Midnight FM (2010)

As much as I enjoy Asian movies and as much as I wanted to fully get into this 2010 South Korean thriller, I have to admit that what brought the overall enjoyment down was the length of the movie. It was about 20 minutes too long, because it felt like the movie was prolonged by too much filling by director Sang Man Kim.The story is about a famous night time radio DJ who finds herself at the mercy of a stranger who is holding her family hostage in own home. And if she doesn't follow his instructions to the letter he will kill her family."Midnight FM" (aka "Simya-ui FM") was saved and made watchable by the acting talents in the movie, despite having a limiting script to work with. The two lead talents Soo Ae (playing Go Seon-Yeung) and Ji-Tae Yu (playing Han Dong-Soo) were well-cast and really carried the movie phenomenally.In my opinion, the storyline was too generic and never really had the audience in its grip, because there were nothing too thrill or excite the audience in the entire movie. It was as if the movie was put on a one-way-path following a mainstream how-to-make-a-thriller manual.There are lots of good thrillers coming from the South Korean cinema, however "Midnight FM" could muster to raise itself only to mediocrity. A shame really, because it had potential to be so much more.

good decent flick but not quite an A option unless you are a huge fan of thrillers and Korean flicks, but still a solid B or B+ option. The Koreans never seem to turn out a really bad movie and this was no different.do Koreans ever shoot in anything in normal colors and tones, it seems that every movie is shot in an over-saturated color tone and quite frankly i like to see a different style.( just like they don't make bad movies i guess )the movie got favorable reviews from just about everybody that rated it and after watching it, i would agree that it is a good movie but not as tension filled for me...which was a letdown, compared to everybody else that saw it.story is about a psychotic schizo who gets infatuated with a overnight radio personality and what happens after he decides to take action on his wild thoughts and the aftermath of his actions. the guy that plays the villain is pretty good, he is the same villain from "oldboy". all in all, the movie has really high production values, is very well paced for a thriller and the acting was good thru-out....what's with the Travis Bickle angle though, i don't know, i mean Travis is iconic and this movie doesn't come close to " taxi driver ", and as an afterthought i hope it was only an homage, hehe!

I had a fascinating experience watching this South Korean movie spoken in Korean (Hangugeo, Chosönmal) a language I don't even know how to say Yes or No with, even if my life would depend on it. I saw the whole movie without subtitles (more than two hours). It was a thriller, extremely well done, that kept me most of the time on the edge of my seat, panting with anxiety and fear for what I was suspecting was going to happen next (It didn't, something different did).After the movie was over I went back and saw it with subtitles. And you know what? I enjoyed it much more when I couldn't understand A WORD of the storyline! The actors were so good, the story was told so clearly thanks to a superb camera work and editing that verbal explanations were unnecessary to enjoy the film.Of course when I saw it the second time with subtitles I learned some things that dressed up the story a bit, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be understood without. That --I think-- proves that silent pictures were so successful because the image alone could tell you the story.Now, the movie as a movie: Excellent, I found it superb, one of the best thrillers I have ever seen. Absolutely enjoyable from beginning to end without a single moment where you could start feeling bored, so well structured and produced is this film.My recommendation: A 10.

There have been a handful of South Korean thrillers that have earned a bit of hype over the past few years: "The Chaser" (2008) and "I Saw the Devil" (2010) being the two obvious choices, though "Mother" (2009) could also be considered if one classifies it as a dramatic thriller. I recently posted a user comment on "No Mercy" (2010), which I personally enjoyed more than the aforementioned films in terms of pure entertainment value. However, "Midnight F.M." (2010) has now ascended to my top spot.Here's a reworded plot summary from AsianMediaWiki: Popular TV anchorwoman & late night radio host Sun-Young (Soo Ae: "Sunny" 2008, "Once in a Summer" 2006) prepares to work her final radio program, after which she will prepare to take her daughter to America the following morning. During the radio show Sun-Young receives a startling text message from a man named Dong-Su (Yoo Ji-Tae: "Oldboy" 2003, "One Fine Spring Day" 2001), who has broken into her apartment and taken hostages. Dong-Su then sends the text message to Sun-Young instructing her to follow his directions and not to tell anyone.Oh man, this is non-stop suspense from start to finish, with efficiently constructed tension and very good performances by everyone. The conventional premise is outshined by its sheer execution and avoidance of any and all dull filler material. At first the protagonist is forced to retrieve specific information from her previous shows and duplicate those moments on the air, but the storyline branches out in a variety of ways and eventually introduces themes of vigilantism and media responsibility. Soo Ae gives an inspired, energetic performance. This thriller is extremely exciting and a lot of fun to watch, relying more on pure suspense instead of graphic violence. A must see for everyone.