Review Of The Roundup: No Way Out, Full Of Boxing Bursts Ma Dong Seok

The Round Up

The film The Roundup: No Way Out has been showing in Indonesian cinemas since June 7. In South Korea, the film, starring Ma Seo Do, Jun Kunimura, Kim Min-jae, Bae Noo-ri, Ko Kyu-pil and Jeon Seok-ho, has surpassed six million viewers on June 7 since its release on May 31, 2023.

Ma Seok Do (played by actor Ma Dong-seok or also known as Don Lee) still appears with a strong personality, without further ado, and is humorous in various situations, including against criminals he will catch in the third film The Roundup, namely The Roundup: No Way Out.

The large body and muscular detective still relies on boxing when it comes to crippling bad people who cannot be compromised and even just destroying locked doors or safes.

The action can be seen at the beginning of the film, when he faces the troublemakers in one of Seoul's street corners. Their bodies may not be less massive than Ma Seok-do, but as expected, none of them can stand the detective's repeated boxing.

Director Lee Sang-yong presents a simple plot so that it is easy to understand. Ma Seok-do is now being promoted to the Regional Investigation Unit.

He and his new team, led by Jang Tae-soo (Lee Beom-soo), are investigating the crime of circulating new and dangerous narcotics circulating around local South Korean clubs.

The search led him and the team to the findings of a Japanese criminal organization aliasmen have smuggled drugs into South Korea and there have been problems in its distribution.

Joo Sung-cheol (played by actor Lee Joon-hyuk) is involved here. The man who is described as a person without mercy and willing to sacrifice his colleagues turns out to be hiding other secrets.

On the other hand, my boss (Jun Kunimura) sniffed out a problem and sent Ricky (played by Aoiki Munetaka) to South Korea to hunt down the culprit, even if he had to spill blood.

Unlike the previous two films, namely The Outlaws (2017) and The Roundup (2022), The Roundup: No Way Out features two main antagonists who both make it difficult for Ma Seok-do and the team to investigate.

Quoted from ANTARA, Director Lee Sang-yong organizes every order of the fight with its variations. Ma Seok-do's fighting action, which focuses on his relative fist, will not disappoint the audience, especially since he has to face two main criminal figures, so it feels like watching his fight in two rounds.

He showed a more complicated fighting choreography with a combination of punches that looked quite hard.

In the previous film, Ma Seok-do was faced with Jang Chen (played by Yoon Kye-sang) and Kang Hye-sang (played by Son Suk-ku) who was quite capable in fighting and had made it difficult for him.

This time, it's not just the ability to fight that criminals highlight. Indeed, actor Lee Joon-hyuk in an interview with South Korean media said that he had to learn boxing as part of the deepening of Joo Sung-cheol's character.

However, he has other advantages over the previous two criminal characters. Joo Sung-cheol has more power, money and slick strategies. He is also a quick thinker and is good at disguising his true identity.

For the sake of the film, Lee Joon-hyuk made quite a dramatic change in his appearance. The actor had to increase his weight by 20 kilograms, embezzle his skin and change his tone.

His appearance is very different when compared to the drama he has played so far, let's say in Stranger, Are You Human?, 365: Repeat Year and City Hunter. The impression of a handsome and handsome man almost Lee Joon-hyuk dated.

On the other hand, Ricky's character has a heinous character and has never let go of the target he is aiming for. He has a word that helps him fight Ma Seok-do's boxing and makes him different from the character of the previous criminal against Ma Seok-do.

Actor Aoiki Munetaka said being beaten by Ma Seok-do was a "cheap" for his character, but for himself as an actor, it was a "structure".

In addition to the action of fighting, director Lee Sang-yong also increased the element of humor both through the dialogue of the actors and scenes. In one scene, for example, the audience can see Ma Seok-do just shaving his beard using a mirror that is not even bigger than his fist.

Meanwhile, viewers who previously watched the previous two films The Roundup may miss Ma Seok-do's old team in the Geumcheon police criminal unit, as well as criminal character Jang I-soo, who changed professions from being the gang leader to being a matchmaker.

Unfortunately, Ma Seok-do's old team did not appear at all throughout the film. However, towards the end of the film, Jang I-soo, who is still played by actor Park Ji-hwan, was presented even if it was only for a moment. He still shows an expression of his annoyed face when dealing with Ma Seo-do. At the end, there is a signal that the continuation of Jang I-soo's story will be presented.