Unlike most thriller films released in this recent decade, “Midnight FM” presents a new idea of the adrenaline-inducing genre and succeeds in keeping the tension high from start to end. Unfortunately, underdeveloped and forgettable subplots muddle the film’s originality and may have you wondering why such characters were introduced in the first place.
The South
Korean film, directed by Kim Sang-man, focuses on popular late-night DJ host Ko
Sun-young (played by Soo Ae) who decides to quit her job and travel to the U.S.
because her daughter Eun-soo (Lee Joon-ha) requires heart surgery in New York.
During her final show, a crazed fan named Han Dong-soo (Yoo Ji-tae) calls her
and tells her that he has her family hostage and the only way they’ll live is
if she follows his orders while she hosts the show.
The movie
is filled with strong, believable performances—especially from the lead actress
and the child actress who plays her daughter—with a mysterious and psychopathic
villain whose actions and reasoning behind them question the line between being
a dedicated fan or an obsessed stalker. There’s a scene in the film where another
avid fan of Sun-young is calling her phone although they’re in the same
building and she exclaims to her co-worker that “That man is a stalker!” and
proceeds to explain to her the difference between fans and stalkers. This
comparison serves as a central theme throughout the film when the lives of
Sun-young’s family is at risk of a stalker who is also a loyal fan of her show.
If the film
had just focused on the ethics of the two extremes, its message would be clear
and the film itself wouldn’t have suffered. But the addition of weak characters
that serve as a subplot to tie the film together feels rushed and thrown in for
the sake of adding length and unnecessary drama to the movie. These characters
that were briefly introduced in the beginning of the film are severely
underdeveloped and forgotten throughout the movie until the last fifteen
minutes, when the film cuts to a flashback of their scene. The scene is under a
minute long and instead of having the “Oh, that
scene!” reaction, you’re thinking, “What? That scene? How’s that related?”
What the characters needed was more
screen time for proper development, but even then, the movie is focused solely
on Sun-young and the search to save her family and the inclusion of the
unrelated subplot could turn off some viewers. But even that would be better
than having a weak subplot that’s supposed to determine the climax of the film.
Instead of gasping in shock or gripping the edge of your seat, you’re sitting in
puzzlement simply trying to remember the quick flashback and how it correlates
with Sun-young’s story. The answer is that it doesn’t correlate very well, and
as stated before, it just feels shoved in and unnatural. It’s a shame that a
movie with such an original idea and convincing actors had to be subject to a
messy add-in that did absolutely nothing to progress the film.
That being
said, “Midnight FM” does deliver the goods to an extent and has you wanting to
know if our heroine Sun-young will succeed in saving her family while also
finding out who Han Dong-soo is and why he decided to emotionally torture the
popular radio host. It’s difficult, but if you can past the unfortunate bummer
of a twist, this could be a nice thriller to watch during a late-night weekend.
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