Attack the gas station!

Having just finished Midnight FM, I was a bit worried at the first half hour if Attack the Gas Station! was another one of those films that depict extreme violence for its own sake. Indeed, although Midnight FM seems to suggest that the motive behind the violence and kidnap is 'heroic' and 'justified' because the taxi driver believes he is taking law by his own hands, it doesn't make much of an effort to convince us so. Though the film could feel compelling at points, you can never get rid of the bugging feeling there are far too many loose plots to make the story convincing.

Attack the Gas Station was quite close to reaching the point that it is one of those films. Yet the director has quite cleverly steered us away from this thought with two crafts: the depiction of those patrons at the gas station, and later on, the intermitting flashbacks of the four young delinquents. When their nonsensical criminal act was put in the context of the overall crudeness, greediness (of the police force) and violence, it does not only draw sympathy towards the delinquents but also gradually, made them appear human (the singer love music that much that he demand various people to sing for him), funny (in front of a 'beautiful' lady, one of them subjected her to take off a piece of garment every time when she loses in a word puzzle), and even dignified and brave (when the baseball player demanded payment from the police for the gas and sends away a gangster whose mum is 'ill'). Their success in the end at realising their dream and getting away from the punishment therefore seems justified.