Juyuso seubgyuksageun

Taking a single location and having all this chaos erupt turns Attack the Gas Station! into one of the more entertaining foreign films to come out in a long time. With many surreal and absurdist moments, the film is hilarious to boot, while offering some insight into Korean culture.

Unfortunately, much of the humour doesn't translate properly, while many of the cultural nuances will be lost on a non-Korean audience member. Although Ddan-Ra being chastized for drinking Pepsi and supporting American companies, while he defends himself because the Pepsi logo vaguely resembles the mark on the South Korean flag, should be understood by most.

After a conversation with a person more versed in Korean culture, it is easy to see how much gets lost on the non-Korean viewer. The four central characters, set up as a group of tough-guys, play elementary school games during their seige of the gas station (the syllable game, the paper-scissors-rock variant, etc.). While amusing, they don't hold much resonance for a non-Korean viewer, but for a Korean viewer, are much easier to identify with.

Sadly, Sang-Jin Kim's follow-up, "Kick the Moon", lacks much of the absurdism and satire of AtGS, instead punching up the level of violence.

The DVD box says: "This film either serves as a political parable about Korean society, a microcosm of Korean social problems or, alternately, just a hell of a lot of fun." I couldn't sum it up any better.

"Attack the Gas Station!" can be many things... or nothing at all. Therein lies the mark of a great work of art. I'm not familiar with Korean politics or society, so I can't comment on whether it's a fitting allegory for those... but I personally saw this film as a brilliant "immorality play" and definitely a lot of fun.

Like the classic morality plays of the 15th century, it uses characters to personify certain human virtues & vices. However, unlike a classic morality play which is supposed to teach a moral lesson, "Attack the Gas Station!" draws no moral conclusions ...except maybe that you should never p*ss off Chinese food delivery boys. They can get nasty.

Instead of moralizing over right & wrong, this film simply tells it like it is. The plot & premise is summed up in the title: a bunch of hoodlums decide to attack a gas station. They do it for no real reason other than "just because". If you're a fan of Camus ("The Stranger") and certain other influential writers of the 20th century, already you see an interesting theme of existentialism here.

As the film progresses, we see that theme become more powerful. Characters answer to no higher morality other than their own individual instincts. Good & bad become irrelevant. Actions, reactions and situations seem almost random. Folks, if I were to teach a 10th grade English class about Existentialism, I'd say to heck with Camus, Sartre & all those heady books... just watch "Attack the Gas Station!" and have a blast.

On the flip side, if you watch this movie and try to judge what's right & wrong, you may hate it. Like "Pulp Fiction" the lines of right & wrong are erased, and often the most likable characters are the ones who are doing horrible things.

OK, enough of that deep stuff. Let's assume the movie is just intended to be "a hell of a lot of fun". It's definitely a comedy, but the comedy isn't in your face. It's more like an absurdist comedy where the situations are so bizarre you can't help but laugh. In that respect it reminded me of Buñuel's 1962 surrealist classic "Exterminating Angel". In the DVD interview, the director of "Attack the Gas Station!" states that the gas station is designed to represent a fantasy bubble, separate from the rest of the world, where peoples' true natures come out and anything goes.

Also in the DVD interview, he mentions that each of the 4 main characters represents a different emotional aspect, and the 4 put together represent a complete individual. I can't remember exactly who represents what, and you'll probably have more fun figuring that out for yourself, but for example "Mad Dog" may represent frustration, "Rock Star" may represent regret, etc.

The presentation itself is stylish, hip and fast paced, like an MTV video. It may remind you of "Amelie" or other Jean-Pierre Jeunet films (who, himself, claims to be influenced by Japanese and Korean films). If you're familiar with Asian cinema, think of "Kamikaze Girls" or "Cutie Honey (live action)". But there are also some sober moments giving us time to reflect on the deeper significance... if there is any.

Like I said, "Attack the Gas Station!" can be many things... or nothing at all. The best part is that it doesn't pretend to be anything, so it's up to you. I highly recommend it for a philosophical/socio-political mind trip as well as a mindless action-comedy flick. See it if you get the chance.

Its been a while since I've commented on IMDb, the only excuse I have for that is that no film in the past year or two has moved me, or even made me want to comment at all on here.

Well I'm back at it and might I say its an uplifting return. "Attack the Gas Station" by Kim Sang-Jin was above and beyond what I expected for a pick off the blockbuster wall. This film takes you from the beginning all the way to the end, at first you really don't like these protagonist, but near the end you want to join their gang.

Anarchy is an understatement here, The film centers around 4 guys who have all grown a grudge with society for one reason or another, and one night decide to take it out on a little gas station and the enviorment around that station.

This film is awesome, and if you really want to have a good time(Laugh, Root, and Edge of your seat action) WATCH THIS MOVIE.... out of a possible 10, I give it a sparkling DIME!

Don't know what took me so long to watch this film, but it was sure worth the wait.

On the surface, this tale of a brutal gang who rob a gas station (hence the name!) and take the workers hostage appears to be just another been-there, seen-that Asian thriller, but underneath there's a soft centre waiting to be discovered - short vignettes give us clues as to how these thugs came to be this way, one of the hostages learns to stand up for himself, characters who are even nastier than the robbers end up worst off, and even the thugs themselves get a shot a redemption. OK, it's not especially profound, and like so many Asian films, it suffers from an inconsistency of tone (lashings of violence, swearing, slapstick comedy and musical numbers make for a strange mix) which might alienate some western viewers, but it's fast-moving, never boring, surprising in all the right places and a definite recommendation for a fun evening's viewing.

This is actually the first Korean movie i ever saw, and it was really hilarious. If this is Korean crazy comedy, I want to see more. Recommended if you don't hate "foreign" film.