“Seoul Vibe” Poster
Director: Moon Hyun-Sung
Cast: Yoo Ah-In, Ko Gyung-Pyo, Lee Kyu-Hyung, Park Ju-Hyun, Ong Seong-Wu, Moon So-Ri, Kim Sung-Kyun, Kim Chae-Eun, Baek Hyun-Jin, Eom Ji-Man
Running Time: 138 min.
By Paul Bramhall
There must be something in the Korean air at the moment with setting movies in the lead up to the Olympics. While the 2020 gangster movie Paid in Blood set itself directly in the lead up to the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, 2022’s Seoul Vibe dials things considerably further back, setting itself in the lead up to the 1988 Seoul Olympics. The 20-year Olympic gap also means that Seoul Vibe leans in far more on the nostalgia factor, complimented by the fact that there was arguably far more riding on Seoul’s hosting of the 1988 Olympics in terms of historical significance.
Coming at a point in time when South Korea had been a democracy for less than a year after decades as a dictatorship, as a country it had a point to prove, and the Olympics further accelerated what was already Seoul’s rapid urban development. The period has already been explored in the popular 2015 drama series Reply 1988, as well as productions from the year itself, such as the iconic Chilsu and Mansu. Seoul Vibe isn’t so much interested in capturing the political upheaval of the period in any way which could be considered serious though, instead opting for a shamelessly commercial caper flick that sees a group of ex-con driving specialists hired to help catch some unsavoury layovers from the old regime.
Opening in Saudi Arabia, we meet ace driver Yoo Ah-in (Voice of Silence, Burning) and his sidekick Ong Seong-wu (Cattle Run, Life is Beautiful) kicking up a storm as they ride a jeep through the sand dunes. Returning to Seoul after laying low for an undefined period of time, upon landing back on Korean soil they’re met with a country that’s opened itself up to western influences, which basically amounts to a gratuitous amount of product placement for McDonalds and Coca-Cola for the next 2+ hours. Inbetween the burgers and fizziness, the pair meet up with their old gang – Ah-in’s motorbike riding younger sister played by Park Ju-hyun (Silence, Drive), technician Lee Kyu-hung (Innocent Witness, The Wicked), and DJ Go Kyung-pyo (Coin Locker Girl, Man on High Heels).
While the gang aspire to move to the U.S., a righteous prosecutor soon rains on their parade with the threat of jail time for their misdemeanours. Offering up a Dirty Dozen style ultimatum, they’re given the choice to accept time behind bars or, if they agree to use their driving skills to collect evidence of an illegal slush fund containing millions, in return they’ll not only have their criminal records wiped, they’ll get a passport and U.S. visa to boot. Naturally, the latter is a no-brainer, so when intel reveals the unsavouries are looking for skilled drivers, the scene is set for the gang to go undercover and do what they do best.
Helmed by Moon Hyeon-song, Seoul Vibe marks his third time in the director’s chair after 2012’s As One (which tackled a sporting event more directly through the story of the joint South and North Korean women’s table tennis team that won the 1991 Chiba International Table Tennis Championships) and the 2017 period comedy The King’s Case Note. Clearly a fan of tales that play out in key historical time periods from Korea’s past, there’s a distinct feeling that Hyeon-song would have benefitted from paying a little less attention to the constant moments of “look at this period detail!” in Seoul Vibe, and a little more to the characterisation and story.
Indeed to call Ah-in and his gang characters at all feels like a stretch. All of them play like broad caricatures of barely thought-out ideas that should never have made it past the first production meeting. Ah-in’s defining characteristics amount to gelled back hair and a ridiculous gold chain, and he’s the lead. As his sister Ju-hyun is given so little to work with she’s practically insufferable, reduced to reacting in that distinctly Korean style of flustered to whatever situation is afoot and little else. The rest blur into one, to a point where you could be forgiven for rooting for the bad guys – played by an always welcome Moon So-ri (Ode to the Goose, Oasis) and her military obsessed underling, played by Kim Sung-kyun (Phantom Detective, Nameless Gangster).
The vibe the title alludes to feels overwhelmingly self-conscious, almost as if Hyeon-song is as desperate to convince himself that the movie he’s created is a fun time as much as he is the audience. In one of the more bizarre examples of a period setting gone wrong, the fact that we’re in 1988 Seoul sees the audience constantly hit over the head with reminders of the same, usually through ways that poorly masquerade as nostalgia. Details which feel like they should be in the background to subtly build the world the movie is a part of, such as a giant billboard for A Better Tomorrow, instead are forced to awkwardly draw attention to themselves by having establishing shots lingeringly open on them, despite serving no purpose to the scene.
However when it comes to recreating a broader aesthetic like a whole street, the CGI used is glaringly sub-par. The roads and buildings lack depth and detail, frequently looking more like a 2D image that characters have been poorly superimposed on, a feeling which is only exasperated when they’re expected to interact with the supposed surroundings. The biggest crime that Seoul Vibe commits though is in its lacklustre execution of the exact thing it sells itself on – the vehicular action. Best described as a horrible mix of undercranked chase sequences and cringe inducing CGI, whenever Ah-in and his crew get behind the wheel the expected adrenaline rush quickly turns into torrid boredom.
The undercranking is betrayed by the fact that when a car drives into a wall, it barely constitutes a mild bump, whereas whenever a more spectacular crash is required, the vehicles switch to that distinctly weightless and jerky CGI that really should have become extinct over a decade ago. Needless to say if there was an award for the dullest vehicular action committed to film, Seoul Vibe would be up there, with director Hyeong-song seemingly under the belief that endless slow motion drifting shots constitute excitement (possibly because they’re one of the few manoeuvres done for real).
Despite the slightness of everything at hand, Hyeon-song’s most disastrous achievement is that he’s made a movie that doesn’t need to be longer than 85 – 90 minutes into an almost 140-minute ordeal. A needlessly long runtime that still manages to feel even longer, frankly it defies explanation, and is only made worse by the languid jazzy score that plays over many of the scenes. In fairness if there’s one positive thing to say about Seoul Vibe, it’s that the soundtrack does finally come alive in the last reel when the elevator-esque jazz score is ditched for a handful of 80’s K-pop classics, which will hopefully turn at least some viewers on to an overlooked period of K-pop history. I guess that’s really more of a niche side benefit though than a direct compliment to the movie itself.
In the end Seoul Vibe attempts to take elements from both The Fast and The Furious franchise and Baby Driver, throw them into a blender, finishing off with a dose of kimchi and a quote from Knight Rider. The problem is Hyeon-song forgot to put the lid on, and as a result the ingredients got splattered everywhere, ending up an unfathomably unwieldy mess that’s easier to look away from than consider making sense of. While the constant 80’s throwbacks may hold some nostalgic value for local audiences, for everyone else, the best advice would be to steer well clear. Pun intended.
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 3/10
