On a script by Bae Se-young, who also penned the hilarious “Extreme Job”, “Stellar: A Magical Ride” combines comedy with action elements and some family (melo) drama, in a crowd pleasing effort that has both good and bad moments.
“Stellar: A Magical Ride” is screening on Fantasia International Film Festival
Young-bae, who works in a car loan agency, is in big trouble. His father, whose relationship was rather problematic, has just died, leaving a lot of unfinished issues that Young-bae is not interested to address. His girlfriend is pregnant, and he is not sure how to deal with the fact, also afraid that he might turn up like his own neglectful father. Even worse, his childhood friend Dong-sik, who is heavily in debt, has disappeared with a Lamborghini worth $300,000, which also happens to carry an illegal cargo hidden by a local gang, unbeknownst to both. Inevitably, the gang are on Young-bae's heels, who is desperate to find Dong-sik, but the means to do so is an old Hyundai Stellar his father left him on his will, which he used as a taxi. Although the rundown car does not seem able to run faster than 50km/h, it actually turns into something of a sports car when he is in danger. While he tries to avoid the mafia and find his “friend”, the protagonist also recollects memories of his father in the taxi.
Kwon Soo-kyung directs a movie that moves into a number of distinctly mainstream paths. The car-chase elements are combined with a road-trip aspect that has Young-bae stumbling upon almost every issue a (professional) driver can stumble upon. Offensive drivers, mechanical issues, impolite “customers”, not to mention a number who are willing to resort to violence to solve their road problems, with this last factor bringing us to another central aspect of the narrative, action, which is aplenty here and also includes much hand-to-hand combat. The approach to the action is mostly comedic, but the scenes occasionally are quite violent even if not bloody. Comedy is another central element here, essentially encompassing all others in the film, with the things that happen to Young-bae being the main source of it, as much as the way the gang members fail to catch him or get their cargo back. Lastly, his memories of his father, and his childhood in general, bring in a family drama aspect that occasionally borders on the melodrama, even more so after the appearance of Dong-sik, although the general approach remains focused on the comedic.
The combination of all these elements results in an episodic movie, whose individual moments are appealing, benefitting the most by Son Ho-jun's acting as Young-bae, the function of the car, which eventually exhibits elements of humanity, and the fact that the villains are both dangerous and clumsy on occasion, with Kim Kyeon-woo as Sledgehammer, embodying this aspect to the fullest. Lee Sung-jae's cinematography captures all these elements with a fittingly polished approach, with the exception of the flashbacks, whose “fogginess” could have been avoided. Shin Min-kyung's editing results in an equally fitting fast pace that finds its apogee in the action scenes, where Jeon Jae-hyeong's choreography also shines in its combination of comedy and violence.
At the same time, as a whole, the movie does not make that much sense, having too many things happening at the same time, too many characters involved, and the father arc occasionally bordering on the cheesy. Furthermore, and although there is nothing wrong with any performance, some more star quality would definitely benefit the film, considering its nature, with the comparison with “Extreme Job” highlighting the fact quite eloquently.
Despite some issues here and there, that do not allow it to reach the top of the category, “Stellar: A Magical Ride” is fun and quite easy to watch, and that is where its true value lies.
