'The Roundup' - Movie Review

Ma Dong-seok (sometimes - usually on American movies - credited as "Don Lee") plays police officer Ma Seok-do, reprising a role he first played in 2017's very successful "The Outlaws" (which I haven't seen). This time, he and his Captain go to Vietnam for what appears to be a fairly straight-forward repatriation of a Korean criminal. But it's rapidly clear that Ma Seok-do uses his own playbook, and even though they don't have jurisdiction he goes on something of a rampage in Ho Chi Minh City looking for the associates of the criminal who's turned himself in. There's comedy and there are bloody murders, and the action returns to Korea for the second half of the movie.

Ma Dong-seok is ... well, he's not beautiful, and he's bulky. But he's also charismatic and muscular, and it's almost believable that when he hits someone, they fly backward a couple metres. The main criminal they end up pursuing is Kang Hae-sang (Son Suk-ku), who is alarmingly proficient with a cleaver, and has no conscience.

Sits slightly uncomfortably between "Action Comedy," "Police Drama" and "Bloody Revenge flick," but if you're okay with some violence (and subtitles), this is a lot of fun to watch.