[REVIEW] Seoul Vibe: The Movie Starring Yoo Ah-in is A Hilarious and Crazy Retro Ride

In the days leading up to the opening of the 1988 Summer Olympics, worldwide excitement is escalating in Seoul. Neon signage, Champion tracksuits, and rather than BTS, the first K-pop boy group ever SoBangCha were all the rage.

This comedy action thriller sets up the hijinks and scrapes of the drivers of the Sanggye-dong Supreme team. Things really kick into gear when they go undercover and become mixed up in a slush fund investigation involving VIPs in exchange for an offer for one-way trip to America they can’t refuse.

Don’t worry if you aren’t into fast cars because while the premise of the movie centres around racing, it isn’t a Korean version of Fast & Furious. Instead of Lamborghinis and Porsches, fast rides appear in the form of Hyundai Grandeurs and other classic rides and the movie has some impressive jaw-dropping racing scenes with some unique twists and turns.

As Dong Wook says, “I don’t stop stepping on the accelerator until I go all the way” and the movie entertains from the word go. You also don’t have to be a K-drama fan to get sucked into the tale that involves towering stacks of money, unconventional race cars, and rampant corruption during the reconstruction of the South Korean economy.

As usual, Yoo Ah-in shines in his role as Dong Wook, with his detailed acting and diverse facial expressions adding a depth to the otherwise largely comedic film. There is little wonder that the Hellbound and Burning star was director Moon Hyun-sung’s one and only pick for the role. Park Ju-hyun, the only girl in the team manages to steal the screen with her charisma and charm as the cool female ‘rempit’.

Ong Seong-wu of Wanna One fame sheds his boyband image as the goofy ‘engineer’ of the squad while Go Kyung-pyo steals hearts as the unlikely DJ cum spy. With Lee Kyoo-hyung along the ride as a human navigation system before the days of Google maps, the five impress with their chemistry and performances.

Happily, while superstar casts are usually there to compensate for a lacklustre plot, each appearance manages to add their own depth to the movie. Besides lending his vocals to the movie’s OST, WINNER’S Song Min Ho even surprises with his acting chops in his film debut despite a general unfortunate reputation of most idol members’ inability to act. Moon So-Ri also delivers a great performance as the unusually calm villainess Chairwoman Kang while Oh Jung-se once again proves his versatility as an actor as Attorney Ahn.

An interesting fact to note, both Kim Sung-kyun who carries off the role as General Manager Lee the loose cannon and Go Kyung-pyo both previously acted together in the beloved Reply 1988 TV series, which was of course set in the same year as ‘Seoul Vibe’.