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The Butterfly
Tornado Alley
This review may contain spoilers
"I guess you're smarter than you look"
Big hitter ahjussie, Ma Dong Seok, returned as Detective Ma in this old school smash mouth action film. This time he took on a Big Bad who had been kidnapping and murdering Koreans overseas. Strap into your seat and brace yourself because with Ma at the lever it was going to be one wild ride!
The story begins in 2008 after the turmoil of The Outlaws. Detective Ma and his boss, Jeon Ill Man, travel to Vietnam to pick up a Korean crook to bring back home to repatriate. Ma's not buying guilt as his reason to want to return home and before you can throw a 1-2 punch Ma and Jeon end up neck deep in bodies. The blood-soaked path quickly leads to the murderous Kang Hae Sang as the Big Bad in charge. Before long good guys and bad guys are headed back to Korea with the action never slowing down.
Though there are some blood spurtingly, bone crunching, gorey battles, especially when Kang Hae Sang is around, Ma's brand of humor always lightens the mood to keep the movie from becoming too dark. The story is well paced, never allowing your attention to stray. A few familiar faces from the last film return to help Ma out in this one and provide a punching bag when needed.
There are plot holes and some parts of it are ridiculous. Despite that I literally laughed out loud on numerous occasions. It could also be gruesome, I had to close my eyes during one of the more vicious fight scenes as well. Ma Dong Seok is so charismatic that he owns every scene he is in. He is pure joy to watch saunter and put the beat down on baddies. When asked if he wants to split some stolen loot down the middle, without making it sound cringey, he replies, "The middle of who?" Son Seok Koo made for a properly ruthless baddie who never met a person he didn't want to stab. At times he seemed as unstoppable as a T-1000, until he was confronted by a Ma-10,000.
The Roundup might have been predictable, but so is a rollercoaster. I don't mind knowing where it is taking me as long as it gives me some thrills, laughs, and excitement along the way. In this, The Roundup did not disappoint.
2/16/23
The story begins in 2008 after the turmoil of The Outlaws. Detective Ma and his boss, Jeon Ill Man, travel to Vietnam to pick up a Korean crook to bring back home to repatriate. Ma's not buying guilt as his reason to want to return home and before you can throw a 1-2 punch Ma and Jeon end up neck deep in bodies. The blood-soaked path quickly leads to the murderous Kang Hae Sang as the Big Bad in charge. Before long good guys and bad guys are headed back to Korea with the action never slowing down.
Though there are some blood spurtingly, bone crunching, gorey battles, especially when Kang Hae Sang is around, Ma's brand of humor always lightens the mood to keep the movie from becoming too dark. The story is well paced, never allowing your attention to stray. A few familiar faces from the last film return to help Ma out in this one and provide a punching bag when needed.
There are plot holes and some parts of it are ridiculous. Despite that I literally laughed out loud on numerous occasions. It could also be gruesome, I had to close my eyes during one of the more vicious fight scenes as well. Ma Dong Seok is so charismatic that he owns every scene he is in. He is pure joy to watch saunter and put the beat down on baddies. When asked if he wants to split some stolen loot down the middle, without making it sound cringey, he replies, "The middle of who?" Son Seok Koo made for a properly ruthless baddie who never met a person he didn't want to stab. At times he seemed as unstoppable as a T-1000, until he was confronted by a Ma-10,000.
The Roundup might have been predictable, but so is a rollercoaster. I don't mind knowing where it is taking me as long as it gives me some thrills, laughs, and excitement along the way. In this, The Roundup did not disappoint.
2/16/23
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