There are few actors in the world whose figure is as recognizable as Ma Dong-seok, aka Don Lee. As soon as his towering shoulders fill the frame in the opening moments of The Roundup: No Way Out, audiences will know his beast cop Ma Seok-do is back in action.
After beating Chinese mobsters in 2017's The Outlaws and Korean migrants operating in Vietnam in the even more successful 2022 sequel The Roundup, this third outing sees Ma face fists with Japanese yakuza dealing a new party drug on the floor. Korean.
Director: Sang-yong Lee
Writer: Kim Min-sung
Stars: Lee Jun-hyuk, Munetaka Aoki, Ma Dong-seok
While fans of this hugely entertaining action-comedy franchise will likely flock to this third installment, The Roundup: No Way Out doesn't bring anything new to the table.
Set in 2015, the story sees Detective Ma resorting to his bossy style of policing again, after the death of a young woman and the disappearance of a fellow police officer put him and his team in a Japanese-Korean drug gang. dealers operating on behalf of the yakuza.
When 20 pounds of an experimental drug known as Hiper goes missing, yakuza boss Ichijo (Jun Kunimura in a small welcome cameo) sends katana-wielding Ricky (Munetaka Aoki) to find him. At the dark center of the case is dirty cop Joo Sung-chul (Lee Jun-hyuk), whose plan to rip off the Japanese and sell the drugs to a Chinese consortium sparks bloodshed across the city.
What sets this series apart from other mainstream Korean crime thrillers is the deft blend of hard-hitting action and self-effacing humor — or more accurately, the laughs gleaned from Ma's almost apologetic cop style.
His lovable yet deadly persona, who can seemingly crush any opponent with a single swing of his hammer almost despite himself, has become a trademark in itself, and in the previous two outings he's been juxtaposed with terrifying and ruthless antagonists to a winning effect.
In No Way Out, returning director Lee Sang-yong leans more into comedy, seeking laughs in nearly every altercation, while simultaneously mastering gratuitous violence.
Comments
Post a Comment