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| Attack the Gas Station! |
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  (8/10)
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Runtime: 113 |
| Public Rating: 2.00 (1 votes) |
Director: Sang-Jin Kim |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Action / Comedy / Satire |
Year: 1999 |
| Writer(s): Jeong-woo Park |
| Reviewed by: Friday and Saturday Night Critic |
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Starring Sung-jae Lee, Oh-seong Yu, Seong-jin Kang, Ji-tae Yu, and Yeong-gyu Park
A movie that ranks alongside Guy Maddin’s “Sissy-Boy Slap Party” for doing precisely what its title promises. Four punks decide to smash the gas station to bits one night, just for the hell of it. Then, the next night, they decide “Hey, let’s attack that gas station again!”
This was my second Korean film, after Chan-wook Park’s magnificent “Oldboy” but before the rest of his “Vengeance” trilogy. And if I can make so blanket a judgment after only two films, it appears that your average Korean guy is walking around with a lot of pent-up frustration and guilt. The first finds solace in whaling on other people, the second finds relief in other people whaling on him. Either way, a whole lot of crap gets beaten out.
Like “Oldboy,” “Attack the Gas Station!” has a glossy, candy color scheme, virtuoso long takes and hand-held tracking shots, and everything is given a wonky, exaggerated look through a wide angle lens. The movie has goofball masterpiece within its clutches but is just a little too lead-footed to achieve it – 90 or 100 minutes might serve it better than 2 hours. I does have the kind of balls-to-the-wall opening sequence that might cause you to scream out “this is the greatest movie ever!” There is a musical quality to its cadences, as more and more people are captured, forced to stand on their head, and threatened with a death that never arrives.
It’s certainly a socio-political satire in disguise — signs for “let’s build a better Korea!” are smashed gleefully. The four thugs vaguely symbolize anarchism or Communism in the way they re-arrange the social pecking order and give everyone a full tank. They turn into money-grubbing capitalists though, chasing down patrons who don’t pay. And, of course in the end, he who controls the oil controls everyone.
That being said, “Attack!” remains true to itself by preferring, instead of a particular statement, to delight in smashing stuff. Each thug is given a ten-cent flashback that explains everything in a ridiculous movie way. Hostages make goofball demands about their legs being asleep or preferring to be locked in their own trunks. And the bit where the guy breaks into one vending machine to get change for the vending machine right next to it is brilliant.
Finished Friday, December 15, 2006
Copyright © 2006 Friday & Saturday Night
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