‘The Roundup: Punishment’ Review
Four entries into the popular crimes series of films and The Roundup: Punishment continues to build itself around its charismatic and physically intimidating lead without sacrificing the thrills fans have come to expect from The Roundup franchise. However, this time around, there’s a tonal shift that continues to work to Don Lee’s strengths while also meshing better with the silliness of trying to physically tear down an online gambling ring with fists. As Detective Ma Seok-do (Lee) tries to rely on old ways to dismantle new forms of criminal activity, The Roundup: Punishment leans further into its star’s comedic presence while retaining the adrenaline-packed action beats that have become dependably exhilarating in each entry. A crime procedural that treads familiar ground under new circumstances, any worries that the formula in The Roundup series will ever get tiring dissolve almost immediately once the first punch is thrown in Heo Myeong-haeng’s latest collaboration with Lee.
The tone of The Roundup: Punishment will be the first thing many notice and might be divisive depending on why you come to the popular Korean series in the first place. Despite setting up another violent antagonist in the cold, ruthless Baek Chang-gi (Kim Mu-yeol), who operates within the Philippines and shuts down rival online gambling operations with militaristic precision, Detective Ma is confronted with a situation far outside his understanding that questions the utility of his strength. There’s always someone to knock out to get answers, but in this situation, he’s now up against an online gambling ring where any competition is systematically killed by Baek under the orders of Chang Dong-cheol (Lee Dong-hwi) - an IT expert who is on the brink of introducing a new cryptocurrency into the market and becoming monumentally richer in an instant. Detective Ma is now forced to work alongside the Cyber Investigation Division to find a criminal to punch.
It’s that dichotomy between the virtual and the physical, as well as new technology versus old methodology, that ultimately imbues the screenplay with a far more humorous bent. Written by Oh Sang-ho, The Roundup: Punishment is littered with dated jokes that pack more heft thanks to Lee's chemistry with the rest of the cast. The re-introduction of Jang Yi-soo (Park Ji-hwan) as a former casino owner whose operations were shut down by Chang and Baek’s violent monopoly only accentuates this tonal shift further. The film feels slightly at odds with itself whenever it switches gears from intense brutality or kinetic action to the ruminations of an older generation struggling to grasp slightly advanced technology like cloud services and cryptocurrency. That being said, the rapport between Lee and Park is a riot and no matter how groan-worthy some of the writing itself might be, Lee is a movie star capable of making even the most inane comments still enjoyable.
That charisma has forged a very interesting career path for Lee, and The Roundup films feel especially catered to that. His second outing with director Heo Myeong-haeng after this year’s Badland Hunters, The Roundup: Punishment continues the trend of these films feeling built around Lee’s individual strengths. There’s a fairly underwritten emotional justification for Detective Ma’s involvement in the online gambling case, but even at its most underwritten, it’s enough for Lee to bite down into and convey his sympathies and frustrations. There’s an unquestionable morality to Ma’s actions, even if he tends to bend the law in ways that are not necessarily “right,” and it’s thanks to Lee’s performance that the moral righteousness even comes across. He’s endearing and funny, but there’s a loneliness and undercurrent of sadness that permeates his every action. His fellow officers are the closest friends he seems to have, not because they’re his coworkers but because they put the same burden upon themselves to simply catch the bad guys. They are all honor-bound, and that’s what isolates Ma but also drives him to go to extremes.
Thankfully, those extremes tend to be burly action sequences of Ma walking into rooms and knocking people out. While the previous film tended to play up Lee’s single-punch knockouts a little too often, the other films and The Roundup: Punishment have a far more visceral energy to them. They’re scrappier and utilize environments far more often. This helps with letting the rest of the team not feel completely overshadowed by Ma’s intimidating presence but also plays to Baek’s insistence on using knives. The gore is definitely there as a result, but played against Detective Ma’s cool demeanor it isn’t as gnarly as the set-up suggests. There are some close-quarters fisticuffs that are punctuated by wince-inducing violence, but it’s evened out by far larger brawls in wider areas. There’s always a variety in the setpieces themselves, but The Roundup: Punishment takes things to new heights in its pursuit of criminals hiding behind computers.
While I lamented that the series may have begun wearing out its welcome with the last installment, The Roundup: Punishment feels like an attempt to pivot to something far more universally enjoyed and subsequently gives itself room to play around in a bigger sandbox. There’s still a template, though, and certain expectations are put upon the franchise that may limit its ability to churn out sequels at such a rapid pace as it currently is without sacrificing some of that creativity. The Roundup was released in 2022, and since then, a new entry has come out every year. While The Roundup: Punishment left a desire to see this series continue forever, it’s also impossible to ignore the fact that its procedural trappings and a screenplay that always revolves around Detective Ma beating people’s heads in will eventually be exhausting. However, we’re not there yet, and that desire to see the series endure will hopefully result in building upon its foundations as opposed to resting upon them.
