The shortest distance between two factors is popularly believed to be a straight line. But when a type of factors is the chin, cheekbone or torso of some sneering and/or psychotic Korean gangster, the shortest route is definitely the arc described by both of Korean megastar Don Lee‘s fists, right here taking part in the fists of Detective Ma, protagonist of the ludicrously watchable “Roundup” collection.
“The Roundup” and “The Roundup: No Means Out” the primary two sequels to 2017’s “The Outlaws,” appeared to inch a little bit nearer every time to the platonic very best of star-driven action-franchise purity. Now, with Lee (aka Ma Dong-seok) and his fists directed by Heo Myeong-haeng, a stunt choreographer who labored on Lee’s breakout “Practice to Busan,” the fourth episode will get nearer nonetheless. “The Roundup: Punishment” minimizes pointless originality, whereas gloriously maximizing the alternatives for Lee to crack clever, or look aggrieved and a little bit bored, as if he’s simply remembered he must do laundry, all whereas his meaty forearms land a flurry of sledgehammer punches so speedy their recipients, typically fairly actually, have no idea what hit them. This, actually, is cinema.
Thus far, Detective Ma’s appealingly tight-knit Metro Investigations squad have taken on loansharks, kidnappers and drug peddlers. This outing, the knife-murder of a younger Korean nationwide places them on the path of a web-based playing racket run via the Philippines by ruthless, blade-happy sicko Baek (Kim Moo-yul). Baek’s boss, a weak-chinned piece of labor known as Chang (Lee Dong-hwi), not content material with raking in and laundering zillions although his on line casino empire, is trying to launch his personal cryptocurrency. All of which cyber-skullduggery supplies loads of jokes on the expense of befuddled digital dinosaur Detective Ma.
Ma may hear mishear the “cloud” of “cloud storage” as “crowd” and picture {that a} mob of individuals will someway be concerned in syncing his contacts to a brand new cellphone, however he’s no dummy: It takes a sensible man to know what he doesn’t know. So after including a few cybercrime specialists to his job power, he settles right down to errands extra in his wheelhouse, akin to pulling gates off their hinges, laying waste to airplane first-class cabins, and making knuckly contact with loads of delicate tissue. Effectively, it’s delicate after its encounter with Ma, even when it wasn’t earlier than — most of his opponents, particularly Baek, are modern and ripped and a pleasure to see pummelled into pulp.
Alongside the best way, Ma reunites with series-regular Jang I-su (Park Ji-hwan) a petty hoodlum with an attachment to his designer man-purse and a secret want, which Ma exploits amusingly, to be accepted as one of many squad. However the plot, which like all of the “Roundup” tales together with the (hallelujah!) 4 extra in improvement, could be very loosely based mostly on an actual case, is only a pretext. It’s the flippers on a pinball machine that may ship Ma pinging fist-first from one baddie to a different, with out ever making us wait too lengthy in between encounters. When one non-fighty interval threatens to go on a bit, Oh Sang-ho’s script contrives a totally unrelated fracas to kick off simply as Ma occurs to be passing by in a disgruntled temper.
Heo Myeong-haeng proves to be a really environment friendly motion director, and DP Lee Sung-je has an unerring intuition for putting the digicam the place it will possibly finest exploit the distinction between the velocity of Lee’s actions and the resigned stoicism of his expression. To not point out that the intelligent, cellular framing implies a complete bunch of gore with out ever immediately exhibiting any sliced jugulars or gaping chest wounds. But when there’s a below-the-line standout craftsperson it’s most likely sound designer Gong Tae-won, who manages to foley constantly satisfying punch noises, presumably by flinging sides of beef off tall buildings and recording them as they hit the bottom. With out these meaty sonic mnemonics of full-flesh contact, it’s doable our brains would misinterpret the hyperfast blur of Lee’s higher physique as whole inaction, and fancy the break up lips and furious contusions blossoming on his sufferer’s face had been someway taking place spontaneously.
Lee was among the finest issues about Marvel’s “Eternals,” however his bid for Hollywood stardom nonetheless neutered the charisma that solely powers this purpose-built, made-to-order franchise. Take him shelling out a zinger like “What are you going to do, unfold jam on me?” when his adversary grabs a close-by butter knife. Removed from the snickering John McClane mannequin, Lee’s supply sounds much less like a taunt than a gently dismayed rebuke. He’s not indignant along with his opponent. He’s dissatisfied. As effectively he must be, on condition that Korea’s legal guidelines put firearms all however out of the equation and knives are the next-most-cowardly cheat to introduce right into a fistfight. Don’t these baddies-of-the-week know? On the subject of weaponry, Don Lee’s gun present is all anybody will ever want.
