©Courtesy of Capelight Pictures International
Det. Ma Seuk-do makes Jack Reacher and the Rock look puny and weak. South Korea’s criminal underworld refers to him as the “Beast Cop,” but he is an old softie at heart. When the mother of a murdered programmer commits suicide out of grief, he takes it hard, so he hits the bad guys even harder in Heo Myung-haeng’s “The Roundup: Punishment,” the fourth film in the blockbuster Korean franchise starring Don Lee (a.k.a. Ma Dong-seok).
The series started with “The Outlaws” (2017) and continued with “The Roundup” (2022) and “The Roundup: No Way Out” (2023), so the producers are clearly committed to the “Roundup” branding. Each film was a massive hit in South Korea, so fans remain committed to the physically imposing Lee and his two-fisted action beatdowns, as well.
At this point, Det. Ma achieved some notoriety for past success and a few “incidents” that were more widely reported in the press than his superiors might prefer. Past cases have taken him abroad, as when Ma busted a Vietnamese kidnapping ring targeting Koreans in “The Roundup,” but it is hard to know where to find the transnational gang of cyber criminals that killed Jo Sung-jae, after forcing him to maintain their online casino’s secret servers, in the Philippines.
©Courtesy of Capelight Pictures International
Ma wants to take down both their foreign back-end facilities and the kingpins based in Korea. To do that, he recruits his old informer and reluctant collaborator, Jang Yi-soo, whose comic relief duties in the “Roundup” films compare to Joe Pesci’s in the “Lethal Weapon” movies. As fate would have it, Jang once tried to open his own online casino in the Philippines, but the thuggish Baek Chang-gi literally smashed it to bits, before it could launch.
Feeling under-compensated for his dirty work, including the murder of Jo, Baek returns to Seoul to confront his bosses, former tech start-up whiz kid Chang Dong-cheol and the more conventionally corporate President Kwon. That means Ma could get his large hands on Baek, by working with Det. Han Ji-soo of the Seoul Metropolitan Police’s cyber division. She is not accustomed to his team’s methods, but she quickly recognizes their effectiveness.
Don Lee’s “Roundup” films provide a viewing experience very much like that of vintage 1980s Schwarzenegger movies. Lee (who also happens to be president of the Korean arm-wrestling federation) has a similarly larger than life screen-presence and an amiable flair for self-deprecating humor. When his fists connect with thugs, they are often sent flying, taking on air, like Michael Jordan during his glory days. It might sound cartoony, but like the previous series directors, Heo keeps the action feeling grounded.
©Courtesy of Capelight Pictures International
Perhaps one could uncharitably describe the “ films as “formulaic,” but the word “dependable” is considerably more apt. Fans know Lee will deliver the hard-charging fight scenes, while mining Det. Ma’s “aw shucks” persona for quietly ironic laughs, in between the brawls. “The Roundup: Punishment” does not disappoint. In fact, Ma’s climactic showdown with Baek might be the most cathartically satisfying slugfest of the entire franchise, so far.
Kim Mul-yeol’s brutally intense portrayal of the cyber-gang’s enforcer makes him one of the franchise’s fiercest antagonists, probably second only to the slimily sinister kidnapper in “The Roundup” (2022, no subtitle). “Punishment” takes an entertaining caper-like turn, when Det. Ma’s team creates a fake online casino to lure in the bad guys, which somewhat further distinguishes it from the previous films. None of Ma’s colleagues get much character development time of their own in “Punishment.” However, Heo and screenwriter Oh Sang-ho find the right balance for the neurotic Jang Yi-soo (again played by Park Ji-hwan), maximizing his on-the-make persona for comic relief, but not over-indulging in his stickiness.
Of course, there is never any doubt Don Lee is the star. Like the previous “Roundups,” “Punishment” can easily be enjoyed as a stand-alone film. Frankly, viewers need only take one look at massive Det. Ma to understand the premise, which still works brilliantly. That said, once you watch one, you will probably want to another. Pound for pound, this is the most reliable action franchise currently producing new installments, much more so than “Fast and Furious.” Very highly recommended for action fans, “The Roundup: Punishment” opens this Friday (5/3) in theaters.
Grade: A-
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Here’s the trailer of the film.