Detective Ma Seok-do (Ma Dong-seok aka Don Lee) is back!
When a Korean criminal appears at the Vietnam embassy and asks to be sent back to Korea, Detective Ma and Captain Jeon Il-man (Choi Gwi-hwa) are sent to extradite him.
Shortly after arrival, the pair find themselves involved in the hunt for Kang Hae-sang (Son Suk-ku), an unscrupulous murderer who kidnaps, ransoms and disposes of Korean tourists.
Can they stop Kang’s rampage?
“I’m in the clear. The newspaper blacked my eyes out”
One of the interesting elements of the Crime City franchise is that they are technically period pieces, centred around specific issues and contexts. The first film is set in 2004, and the villains are Chinese expats who prey on the precarious fringe of the Chinese-Korean immigrant community.
The Roundup takes place in 2008, and is inspired by a real crime involving the kidnapping of Korean tourists in Vietnam.
While it lends the films a certain verisimilitude, setting it in the past also provides a certain level of remove - these are contemporary myths and Detective Ma Seok-do is a mythic hero.
While The Outlaws is Ma Dong-seok’s starring vehicle, The Roundup feels like the franchise is refining itself around his presence.
Introduced from behind with a rock guitar sting as he confronts a man with a knife, Detective Ma is now a comic superhero.
During this first scene, the Captain is worried - not about the suspect, but that Ma will hurt him.
More self-aware and overtly comedic (see the quote at the top of this review), The Roundup starts out as a buddy movie with Ma and the Captain fish out of water in Vietnam.
Anything unrelated to the villains is almost farcical: The Captain tries to speak English to his Vietnamese counterparts and gets them in more trouble; the final comic reunion of Ma’s team as they sit at a diner and compare various injuries.
Jang Yi-soo (Park Ji-hwan), the Chinese gangster who appeared to die last go around, reappears. After his near-death experience, he has mellowed considerably - he flees rather than face Kang.
Despite the presence of guns in Vietnam, there is very little gunplay. The one time our heroes get a gun, it is the Captain, who misses his target.
Once again, the lion share of the body-count is due to the villain, Kang’s, actions. As said bad guy, Son Suk-ku brings a ferocity that provides a neat contrast to Detective Ma’s power moves.
The film is filled with great setpieces, particularly in the third act: what starts as a pursuit on a busy road, tailing a ransom drop, continues in the underground parking lot of a department store; and ends with a brutal final brawl on a public bus.
Despite some superficial wounds, Detective Ma is even more of a superhero on this outing - his punches sound like gunshots and - with few exceptions - take down foes with one swing.
It is a testament to the filmmakers that his presence never deflates the stakes - as with the previous film, the villains are portrayed without irony or the farcical humour of Detective Ma’s interactions with his team.
What also helps maintain a sense of tension and danger is that Detective Ma’s colleagues do not come from the same one-man-army factory as he does - Ma may get a cut or scuffed up, but his friends end up in the ICU.
Even though Detective Ma is the centre of the action, his starring vehicles always become an ensemble. His unit always play key roles in the final action with the villains, which is where the real peril comes in - it usually these supporting players (with Jang Yi-soo as an un-willing ally) who take the most punishment from the bad guys.
Ultimately, The Roundup ends where it began - Detective Ma and an antagonist putting each other through chairs, windows and anything else inside an enclosed space. It echoes the finale of The Outlaws, but the cramped bus gives the fight a higher level of claustrophobia. It also means Detrctive Ma gets to show off his incredible strength - he kicks Kang so hard, he breaks the chair Kang is sitting in.
A fine follow-up, The Roundup hones in on the standout elements of its predecessor while making enough changes to keep it fresh. It is also an easy entry point for new viewers - there are a few callbacks, but this movie feels totally singular.
No comments:
Post a Comment