General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Attack the Gas Station! (주유소 습격 사건)

Attack the Gas Station! (주유소 습격사건) is a 1999 South Korean action-comedy film directed by Kim Sang-jin (김상진) in which four disaffected young men rob a Seoul gas station, find no money, and end up running the pumps themselves over a single night.¹^•² It was produced and distributed by the company 좋은영화, released on October 2, 1999, runs 113 minutes, and was rated 19세관람가 (not open to minors) under censorship record 99-F116 dated September 13, 1999.¹

Key fact	Detail
Release	October 2, 1999, South Korea; 113 minutes; rated 19 and over¹
Director and producer	Kim Sang-jin; produced by Lee Kwan-soo for ㈜좋은영화, which also distributed¹^•²
Principal cast	Lee Sung-jae (No Mark), Yoo Oh-seong (Mudaeppo), Kang Sung-jin (Ddattara), Yoo Ji-tae (Paint), Park Yeong-gyu (the station owner)¹
Box office	Sources differ: KMDb records 905,500 admissions, Cine21 2,310,000, and scholarship 962,000 in Seoul by the eleventh week; ranked second among domestic films and third overall in 1999¹^•³^•⁴
Awards	Blue Dragon New Actor (Lee Sung-jae), Golden Cinematography silver (Choi Jeong-woo), Daejong planning award (Lee Kwan-soo), Baeksang popularity award (Lee Sung-jae)¹
International reach	Festivals in London, Udine, Hong Kong, Montreal's Fantasia, Gijón (2000) and Buenos Aires (2001); exports to Taiwan (1999), Russia, Japan, and Hong Kong (2001)²^•¹
Sequel	Attack the Gas Station 2 (주유소 습격사건 2), same director, new cast, released January 21, 2010⁵

Spoilers

Plot

Four young men, bored and alienated, hold up a gas station one night. When they discover the safe is empty because the establishment has already been robbed, they lock up the crooked owner and his disaffected employees and work the pumps themselves, pocketing the cash while terrorizing customers and police through the night.⁶ Film at Lincoln Center's program note describes the film as a "gonzo anarcho-comedy" that unfolds over one wild night, blending action mayhem, dark humor, and social commentary.⁷ The comic engine is the inversion of the robbery: the robbers become the operators, and the escalation comes from the stream of customers, gangsters, and police who pass through the station.⁶

Cast and crew

The five leads play the four robbers and the station owner: Lee Sung-jae as No Mark (노마크), Kang Sung-jin as Ddattara (딴따라), Yoo Ji-tae as Paint (페인트), Yoo Oh-seong as Mudaeppo (무대포), and Park Yeong-gyu as the owner (사장).¹ The supporting cast includes Lee Yo-won, Kim Su-ro, Cha Seung-won, and Yoo Hai Jin.² Cine21 credits the original story to Ko Su-bok (고수복), the screenplay to Park Jeong-woo (박정우), the cinematography to Choi Jeong-woo (최정우), the music to Son Mu-hyeon (손무현), the editing to Ko Im-pyo, and the art direction to Oh Sang-man.³

Production and release

A late breakthrough. Kim Sang-jin spent roughly a decade as an assistant director and director of small comedy and crime titles, including Kang Woo-suk's Two Cops trilogy, before making his own mark with this film in 1999.⁶ The film was shot on location at an Oilbank gas station next to Samsung Plaza at Seohyeon station in Bundang.¹

The film circulated widely on the festival circuit in 2000 and 2001: the BFI London Film Festival, Udine Far East Film Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival, Fantasia, Gijón, and Göteborg in 2000, and the Buenos Aires festival (BAFICI) in 2001.² KMDb records exports to Taiwan in 1999 and to Russia, Japan, and Hong Kong in 2001.¹ In Québec it was classified on June 26, 2000 with a general visa, not recommended for young children, the regulator noting burlesque fight scenes reminiscent of the Batman television series and some vulgar language.⁸

Box office and reception

The film was a surprise hit built on word of mouth.⁶ Admissions figures differ across sources: KMDb records 905,500 admissions,¹ Cine21 records 2,310,000,³ the Jecheon festival note gives 750,000 in Seoul alone,⁹ and the scholar Nancy Abelmann's chapter gives 962,000 in Seoul by the film's eleventh week.⁴ The same chapter places the film second among domestic films of 1999 and third overall, behind Shiri and the American film The Mummy, with Seoul admissions slightly less than half of Shiri's.⁴

Korean critics were positive but measured. Cine21's aggregate ratings are 6.20 from critics and 7.28 from audiences; critic Kang Han-seop called it "very comic but not that cathartic," and Yu Ji-na wrote that "both the story and the form are fun. But it is dangerous," describing a character comedy that drives forward forcefully without the shadow of satire.³ The Korean Film Council's retrospective column calls it one of the few Korean comedies to achieve cult status overseas, and notes that Yoo Ji-tae later became internationally known as the villain in Park Chan-wook's Old Boy (2003) and Yoo Oh-seong starred in Friend (2001).⁶

Themes and social context

The film's satire targets hierarchical authority. The Jecheon festival note explains the robbers' motives as resistance to adults who beat them, forbade their music and art, and dismissed them for lacking parents.⁹ In a peer-reviewed chapter, Nancy Abelmann, an anthropologist at the University of Illinois, reads the film's youth violence, the acting "just because," against post-IMF-crisis Korean youth alienation, noting that despite considerable violence running through the entire film it has been widely appreciated as hysterically funny.⁴ The Korean Film Council column likewise attributes the film's strength to its examination of Korean social structures.⁶

By the numbers

Running time: 113 minutes; release date October 2, 1999; rating 19 and over.¹
Admissions: 905,500 per KMDb;¹ 2,310,000 per Cine21;³ 962,000 in Seoul by the eleventh week per scholarship;⁴ 750,000 in Seoul alone per the Jecheon note.⁹
1999 ranking: second among domestic films, third overall.⁴
Awards: four listed wins at Blue Dragon, Golden Cinematography, Daejong, and Baeksang.¹

Awards and legacy

The film won the Blue Dragon Film Award (20th) for New Actor (Lee Sung-jae), the Golden Cinematography Award (23rd) silver medal (Choi Jeong-woo), the Daejong Film Awards (37th) planning award (Lee Kwan-soo), and the Baeksang Arts Awards (36th) popularity award (Lee Sung-jae); it also received the Busan Film Critics Association Award (2000) and a Director's Cut Award (1999).¹^•²

Sequel. Attack the Gas Station 2 (주유소 습격사건 2), directed by the same Kim Sang-jin, was released on January 21, 2010, runs 111 minutes, and was rated for viewers 15 and older. It has an entirely new set of robbers, Ji Hyun-woo (One Punch), Jo Han-sun (High Kick), Moon Won-ju (Deulbae), and Jeong Jae-hoon (Yaburi), with Park Yeong-gyu reprising the station-owner role in a plot in which the owner hires staff to fend off would-be robbers.⁵

The original film remains available on Netflix, listed as an offbeat Korean action comedy rated 19+ starring Lee Sung-jae, Yoo Oh-seong, and Kang Seong-jin,¹⁰ and it was scheduled for a screening at the Jecheon International Music & Film Festival on September 5, 2025, whose note highlights the rock-based soundtrack, including "작은 사랑" and "희망가," with participation by No Young-shim.⁹

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Action comedies › Action comedies, 1970s to 1990s

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

Notice something wrong?