The Roundup: No Way Out (2023)

A perfect weekend movie filled with comedy and action packed.

The Roundup has done it again.

I'm glad I watched it in the cinema.

It was a fun and thrilling ride. The movie, as always, started by showing the bad guys and then later on introducing Ma Seokdo in a funny way. Very typical, but still entertaining.

The plot is great, it's predictable but absolutely not boring. The casts are perfect for each roles. They really went out of their way casting actual Japanese actors instead of making Korean acted like Japanese (just like the usual) which I highly appreciated. The action scene is chef's kiss, although it's quite a pitty that they had to censor it so the graphic part weren't shown at all but it's still satisfying to see all the actions.

Definitely will recommend it to everyone. Can't wait for the fourth movie already!

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"Have I ever caused any problems?"

Ma Dong Seok returned as the loose cannon cop who doesn’t play by the rules in The Roundup: No Way Out. Officer Ma Suk Do became even more impervious to pain and injuries in this follow-up. Next time they need to put him in a cape and tights to help better explain why he could punch people through walls and take blows that would be deadly for any other cop. But this was Ma Dong Seok, my favorite ahjussi hitter and I adore him so he can get away with almost anything supernatural and I won’t question it…much.

Ma Suk Do is up against big time drug dealer, Joo Sung Cheol, the yakuza, dirty cops, and an assortment of other criminals. When a bag of dope goes missing, everyone is either racing to find it or figuring out a way to use it to their advantage.

Ma Dong Seok is a charismatic actor and fun to watch. As much as I enjoy watching him slap, punch, and body slam people, it became ridiculous that his character was nearly always fighting solo against a group. Where’s this man’s backup? Even when his partner was with him, it was a detriment because after all the years, Kim Man Jae, has never learned adequate self-defense. The film also highlighted for me that police officers need to be able to carry a gun, especially when constantly facing groups of ruthless criminals who are armed with bats, knives, and even a katana.

There wasn’t anything innovative about the story. The age-old trope of adding humorous low-level crooks gave the film some much needed humor during breaks of police brutality. The problem I had with the movie was that there were too many ill-defined criminals. It had a conveyor belt of baddies who were hard to keep up with and some who only popped in for a quick shot or two. I didn’t find Big Bad Joo Sung Cheol particularly menacing or effective. Kunimura Jun had a couple of brief appearances as the head of the yakuza gang and I found myself wishing he had a more substantial role. Katana wielding Aoki Munetaka also made for an interesting character though he too needed more screen time. The police department was just as plagued with poorly drawn characters whose only job was to show up AFTER Ma had clobbered all of the baddies. They’d come in and cleanup the crime scenes and call the ambulances for all the broken bodies.

This Roundup sequel wasn’t as strong as the previous movie largely due to uneven pacing and poorly drawn characters. It was an entertaining watch due largely to Ma Dong Seok’s screen presence and appeal. He loves what he does, but his physical health seems to be deteriorating which always concerns me. Through the years he has suffered various injuries and also has no cartilage in his knees. It was sad watching him struggle to walk upstairs, but as long as he continues to make films and dramas, I’ll continue to watch them even if he’s taking down criminals with his walker or cane.

14 December 2024

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