We’re back with a new film review, this time we’re taking a closer look at ‘Seoul Vibe’. The 2022 Netflix film has many fan favorite actors so I was definitely stoked after watching the trailer.
‘Seoul Vibe’ is directed and co-written by Moon Hyun-Sung. His previous work was a Sageuk film, so this is quite the change. The other co-writer is Shin Soo-A. Netflix released the film towards the end of August.
Plot
We’re going back to 1988 where we follow our main lead as he’s racing through the desert in Saudi Arabia transporting illegal goods.
Park Dong-Wook portrayed by the amazing Yoo Ah-In plays a guy obsessed with cars and American culture. He’s a fantastic driver and does odd transportation jobs (like the Saudi Arabia job) to get by.
He’s joined by his adorable puppy-like friend Joon-Gi, played by Ong Seong-Wu. You’ll recognize him from his Wanna One days and his solo career.
When they fly back to Korea, they’re chased by a prosecutor, played by Oh Jung-Se who was in ‘It’s okay to not be okay’ and is currently in the popular show ‘Little Women’. The prosecutor Ahn Pyeong-Wook wants to stop a massive slush fund run by Chairwoman Kang In-Sook (Moon So-Ri) and director Lee Hyeon-Gyun (Kim Sung-Kyun).
The chairwoman is looking for new drivers to transport the money without being caught and prosecutor Ahn wants to lure them into a trap by using Park Dong-Wook and his team. He wants them to collect evidence so they can arrest them since they’re practically untouchable and have friends in very high places.
Overall
Despite this summary sounding very serious and tense, the film itself is not. All of the characters are wacky and a lot of scenes are shown with a very humorous lens.
I don’t think this is a perfect movie. The CGI budget was literally zero at certain points. For a film with a lot of driving scenes, you would at least suspect that the budget would be appropriately used for those close-ups. It’s hard to be in the moment when the view from the window looks so fake.
The pacing in the first 30 minutes was also not fantastic. I think there were a lot of characters to introduce and a lot of action scenes with the driving and maybe it was all a bit too much since it felt rushed and the jokes a bit excessive. After a while the film did find its stride and the pacing was more enjoyable to watch. They toned down the odd humor and it made it a lot more fun.
There were so many amazing actors in this film it’s hard to name them all. A quick shout-out to Mino from WINNER who was a tracksuit loving antagonist.
While not a fantastic film, it’s still a fun watch. So check out the trailer for ‘Seoul Vibe’ below.
