Even amid a struggling box office, CG-enhanced superheroes and city-wrecking spectacles have been a regular fixture with the cinemas and streaming. And there can be anything-is-possible enjoyment found in watching a turbocharged Charger race down an exploding Hoover Dam, or a radioactive lizard and giant ape fight in the center of the Earth. But action fans know that sometimes the simplest pleasures have the most punch, and there’s no punch more simple or more pulverizing than that of Ma Dong Seok, aka Don Lee. With the Korean superstar’s fourth franchise entry, The Roundup: Punishment brings new director style to a comfortable formula that confidentially entertains and seeks to evolve, for better and for worse.
Since the series’ evolution from The Outlaws’ 2017 mostly serious crime thrills to crime action comedy, one goes into a new Roundup expecting to see certain things. Cop squad banter and justice by way of righteous ham-hock fists. Bodies crumpled via sledgehammer haymakers. A nasty stab-happy villain just begging to be demolished. Hulking star charisma carrying that formulaic entertainment upon extra-broad shoulders. The Roundup: Punishment delivers on all those fronts in spades, beginning with a Philippines-set gutting that sets the stage for a showdown between Lee’s Detective Ma and his The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil co-star Kim Mu-yeol, as ruthless mercenary Baek. Baek and his slimy backer Chang Dong-cheol (Lee Dong-hwi) run shady online casinos while (literally) eviscerating any rival fronts, leaving a trail of bodies for Ma and his unit to follow until everyone’s favorite beast cop and this film’s knife-wielding devil are in punch range.
Don Lee’s long-time stunt double and fight coordinator Heo Myeong-haeng takes the directing reins for this fourth entry, and the change is immediately apparent even while Punishment sticks close to the series template. Between Baek‘s ice-cold brutality and Ma’s promise to avenge the opening’s murder of a kidnapped Korean programmer, this film settles into an awkward balance between The Outlaws’ police procedural grittiness and The Roundup’s old-school comedic beatdowns. Much of the humorous mainstays of the last two films are significantly downplayed – the “Truth Room” antics reduced to a quick callback, the laid-back squad moments barely seen – as Punishment focuses more on the cybercrime pursuit. Between the frequent fights, most of the comedy is derived from Ma being a digital dinosaur, struggling to grasp concepts like the cloud, and the return of Park Ji-hwan’s underworld ally Jang for more law-bending schemes to take down the even worse villains. Both act as ideal avenues for Lee’s wry zingers and shrewd awareness of physical comedy; as usual, the man’s penchant for superhumanly powerful punches is matched only by his humor.
However, Don Lee’s bruising knockouts and pugilistic brawn are stronger than ever in Punishment. With this entry being another example of a stunt veteran in the director’s chair, Heo Myeong-haeng ensures Detective Ma’s hooks, dodges, and slaps practically assault the screen during the brawls. Kim Mu-yeol is given a similarly visceral edge to his serrated-edge fights; while all the antagonists of the series have been lithe blade wielders, Baek emerges as the most deadly despite his character being the least interesting and least fleshed-out narratively. Every neck shanking and blade flurry lands with merciless precision, each time upping the anticipation for the fateful match between viperous stabber and beastly brawler. Punishment’s climactic showdown lacks the distinctness of The Roundup’s bus-demolishing clash or No Way Out’s multi-stage multi-villain gauntlet, but Myeong-haeng, Lee, and Mu-yeol absolutely satisfies as they turn a first-class airplane cabin into a ferocious arena that amplifies the “beast cop”’s strengths to new heights of bad guy destruction.
The Roundup: Punishment refreshingly evokes the movie star-dominated era of yore, where a lead and their distinct qualities could elevate formula beyond familiarity into unique entertainment. Narratively, the series might be teetering on the edge of stagnancy, but anytime Don Lee’s furious fists are unleashed, those concerns are pummeled into oblivion.
Photo courtesy of Capelight Pictures / Blue Fox Entertainment
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