The Roundup: No Way Out (2023): This is a sequel to the Korean action crime movie The Roundup. It is a buddy cop film with a hint of comedy at every turn. We see the protagonist, Ma Seok-do, being savage. But in this film, we see him get beaten up quite a bit. No Way Out is also a chase thriller with the villain remaining right before the protagonist’s eyes. However, the protagonist can only figure it out at the end. This article contains spoilers.
The Roundup: No Way Out (2023) Movie Synopsis & Plot Summary:
The film follows Detective Ma Seok-do (Ma Dong-Seok) as he investigates another gang-based murder and drug case. The film begins with Ma Seok-do investigating a homicide case when he stumbles upon a new drug being illegally sold and bought. The leader of the drug smuggling rink wants to make money, but he gets associated with a Japanese organization that enters the smuggling rink.
Seok-do is hell-bent on taking on the investigation to stop the drug smuggling. He also finds out that a police officer was missing as he was independently chasing after the goons who were dealing with the hyper drug. We see that the drug gang killed the police officer. As he progresses with the investigation, he realizes that the criminals are connected to the Japanese Yakuza. Seok-do, as a part of the investigation, visits another branch of the police station to find out if they know anything about the drugs. The cops seemed a little off to Seok-do as they tried to be intimidating.
A drug deal goes wrong as Seok-do’s colleagues get a hint of where the drugs can be and chase down one of the Yakuza. They visit their house and arrest them. But as they went to the police station, a car hit them, almost killing the Yakuza. When the Yakuza asked to be saved, he was murdered instead. Joo Sung-Chul gives one of his underlings a chance to do drug dealings. Joo Sung-chul is a corrupt cop who does drug dealings. Moreover, Joo Sung-Chul deals with some Japanese promising to deliver 20kgs of drugs.
When the time comes to deliver the drugs, Joo Sung-Chul cannot keep his promise as his underling has decided to take the drugs to protect himself. A ruthless hitman named Ricky was sent to collect the stolen drugs. Seok-do now had to catch Sung-Chul and Ricky. Ricky tracks down the other clan members and kills them. He meets the gang leader and asks him for the drugs, but he refuses to give him a hint, and Ricky murders him as well.
Seok-do comes up with a plan to catch both Ricky and Sung-Chul. He asks for help from one of his contacts, who used to be in the drug business before. He asks him to contact Sung-Chul, telling him he has the drugs. Upon calling, Sung-Chul acts nonchalant, so an image with the drug is sent. After seeing the image, Sung-Chul asks the goon to meet him in a particular place alone. After losing the drugs, Sung-Chul could not deliver them to the Japanese, and he ended up killing them as he was being pressured.
When the goon arrives at the location, he sees Ricky instead of Sung-Chul and decides to run, but he is stopped and beaten. Seok-do comes to his rescue, but he is also beaten up badly. Ricky opens the bag to find salt instead of drugs in it. He gets a call from Sung-Chul saying he had taken the drugs and asked him to take care of Seok-do. Sung-Chul beat Seok-do’s colleagues after they took the drugs. Ricky’s underling tells him they must chase Sung-Chul as he would probably take the drugs and run away.
Ricky decides to take Seok-do along. Ricky beats up Seok-do, but he receives a call from Sung-chul. Seok-do starts to fight and tells Ricky they must go after Sung-Chul, but Ricky lets his underlings fight him. Seok-do fights the thug and beats him to a pulp. Ricky takes it upon himself and fights Seok-do, but he is defeated. The cops hurry and trace Sung-Chul down. Sung-Chul seeing Seok-do, asks if he is not dead yet. They get into an intense fight, and Sung-Chul is defeated. In the movie’s last scene, we see the cops celebrating their victory.
The Roundup: No Way Out (2023) Movie Ending Explained:
The movie ends with the good guys winning yet again. We see Seok-do’s unique style of fighting once again. They have given enough space for humor in an action-filled film, making the movie much more entertaining. In this film, unlike the other from the franchise, we see Seok-do take more beating, making the action more believable. However, the action scenes were not as intense as the previous films, but they kept us entertained. The best parts of the film are the comedic ones where the cops are always late, and Seok-do does most of the heavy lifting.
The Roundup: No Way Out (2023) Themes Analyzed:
Corruption:
Corruption is a prominent theme in this film. We see cops taking bribes to ignore crimes like the illegal sale of drugs. We also see Sung-Chul, who used being a cop as a mask to do all sorts of illegal activities. Corruption is repeatedly seen as there was Greed for making more money.
Greed:
Continuing the previous point, Greed plays a huge part in the film. Greed in the form of cops taking bribes or criminals being greedy to attain more. We see Sung-chul’s underling backstabbing him because he wants the drugs for himself to make a good deal with someone and enjoy that money. Sung-Chul secretly made deals with the Japanese to make millions and expand his business. Even in the end, we see Sung-Chul trying to run away with the drugs and money by cheating on Ricky.
The drug trade:
The entire film is based on the drug trade. According to the portrayal of Korea in the film, we see that drugs are illegal in Korea, and it is not easy to access them. But despite the difficulties, we see Sung-Chul, Ricky, and the other Yakuza doing drug deals to make huge amounts of money. We see a lot of bloodshed only because of getting their hands on the new drug.
The dark side of human nature:
All in all, we see the darker side of human beings. We can see what Greed can do to one person. Subsequently, there’s much backstabbing only to save oneself from misery while throwing others under the bus. Eventually, we see the gangs ruthlessly killing one another without blinking an eye. The answer to every situation in the narrative was violence. There was less negotiation and understanding and more violence and threats throughout the film.
