Punishment’ Sees Round Four Bring Big Fun and Even Bigger Hits

The 2024 version of the New York Asian Festival runs July twelfth to July twenty eighth. Comply with together with our protection here. And the twenty eighth version of the Fantasia International Film Festival runs July 18th to August 4th in stunning Montreal, Quebec. Comply with together with our protection here.

On the danger of repeating myself, the previous few years have been very, superb for followers of worldwide motion films. From Hong Kong/China to Norway, from Australia to Japan, we’re getting a robust and regular provide of kick-ass, cathartic brilliance within the type of motion cinema. South Korea has lengthy been using that wave, and their explicit prowess has resulted in one of the crucial purely entertaining motion franchises in years. The Roundup: Punishment is the most recent within the sequence delivering large enjoyable and even greater hits.

A younger Korean man is murdered abroad, and Det. Ma Seok-do (Ma Dong-seok aka Don Lee for readability sake) makes the doable mistake of telling the person’s mom that he’ll make these accountable pay. When the investigation results in the high-tech world of on-line playing and a thug named Baek (Kim Mu-yeol), he’s instructed the case doesn’t belong along with his murder staff. When the proof factors to a high-profile member of town’s enterprise world named Chang (Lee Dong-hwi), he’s instructed to tread frivolously. He’s instructed a variety of issues, however his fists ain’t listening.

Whereas 2017’s The Outlaws is an unassuming actioner most individuals dismissed as one and completed, it really laid the groundwork for the sequels to come back beginning 5 years later. Movies “loosely” impressed by squad of cops in South Korea, headed up by Ma’s even looser cannon with meaty fists and no time for assholes, and a tone mixing gentle comedy with face-slapping, bone-crunching, knife-slashing motion — these are the hallmarks fine-honed by the sequels The Roundup (2022), The Roundup: No Means Out (2023), and now, The Roundup: Punishment. It’s as excellent a formulation as you could possibly hope for as Don Lee’s outsized charms enliven each the nice and cozy laughs and the bloody beatdowns.

Whereas No Means Out pits Ma towards a considerably lighter villain than two movies prior, Punishment sees a return to kind on that entrance with Baek. He’s as brutal a killer as you could possibly hope for, realizing full effectively that Ma goes to make him pay by the tip, and Kim does nice work making him each a wickedly environment friendly fighter (particularly when he’s wielding a knife) and a coolly sadistic prick. His fights towards Ma thrill as velocity and metallic meet measurement and dedication, and each performers take nice benefit of the area round them leading to plenty of damaged partitions, furnishings, and extra.

These title fights are weightier given the opponent, however Ma’s bodily encounters with different unhealthy guys are all the time and undeniably pure bliss for viewers. He’s large however has velocity of his personal, and from one-hit knockouts to face slaps that ship guys flying, it’s simply immensely gratifying to look at these thug-bugs maintain getting in his face. As is the case with the earlier movies, The Roundup: Punishment retains its motion targeted on extra grounded encounters versus large stunts or methodically choreographed fights, but it surely’s no much less efficient or thrilling in its relative simplicity.

Don Lee sits atop the pyramid describing this movie’s (and this franchise’s) enjoyment, as he’s a real and charismatic delight. A delicate large, till his characters are compelled to behave in any other case, his occasional smile and comedic supply make for a character who beefs up any function. As Ma, he will get to unleash “the beast cop” beating down baddies, cracking sensible, and letting himself be the butt of the jokes at occasions. These are the 2 pillars beneath him right here, the motion and the humor, and each proceed to be served extraordinarily effectively. The laughs are aided equally by the script and the supporting solid, most of whom are returning gamers as a part of Ma’s cop squad. One standout, although, is a low-level criminal named Jang (Lee Beom-soo) who’s gone straight, nonetheless has horrible style in style, and is a simple mark for Ma’s playful manipulation.

That is director Heo Myeong-haeng‘s first go on the franchise, and solely his second function after this 12 months’s Badland Hunters which additionally stars Don Lee, and The Roundup: Punishment is an absolute knockout. A switch-up on the high can typically trigger disruption with a sequel, however he picks up the place Lee Sang-yong left issues to ship one other stellar entry in a franchise that I hope continues gifting us with extra pugilistic enjoyable each 12 months till I die.

The 2024 version of the New York Asian Festival runs July twelfth to July twenty eighth. Comply with together with our protection here. And the twenty eighth version of the Fantasia International Film Festival runs July 18th to August 4th in stunning Montreal, Quebec. Comply with together with our protection here.

Associated Subjects: Action, Fantasia Film Festival, Ma Dong-seok, NYAFF

Rob Hunter has been writing for Movie Faculty Rejects since earlier than you have been born, which is bizarre seeing as he is so rattling younger. He is our Chief Movie Critic and Affiliate Editor and lists ‘Broadcast Information’ as his favourite movie of all time. Be at liberty to say hello when you see him on Twitter @FakeRobHunter.