This film from Korea is more of a black comedy than action, although there is a bit of action during all humor. You may realize that it’s just more than a movie about some delinquents who decide to rob a gas station not once but twice and risk getting caught. There’s a sort of political message—not an indictment of society, but a response to a society who has treated these four guys unfairly.

It's a fun ride of comedy, splashes of violence as well as drama and is a great introduction to Korean Cinema. You may not think a film that takes place mostly at a gas station would be exciting but this film provides plenty of story elements and great performance to pull it off. It’s a fresh and innovative alternative for Asian Cinema viewing.

So the next night they are bored again since they don't have a job to wake up to. What can they do tonight...I know: attack the gas station again! This time the owner hides the money, so the punks decide to take him and his three clerks hostage and work for the night and keep all the cash. Let the hijinks begin...

This film is very fresh and maintains a great pace that never gets boring, and the gags are funny. Even more impressive was how the director took a little time away from the current joke and gave us some background info on what makes these guys tick, and the viewer can find it believable that these losers put themselves in this situation. Amazingly, I found these punks to be very likable punks and really want them to get away with their nonsense.

Overall this is a very enjoyable flick that was very smart and witty, and the ending was quite clever too, since up to the last five minutes you wondered how the hell could they pull this off.

Also, watch this to view one of the worst police forces on the planet...

Warning!!! May make you want to create chaos in your neighborhood and take annoying people hostage.

The characters don't refer to one another by name, with the exception of Bulldog, and I rather doubt that that's the name he popped out the chute with. The film makes feeble attempts to rationalize the behavior of these four scofflaws by showing flashbacks in which they pursued some glorious career, like singing or playing baseball, only to have their dreams crushed by some dickhead adult. At least, that's the way they see it. Their own lack of persistence, it seems to me, is the real problem. So, they wreak all sorts of havoc at this gas station, like making kidnappees duke it out and filling peoples' tanks (and extorting the proportionate amount of money) when they only wanted a wee bit of fuel. Occasionally, they do something laudable, like trapping a group of sadistic bikers in the car wash, or hurling a baseball through the car window of some asshole who tears down the street in the middle of the night for no reason other than to annoy people. But they're still asswipes, and this is still a movie about asswipes being asswipes.

Towards the end of the film, there is a distinct change of gears, and the climax is, all things considered, the best part. It's not enough to make you forget that there are still two people suffocating in the trunk of a car, but it's enough to make you feel that the whole silly business hasn't been a complete waste of time.

There's not much to the main characters of the movie. All four of the main characters' personalities and pasts, although not too heavily developed, are revealed mainly through their actions and conveniently placed flashbacks littered throughout the movie. However, it is the other characters (hostages, customers, cops, street punks) that make this movie so enjoyable. Although it may seem like there would be some confusion with keeping up with characters, the movie does a fantastic job of developing all of the other characters.

The movie is relatively long but as you sit down to watch it, you kinda wished that it wouldn't end. The crazy characters, dark humor, running gags, and the intriguing plot twists will keep you glued to the screen and wanting more. Attack the Gas Station is a definite buy for anybody who wants to enjoy a good laugh. And the great thing about the film is never that I never get tired of re-watching it over and over. I highly recommend getting this for your collection.

So who are these four horrible youths? I really can't say: even though this movie is almost two hours long, I still didn't learn a thing about its main characters. Hell, I don't even think three of them were given names; I only recall the burly nutso with the stick (Bulldozer) even being referred to by name. So, we have the boss, who's the thinker of the group, always looking pissed off. Then we have a Jim Morrison-wannabe who I completely hated, replete with long, stringy hair, leather pants, and a rock star's short temper. Next there's a blonde psycho who paints everything he can and disappears for the majority of the movie: I guess the writers couldn't think of much for this guy to do. Which is fine, because he's just as annoying as the Morrison wannabe. And finally there's Bulldozer, a big guy who wears one of those hats Reni (of the Stone Roses) made popular, and who carries around a large stick with which to beat his hostages. He's basically the only likeable character in the gang.

The movie's plot is funny and different, but in reality it's like a Saturday Night Live skit. And, like most skits, once the gist of the joke plays out, there's nowhere left for it to go. However, whereas skits end after five or so minutes, Attack the Gas Station goes on for two hours, and by then you feel that the joke has gone far too long. You just want to see these punks get beaten to a pulp or gunned down, or at least leave the gas station. 99% of the movie takes place there, and you get sick of seeing the same sets.

Halfway into the movie we see brief flashbacks for each of the four gangsters, giving us a glimpse of who they were in earlier times. In each instance we see them having their dreams ruined by either nonunderstanding parents or abusive elders. I'm not sure if the intention of these flashbacks was to make us feel sorry for the punks, or even to give us an inclination of why they went down the crime road, but personally, regardless of their hard luck, I hated these four motherfuckers and wanted to see that chick from "Shiri" walk on-screen and blast huge, gaping holes in their heads.

I'm guessing "Attack the Gas Station" was produced for and aimed at the teenage audience of South Korea. It takes a lot of jabs at school and high school gangs, and the majority of the characters are lowlife punks. So in other words, the movie is sort of like a Hollywood teen comedy, with a bunch of hip rulebreakers who I'm sure have become figures of legend to high school students all across South Korea. Not surprisingly, I've read on-line that the movie became "a national phenomenon among South Korean students in 1999." With that in mind, don't watch this movie expecting something with a lot of substance: just keep it in mind as a teenage fluff piece, and you'll be okay.

Oh, and a final note: I always believed that the worst music around was Japanese pop (or Japanese rock, or Japanese "rap"), but after hearing the music in "Attack the Gas Station," I sadly see that there is worse music, yet. So be prepared to hear a lot of bad music, from the Morrison-wannabe's pathetic rock group (which thankfully gets kicked off the stage during his flashback sequence), to the Boys II Men-esque doo-wop shit of four rival gangsters.