It all started back in 2017 with “The Outlaws” (known as “Crime City” locally), the South Korean crime film starring Ma Dong-seok (Don Lee) as detective Ma Seok-do. It took five years before its sequel, “The Roundup” (“Crime City 2”) came out and it went on to become the highest grossing film of 2022 in South Korea, taking in over US$101million. A third installment, another smash hit, “The Roundup: No Way Out” (“Crime City 3”) quickly followed a year later with Ma returning as the beast detective leading a new team fighting more crime again.
It has been seven years since the events of the previous film, and detective Ma, after his promotion, now works for the Metropolitan Investigation Unit. While investigating the death of a woman believed to be a suicide case, he learns from her autopsy that she has in fact died from an overdose and a new drug known as Hiper is the cause. Many investigations and interrogations later, team Ma finds out that the drug comes from Incheon and the yakuza is responsible for its distribution.
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Ma's men manage to seize twenty kilos worth of Hiper from the Japanese but rogue detective Joo Seong-chul (Lee Joon-hyuk) from another branch steals the drug back for his own benefits. Meanwhile, keen to recover his 300 million won worth of drugs, the yakuza boss dispatches vicious killer Riki (Munetaka Aoki) to South Korea to sort things out. A drug war soon breaks out between the Japanese and the dirty cop Joo, with Ma and his team caught up right in the middle.
After the huge box office success of the previous film, Lee Sang-yong returns to direct this predictable and quick cash grab follow-up which takes place mainly in South Korea. The plot is the usual good-versus-evil scenario but the emphasis is heavy on comedy with exciting action thrown in as another element to please the audiences. In that regard, the film has done amazingly well, raking in over US$70 million and counting, just after one month. The comedic moments can be borderline annoying at times but the production scores points in the action department.
South Korean-American actor Ma Dong-seok or Don Lee is the man and the filmmakers sure know how to use him to please the local audiences. Trained in boxing, Ma's film career took off like a rocket after his breakout turn in the zombie hit “Train to Busan” (2016) and he even made it to Hollywood later with Marvel's “Eternals” in 2021 as Gilgamesh. Once again full of energy, Ma shines as the oversized, one-punch knockout detective Ma in this third installment of the crime franchise. Besides flexing his muscles, his comic timing is also spot on.
In addition, portraying the ruthless killer Riki from Japan and reminiscent of his turn in the “Rurouni Kenshin” live action film series, Munetaka Aoki looks equally mean and bloodthirsty, especially with his trusted katana. Played by Lee Joon-hyuk, Joo Seong chul, the dirty detective and mastermind of the drug trade is a much laid back character but he is just as ruthless. These opponents are basically there to face detective Ma during their final confrontation and there is hardly any backstory to them at all. Besides, they don't actually represent a real threat to the lead protagonist because the viewers already know that they won't be the last man standing.
Unfortunately, character-wise, apart from the obvious leading mran Ma, Lee and Aoki, no one really stands out among the new cast of supporting characters. Thinly thought out, they are there just to tag along with Ma while he takes down criminals. Furthermore, the thugs seem to be wearing t-shirts that are one size too small and they always challenge Ma just to draw laughter from the viewers. Needless to say, our hero detective promptly responds with his famous one-punch and knocks them unconscious. Although it looks great and hilarious on the screen, it does become repetitive after a while.
Overall, hardcore fans of the series will find lots of moments to enjoy here, in particular watching Ma throwing his fists of fury around and sending his enemies flying. Furthermore, the cameo from Jun Kunimura (“The Wailing”) as the yakuza boss is a welcoming distraction and a highlight. Apart from being so predictable and repetitive at times, this is still an entertaining film and yes, there is a fourth installment in the works like it or not.
