Detective Ma Seok-do (Ma Dong-seok) is back again to bring justice to the lawless.
This time the lawless are coming from inside his own house: crooked cop Joo Seong-cheol (Lee Joon-hyuk) is running a massive drug empire, working across borders with both the Chinese and Japanese underworlds.
As Detective Ma’s investigation progresses, he finds himself in the middle of a bloody conflict for control of a new drug which could spell fortune or death for those who possess it…
“You. Come here…”
Ma Dong-seok’s punches have become one of my favourite tropes in contemporary cinema.
Yes, it has only been a few days since I first bore witness to his particular brand of cinematic violence, but I am a fully paid-up member of whatever religious denomination worships his mighty fists.
Seeing and hearing the impact of said fists on the big screen (with surround sound) was a divine experience.
No Way Out follows last year’s The Roundup (which I watched the morning of my screening). That was probably a bad idea because the two movies are blurring together in my brain.
Part of the reason for the sense of uniformity is that director Lee Sang-yong returns from The Roundup.
Watching all three instalments in the Crime City franchise in a row, it is fascinating to see the antagonists become more international scope - in the first one, Chinese-Korean gangsters are the enemy; in the second, the bad ‘uns are Korean expats preying on Korean tourists in Southeast Asia, who end up in a street war with a Korean gangster. This latest instalment is centred around the actions of corrupt Korean cops, with the added variable of a Yakuza hit squad AND a cameo from some Triad emissaries.
The increasingly complex sense of globalised crime has been a feature of Detective Ma Seok-do’s adventures, and it is interesting how the focus has become more interior. The threats are never external - even in the first movie, Detective Ma is trying to maintain peace rather than eradicate the Chinese-Korean gangs. Unlike his American compatriots in Hollywood action movies, where there is almost complete emphasis on executing criminals, there is a level of nuance and realpolitik at work in the Crime City franchise. That is not to say that criticisms could not be levelled at their choice of antagonists (the second film came under fire for including a man undergoing a mental health crisis as a minor adversary). Still, it is an interesting distinction of the series, and one wonders where Detective Ma will go next - especially if the films continue to do well.
While his punches are as powerful as before, Detective Ma is portrayed with a greater level of vulnerability: He has to deal with more opponents; he gets beaten up; he is even knocked out and (briefly) kidnapped.
The introduction of multiple villains helps create a greater sense of stakes. The makers of the third entry seem to treat Detective Ma in a similar way to big professional wrestlers - find ways to impede him, and overwhelm him by attacking from multiple directions.
It is fairly similar to the precious entries but that is a feature, not a bug - No Way Out proves that the concept still has juice - although I was missing a few ingredients:
Park Ji-hwan only makes a brief appearance as Ma’s unwilling underworld connection Jang Yi-soo, and Choi Gwi-hwa’s Captain is completely absent.
These are not fatal wounds, but the film does miss some of the familiar chemistry and humour of the previous entries.
Another film is on the way next year, and from what information I have gathered, it looks like something of a creative refresh behind the scenes. Here is hoping that with the template now in place, the filmmakers take the opportunity to experiment with it.
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