ong Seong-Wu and Park Ju-Hyun as the female member and motorbike maven) gawp at the loot they transport and the 1980s booty they collect — sneakers, gold chains, mix tapes. The caper, directed by Moon Hyun-sung, isn’t as fun as it insists it is, playing up the crew and its exploits à la “The Fast and the Furious” and “Baby Driver” but never hitting its stride.
But the final half-hour of chases is pleasingly raucous as the team bobs and weaves through the streets during celebrations for the 1988 Seoul Olympics, racing toward a new future.
Seoul Vibe
Not rated. In Korean, with subtitles. Running time: 2 hours 18 minutes. Watch on Netflix.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
