The latest installment of Korea’s most-loved action blockbuster The Roundup: Punishment starring Don Lee finally takes its action in the Philippines.
In the borderless action-comedy, The Roundup: Punishment timely touches on the controversies of online gambling, locally known as POGOs (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators) as it sees the team of Ma Seok-Do (Don Lee) track down one of Korea’s dangerous criminals Baek Chang-gi (Kim Moo-yul) who now operates an online gambling business in the Philippines.
In the Philippines, ex-special forces mercenary Baek Chang-gi monopolizes Korea’s illegal online gambling business by means of abduction, confinement, assault, and even murder. Meanwhile back in Korea, IT genius CEO Chang Dong-cheol (LEE Dong-hwi) is hatching even bigger plans.
In a recent interview with Variety, Lee shared “I want the action to evolve (from film to film) and the story to keep up with current times. It’s important that the characters evolve further, becoming wiser with each sequel.”
Tracing the murder of a young Korean professional who escaped from Chang-gi’s gambling operations, beast cop Seok-do’s team takes on the streets in the Philippines riding jeepneys and forming alliances with the local police. Along with the team is returning character Jang I-su (Park Ji-hwan) disguised as a local who can also communicate in Filipino as he sets up an illegal online casino business to trap the gambling kingpins suspected in the abduction and murder of missing Korean citizens.
The shooting in the Philippines not only magnified the film’s scale but also perfectly captured the reality of borderless, turfless online crime by switching locations back and forth from Korea to the Philippines. While the location of the main villain Baek Chang-gi’s home turf in the film was in the Philippines, the Emperor Casino (the casino Baek runs) and his hideouts were filmed from the various cities of the Philippines such as Angeles and Tarlac City.
Hailed as Korea’s no. 1 action franchise, The Roundup: Punishment has dominated the Korean box-office for four consecutive weeks with a cumulative total of $75 million (source: Variety) since it opened and is now the fastest Korean film to surpass 11 million moviegoers in just 33 days (source: Times of India).
The Roundup series has become Korea’s most-loved crime and action blockbuster series. The action-packed and comedy-filled film created a syndrome for crime blockbusters, becoming the third most-watched rated-R movie in Korea. In the Philippines, The Roundup: Punishment is rated R16 by the MTRCB.
The Roundup franchise has left an unforgettable mark in Korean cinema and has proven that a Korean film series could be successful – with Don Lee’s portrayal of Detective Ma Seok-do known for his signature one-punch action, unique lines, countless parodies of scenes along with the irreplaceable allies and villains.
Distributed by Black Cap Pictures, “The Roundup: Punishment” opens August 14 exclusively at SM Cinemas.