The 80s were full of muscular film heroes who faced every enemy without fear and often defeated them with brute force, but also conveyed a certain kind of charm and likeability. If you miss this kind of film, you can find it in Korea these days and The Roundup is the best example of this.
What is The Roundup about? Ma Seok-do is the deputy head of the Major Crimes Division at the Geumcheon Police Station and, at the beginning of the film, investigates in Vietnam because Koreans who are there on vacation or on business trips regularly disappear.
He and his team quickly find out that it is a serial killer. But he manages to escape in Vietnam and ends up in South Korea. Now it’s up to Ma Seak-do and his team to find and stop the serial killer.
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A hero like before
Ma Seok-do is played by Ma Dong-seok, who many probably know from his supporting role in Train to Busan, who also became a fan favorite due to his physique and heroic acting there. And he’s also the big star in The Roundup. Through his physique and his irreverent behavior, he radiates exactly the coolness that many heroes of the past radiated.
Ma’s ideals are also as simple as they are effective. He just wants to do his job and protect people. Climbing the career ladder doesn’t matter to him, and so he has no personal backstory with his opponent.
At the same time, the figure also conveys a certain charm. Especially when he argues with his boss Jeon Il-man because he should have kept a low profile. At the same time, he also worries about his team, which consists of many young investigators. The dynamics of the entire team are particularly clear in the office, which is far too small.
Good action from South Korea
Every fight is enhanced by his presence alone, and when he throws out punches and blows, it is always staged powerfully and forcefully. There are no fight scenes like in The Raid, but more like in Bud Spencer films. Because of his strength and physicality, every punch hits and captivates the viewer.
There are interesting locations such as an underground car park or the grand finale on the bus. Due to the filming locations in Korea, many of the locations shown are a good mix of dark corners of the city and modern buildings, such as a shopping center. The scenes are also explicit and make the most of the 16 rating quite well.
Where can you watch the film? If you have an “Amazon Prime” subscription, you can watch the film there in German. Otherwise there are physical releases and purchasable streaming options on Amazon and Apple TV.
If you’re looking for good action in the style of the 80s, The Roundup is definitely worth taking a look at. So far there is also a quasi-sequel to the film “The Outlaws” and a real sequel called “The Roundup: No Way Out”, which will be released in December.
If you want to delve even deeper into Korean cinema, you will find a few films in this list:
These are the 7 best Korean films of all time via IMDb