The Roundup – Punishment Movie Review

The Roundup – Punishment movie is the latest police drama from South Korea. It depicts another mission undertaken by Police Official Ma Seok-Do against notorious criminals.

It belongs to the hit Korean action movie franchise, which also had the Police Official Ma Seok-Do as the hero. The names of those films were – ‘The Outlaws’ (2017), ‘The Roundup’ (2022), and ‘The Roundup – No Way Out’ (2023). And, the famous action star Don Lee (Ma Dong-Seok) portrays the protagonist Police Official Ma Seok-Do.

Don Lee Entertains With His Wacky Comedy & Mighty Fights In ‘The Roundup – Punishment’

Trailer: The Roundup – Punishment (2024) Movie

Trailer | The Roundup – Punishment (2024) Movie | Beom-Joe-do-si 4 | One Media | YouTube.
Actually, the movie title of the trailer is The Roundup 3: Punishment (2024) Movie. However, the said movie was released with the title  The Roundup - Punishment (2024) Movie. Moreover, the original Korean title of the film is 범죄도시 4 (Beom-joe-do-si 4) means Crime City 4.

Spoiler Free Review: The Roundup – Punishment (2024) Movie

The storyline/plotline/synopsis/summary

While investigating a drug trafficking application, so-called Monster Cop Ma Seok-Do (Don Lee) and his team stumble upon a connection between the deceased app developer in the Philippines and a massive illegal online gambling ring. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, Baek Chang-Gi (Kim Mu-Yeol), a former elite soldier, has been dominating the Korean illegal online gambling market, spreading fear through kidnapping, assault, and murder.

His business partner in this illegal activity, the IT genius CEO Chang Dong-Chul (Lee Dong-Hwi), is planning an even more elaborate scheme in Korea. To combat the escalating threat, Detective Ma (Don Lee) expands the operation by proposing an unexpected alliance with Jang (Park Ji-Hwan), initiating the largest roundup mission to apprehend the criminals, in cooperation with the Police Cyber Unit and Police Metro Investigations.

What did we like about this Korean movie?

We liked the fresh ideas and ingredients of this crime tale. It is a typical masala movie with a rich Korean flavour. Of late, cyber crimes and cyber criminals are becoming active in the real world. They are posing greater threats to the common public. Set against this kind of realistic backdrop, this contemporary crime tale takes place in two nations – South Korea and the Philippines. The greedy and ambitious criminals set up a large-scale illegal online gambling ring to dupe the commoners of their hard-earned money. This is what the Monster Cop and his police team are trying to unmask the smart cyber criminals and destroy their online ring.

We also liked Don Lee, Park Ji-Hwan, Kim Mu-Yeol, etc.

As we mentioned above, in this movie, a popular Korean action star Ma Dong-seok / Don Lee plays the hero “Monster Cop”. So, his “The Roundup” is a South Korean crime action film series that showcases Detective Ma Seok-do’s (Don Lee) relentless pursuit of ruthless criminals in each movie. We like the easy and charming personality of Don Lee in it. The concept of ‘Truth Room’ is so typical of Asian Cops (including Indian cops).

Dan Lee in The Roundup - Punishment (2024) Movie
Don Lee (on the right side) in The Roundup – Punishment (2024) Movie

Also, Don’s comedy scenes with Park Ji-Hwan are hilarious and provide timely comic relief in an action-packed film. Don Lee’s action scenes are very well executed and seem realistic. Watching Don take on the goons and criminals in hand-to-hand combat is a thrilling experience. Also, the action scenes involving the protagonist played by Don Lee and the antagonist portrayed by Kim Mu-Yeol are top-class.

The conclusion

Not so long ago, we saw Ma Dong-seok / Don Lee in the Badland Hunters (2024), another popular Korean movie. And we liked him that apocalyptic action K-drama too. 

Don Lee’s The Roundup movie has a good mix of action, comedy, suspense and thrills. So, it is earning mega bucks (over USD 83.5 million) and breaking viewership records (over 11 million viewers) as it is an entertaining film.

Rating:

FM Rating3.50/5

Poster:

Key Details:

GenreAction, Crime, Thriller
Original LanguageKorean (South Korea)
Original Title범죄도시 4 (Beom-Joe-Do-Si 4) means Crime City 4
Duration1 hour 49 minutes
WriterOh Sang-ho
DirectorHeo Myeong-Haeng
CastMa Dong-Seok / Don Lee (Ma Seok-Do), Lee Beom-Su (Jang Tae-Su), Lee Dong-Hwi (Jang Dong-Cheol), Lee Joo-Bin (Han Ji-Su), Park Ji-Hwan (Jang I-Soo), Kim Min-Jae (Kim Man-Jae), Lee Ji-Hoon (Yang Jong-Su), etc.
DistributorCapelight Pictures / Blue Fox Entertainment

Poster, Featured and Other Images of The Roundup – Punishment (2024) Movie are courtesy of Capelight Pictures, Blue Fox Entertainment and Canva.com

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