Korean Dramas have been getting well-deserved attention and I'm quite fanatic about their stories, the Korean culture which is usually massively highlighted in their dramas, and a whole lot of other catchy things about their TV shows. That's why I've been digging into Kdramas for a very long time.
I can't say the same about their Movies. I'm not the biggest fan of the typical 2-hour duration Movies. I prefer to be soaked into the deeper storytelling highlighted in TV shows. Despite my sentimental attachment to TV shows, there are still some Movies that I know best not to turn a blind eye to.
As far as Korean Movies are concerned, any movie that stars Ma Dong-Seok will always catch my fancy. I don't even blink an eyelid before adding that to my watchlist. One of such Movies has become a whole franchise of its own and each part of the franchise serves as a stand-alone story.
The fourth and latest movie released in the franchise is what this post is about;
Movie: The Roundup: Punishment
Release Date: April 24, 2024
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller.
Runtime: 109 min.
Distributor: ABO Entertainment
Language: Korean
Those who have seen the first three movies in the franchise would know that Detective Ma and his team have a very solid record of dealing with gangsters and wild criminals. He walks into knife fights with his fists and roughes up ruthless criminals. This latest Movie in the franchise deals with online gambling organizations that are dealing with cybercrimes.
To crack the case and round up the people involved both in Korea and the Philippines, Detective Ma has to work with the Cyber Investigation team.
It was interesting to watch Detective Ma struggle to understand the jargon used by the cyber team. He tried but when he was continuously getting lost in the convo, he decided to leave that for the experts while he took charge of the part of the operations that had to be done with his fist and undiluted violence. He's no joke in that regard. I've watched him enough in the franchise to know what to expect from him during combat.
My guy was literally cracking ribs with his punch power and the sound effect for his punch is delightful to hear.
This teaser/trailer though... Koreans are still losing the trailer battle in both their Movies and in Kdrama. In over a decade of watching Korean Movies/TV show production, the ones that had really good trailers are very few. This is something they can work on especially now that major international streaming networks are picking up Korean Movies and TvShow projects.
This movie highlighted action sequences that are as impressive as I anticipated. Of course, this isn't a movie with a mind-blowing storytelling. The story isn't the first of its kind and there wasn't a huge focus in making it suspenseful. I can't complain about that because I know there's only so much that can be achieved in a 109-minute runtime.
It's just a "turn off your brain and enjoy the brawl" action movie and that's exactly why I watched it.
Thanks For Not Missing Any Full-stop or Comma.
Thumbnail Image is taken from IMDb
Trailer video is shared from YouTube.