The Roundup

Korean action star Dong-seok Ma is back! And with him, the essentially identical cast (especially his police chief in the sequel, who had some great lines!) and the same names behind the camera. I was a bit worried whether the creators would manage to maintain the high standard of quality, but fortunately, they did. The visuals don’t need much evaluation; Koreans can proudly boast about that. It was also a nice touch that the first half is set in Vietnam. I really liked the fresh setting of this Asian country! Otherwise, the action is again perfect; the second installment is, in this regard, much more intense than the first one (with fewer funny moments). The fight in the apartment with machetes and the final bus fight will stick in my memory for a long time. So why "only" 4 stars? I preferred the villain in the first movie. Even so, it’s a strong four-star rating. For me, it’s an 8.5/10. (08/24/2022)

The sequel to the excellent The Outlaws is a supercharged action ride from South Korea. Ma Dong-seok is back as a beast cop, and this time in Vietnam, where the mad Son seok-Koo is on a rampage kidnapping and murdering tourists. Once again the film has great visuals, great cinematography, you can see the money, the actors are great, the action is awesome and there is no shortage of suspense. Ma Dong-seok is quite a variation on Bud Spencer, he blasts all the enemies from meters away with one shot and it looks great. I liked the villain, he's a very sneaky, slimy, ruthless bastard who slashes and cuts absolutely everyone who comes his way with his knife, he's definitely the villain that pulls the whole film off. The film is well paced, there's a decent load of action scenes with great choreography and cinematography, plenty of violence – though there could have been more blood for my taste, but never mind. I wasn't too thrilled with the comedy interludes, Korean humour is not really my thing, but it may please some viewers. The story is engaging and interesting enough even for the action genre, and it all leads up to a promising finale on the bus (greetings to Nobody), where there is one hell of a satisfying fight between the two arch rivals. I don't think there's been a bigger action flick from South Korea this year, so even though it feels more like 4 stars, I'm happy to give it an upgrade, there's simply never enough of these quality pieces. For how disappointed I was with the Korean witch, this one turned out to be a clear winner. These realistic and gritty cops vs gangsters flicks are what Korea does best. Story 4/5. Action 5/5, Humour 3/5, Violence 1'4/5, Fun 5/5 Music 4/5, Visuals 5/5, Atmosphere 4/5, Suspense 4/5, Emotion 4/5, Actors 4/5. (08/04/2022)