THE ROUNDUP: NO WAY OUT
Starring: Ma Dong-seok, Lee Jun-hyuk Director: Lee Sang-yong
Category: IIB (Korean)
3/5 stars
There are few actors in the world whose silhouette is as recognisable as Ma Dong-seok, aka Don Lee. As soon as his hulking shoulders fill the frame in the opening moments of The Roundup: No Way Out, audiences will know that his beast cop Ma Seok-do is back in action.
Having bested Chinese gangsters in 2017’s The Outlaws and Korean migrants operating in Vietnam in 2022’s even more successful sequel The Roundup, this third outing sees Ma clashing fists with Japanese yakuza dealing a new party drug on Korean soil.
While fans of this wildly entertaining action comedy franchise will probably flock to this third instalment, The Roundup: No Way Out brings nothing new to the table.
Set in 2015, the story sees Detective Ma resort to his heavy-handed style of police work after the death of a woman and the disappearance of a fellow police officer puts him and his squad onto a gang of Japanese-Korean drug dealers operating on behalf of the yakuza.
When 20kg of an experimental drug known as Hiper go missing, yakuza boss Ichijo (Jun Kunimura in a welcome cameo) sends the katana-wielding Ricky (Munetaka Aoki) to track it down. At the case’s murky centre is dirty police officer Joo Sung-chul (Lee Jun-hyuk), whose plan to rip off the Japanese and sell the drugs to a Chinese consortium sparks a citywide bloodbath.
What set this series apart from other run-of-the-mill Korean crime thrillers was the deft blend of hard-hitting action and self-effacing humour – or more specifically, the laughs gleaned from Ma’s almost apologetically heavy-handed policing style.
His lovable yet lethal persona, who can seemingly floor any adversary with a single punch almost despite himself, has become a brand in itself. In No Way Out, returning director Lee Sang-yong leans further into the comedy, looking for laughs in almost every altercation, while simultaneously reining in the gratuitous violence.
Neither Lee nor Aoki can muster anything close to the menacing performances of their predecessors Yoon Kye-sang and Son Suk-ku, resulting in the absence of a palpable threat against Ma’s unstoppable juggernaut. What emerges is a serviceable action vehicle that is sure to elevate its lovable star and his on-screen image even further. But in the wake of its eye-catching forerunners, No Way Out plays things disappointingly safe.
The Roundup: No Way Out opens in cinemas today