In 2017, the first installment of a franchise (often called Crime City) was released, one that has broken records in South Korea: The Outlaws. When it came out, it became one of the best-selling R-rated movies in the country; when the sequel, The Roundup, came out in 2022, the series was elevated to all-new heights. It was the third-highest-grossing South Korean movie in the country’s history, and the country’s first release since Parasite to have over 10 million viewers watch the film in only 25 days. Now, in 2023, a third edition to the franchise is being released in South Korea and abroad: The Roundup: No Way Out. A fourth movie is scheduled to come out in theaters in 2024.
Don Lee, also known as Ma Dong-seok, stars in every film of the franchise as Ma Seok-do. Lee Sang-yong, who directed The Roundup in 2022, returns for The Roundup: No Way Out, which also features Lee Joon-hyuk (Along With the Gods: Two Worlds, Stranger) as the antagonist, while Munetaka Aoki, Kim Min-jae, and Lee Beom-soo make appearances alongside many others.
Yet years after the events of the previous two movies, new crime is on the rise in the streets of South Korea. It is up to Ma Seok-do to find out what is happening before it begins to affect even more innocent people, but not without a particular set of challenges first.
Investigating a Multi-Country Drug Ring
For those unfamiliar with the series, there is a low barrier of entry for The Roundup: No Way Out. It’s not completely necessary to understand the adventures of Ma Seok-do, a detective who is willing to get dirty whenever the job calls for it. In some of the Crime City movies, he’s been assigned to a very specific task that possibly will take him out of the country, but in this one, everything is happening on the home front. South Korea has become known partially because of its chaebol families, or the ones running the organizations like Samsung and LG Electronics.
While corruption in these families and politics might be rampant in reality, in the world of the film, a corrupt police officer is involved in breaking his code of honor and selling drugs to those abroad. The outside threat moves domestically when Japanese gangsters affiliate with him and do the dirty work involved with drugs. Ma Seok-do joins the Metropolitan Investigation Team to try and figure out what’s happening around the country when it comes to these drugs, forcing the cops to follow the trail of breadcrumbs to whoever might be the culprit.
However, a new level of danger is on the horizon when a group of cops investigating a scene end up involved in a car crash, demonstrating to the department as a whole that whoever is pulling the strings isn’t afraid to sacrifice some of his men in the process. But with the addition of the notorious Ma Seok-do to the police force and some roundabout methods of gathering information, the film transitions towards a game of cat and mouse. There are many layers to structured violence like this, and Ma is going to smash them down one by one over an hour and a half.
Signature to the series, though, are the action scenes in which Ma takes down criminals. Nothing seems to phase him when he’s surrounded by a group of people all on the other side, even when the odds should not be in his favor. However, the approach for this movie can seem a bit more tame compared to its predecessors, which dealt with the topics of brutal murders and gang wars. There’s not much of an emotional arc outside the events happening strictly on the screen, which actually allows audiences to become immersed in the world of crime unfolding before them.
An Anticlimactic Slow Burn
The Roundup: No Way Out progresses through its story like a slow burn, creating some pacing issues that begin to feel repetitive by the end. In a movie where the thriller and crime elements are played up, the tension brimming with every scene, one should be kept at the edge of their seat. However, in this movie, its ending becomes highly predictable halfway through, and it only becomes a matter of time before the antagonist, Joo Seung-cheol, is caught and put behind bars. The members of the Japanese yakuza add a new element of surprise throughout,
But even when we reach that final moment when Ma and Joo are facing each other, ready to finish their little game, everything seems to happen slowly. Their fight becomes anticlimactic, a necessary scene for finishing the story. Whenever Ma Seok-do approaches any fighting against the law throughout the movie, it seems way too easy for him to take down an entire group of people. The Roundup: No Way Out doesn’t take the necessary risks that were seen in the previous editions of the series, making the stakes a lot lower. There are glimpses of what could happen if they fail in apprehending those behind the drug’s distribution, but they are approached like an afterthought, something that gets lost in the background noise. Maybe that’s because Ma Seok-do’s journeys are meant to lean into the more comedic side of action and crime. It’s in the comedy elements where this movie shines, as the action scenes leave more to be desired at the end of the day.
Throughout the film, the only character of significance is Ma Seok-do. He becomes the only constant and the one who is going to save the day. That makes sense for a series centered around this character, but with a new cast of supporting characters in each movie, there isn’t enough time to create continuity when it comes to characters, especially since every new edition to the series ends up adding in a lengthy time jump. However, it becomes almost comical how practically none of the characters in The Roundup: No Way Out besides Ma is memorable. They exist simply to join Ma on his journey to beat crime.
Entertainment Over Emotional Narratives
It has been mentioned before that there are plans to turn The Roundup into an eight-film series, and even two spin-off movies are on the table for potentially being made. Hopefully they will learn from this installment. The Roundup: No Way Out takes a misstep compared to the two previous entries in the series because of how it wants to stay comfortable. If the series is going to continue for that many films in the future, it might need to go outside its comfort zone and push the boundaries of what has already been done, or its core audience may disappear.
The most dedicated fans of the series might be happy watching Ma Seok-do beat down criminals before they can lay a finger on him, but it can only be done so many times before it begins to feel old. When it comes to cinema and entertainment as a whole, taste can be highly subjective, and what might be good to others may not appeal to the person on the other side of the movie theater. The Roundup: No Way Out might be one of those movies. Some may enjoy the comedic elements, while others will find it lackluster.
Regardless, it’s a triumphant return for Don Lee thanks to a great performance. He seamlessly inhabits the role of Ma Seok-do once again and does an excellent job throughout the film. Although the antagonists are unable to muster the kind of energy that makes them menacing and a true threat, it almost helps bolster Ma’s performance throughout the movie, making Ma Seok-do a character that is quite literally unstoppable. For those smitten with action, there’s everything needed to make that formula happen: cars, guns, a Japanese yakuza pulling out a sword when the moment calls for it. It’s entertaining, but perhaps not catering towards emotional satisfaction (or basic originality) by the end.
The Roundup: No Way Out is out in theaters on June 2, 2023. It was previously released in South Korea on May 31, 2023.