Like a vintage automobile with chrome parts agleaming, the visually flashy, woefully oversized Seoul Vibe is a classic car-centric crime pic ... in need of a tune-up. Netflix's studio heads should've brought in a script mechanic! For what could've been a Fast and Furious fledgling revving to franchise is instead an exhausting filmic flivver. The cast is energetic; their characters, assembly-line likable. But no one is going to last beyond that tired first hour except the most devoted fan of Korean cinema. Wait a stopwatched second! That's me! So what can I tell you? Basically, that Seoul Vibe isn't a total wipeout. Come the final laps, I was unexpectedly caught up in the revenge plot hatched by the petulant crew chief (Yoo Ah-in), his mixtape-making DJ (Go Kyung-pyo), and kid sister (Park Ju-Hyun) — who happens to captain a motorcycle gang.
There's just one thing. I didn't necessarily want them to win. Because the best part of Seoul Vibe isn't one of its cute anti-heroes. It's the vampy villainess. Played by the consistently brilliant Moon So-ri, the icy embezzler known strictly as Mrs. Kang exists on a whole other level. She's driving an entirely different movie. A better one. To default to an '80s vernacular in sync with the movie's fashions and soundtrack, she's totally epic. Rad and bad. Could director Moon Hyun-Sung and scenarist Shin Sua cook up a miniseries for her, all about her nefarious machinations in the '90s. I insist they do! Working title: Bangin' Busan.
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