On the danger of repeating myself, the previous few years have been very, superb for followers of worldwide motion motion pictures. From Hong Kong/China to Norway, from Australia to Japan, we’re getting a robust and regular provide of kick-ass, cathartic brilliance within the type of motion cinema. South Korea has lengthy been driving that wave, and their specific prowess has resulted in one of the vital purely entertaining motion franchises in years. The Roundup: Punishment is the newest within the sequence delivering huge enjoyable and even greater hits.
A younger Korean man is murdered abroad, and Det. Ma Seok-do (Ma Dong-seok aka Don Lee for readability sake) makes the potential mistake of telling the person’s mom that he’ll make these accountable pay. When the investigation results in the high-tech world of on-line playing and a thug named Baek (Kim Mu-yeol), he’s advised the case doesn’t belong together with his murder crew. When the proof factors to a high-profile member of the town’s enterprise world named Chang (Lee Dong-hwi), he’s advised to tread calmly. He’s advised a variety of issues, however his fists ain’t listening.
Whereas 2017’s The Outlaws is an unassuming actioner most individuals dismissed as one and completed, it really laid the groundwork for the sequels to come back beginning 5 years later. Movies “loosely” impressed by squad of cops in South Korea, headed up by Ma’s even looser cannon with meaty fists and no time for assholes, and a tone mixing gentle comedy with face-slapping, bone-crunching, knife-slashing motion — these are the hallmarks fine-honed by the sequels The Roundup (2022), The Roundup: No Manner Out (2023), and now, The Roundup: Punishment. It’s as good a method as you might hope for as Don Lee’s outsized charms enliven each the nice and cozy laughs and the bloody beatdowns.
Whereas No Manner Out pits Ma towards a considerably lighter villain than two movies prior, Punishment sees a return to type on that entrance with Baek. He’s as brutal a killer as you might hope for, figuring out full properly that Ma goes to make him pay by the top, and Kim does nice work making him each a wickedly environment friendly fighter (particularly when he’s wielding a knife) and a coolly sadistic prick. His fights towards Ma thrill as pace and steel meet dimension and willpower, and each performers take nice benefit of the area round them leading to plenty of damaged partitions, furnishings, and extra.
These title fights are weightier given the opponent, however Ma’s bodily encounters with different unhealthy guys are all the time and undeniably pure bliss for viewers. He’s huge however has pace of his personal, and from one-hit knockouts to face slaps that ship guys flying, it’s simply immensely pleasant to look at these thug-bugs preserve getting in his face. As is the case with the earlier movies, The Roundup: Punishment retains its motion centered on extra grounded encounters versus huge stunts or methodically choreographed fights, but it surely’s no much less efficient or thrilling in its relative simplicity.
Don Lee sits atop the pyramid describing this movie’s (and this franchise’s) enjoyment, as he’s a real and charismatic delight. A delicate big, till his characters are compelled to behave in any other case, his occasional smile and comedic supply make for a character who beefs up any function. As Ma, he will get to unleash “the beast cop” beating down baddies, cracking sensible, and letting himself be the butt of the jokes at occasions. These are the 2 pillars beneath him right here, the motion and the humor, and each proceed to be served extraordinarily properly. The laughs are aided equally by the script and the supporting solid, most of whom are returning gamers as a part of Ma’s cop squad. One standout, although, is a low-level criminal named Jang (Lee Beom-soo) who’s gone straight, nonetheless has horrible style in trend, and is a simple mark for Ma’s playful manipulation.
That is director Heo Myeong-haeng‘s first go on the franchise, and solely his second function after this yr’s Badland Hunters which additionally stars Don Lee, and The Roundup: Punishment is an absolute knockout. A switch-up on the high can typically trigger disruption with a sequel, however he picks up the place Lee Sang-yong left issues to ship one other stellar entry in a franchise that I hope continues gifting us with extra pugilistic enjoyable every yr till I die.
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