Taking place several years after the previous Roundup film, Don Lee returns once again as Detective Ma Seok-do, this time investigating a murder which leads to getting mixed up with the Japanese Yakuza and an illegal drug-trafficking operation. Detective Ma goes about it in his usual manner, not afraid to beat the ever loving shit out of anyone who gets in his way. When Yakuza boss Ichizo (Jun Kunimura, who American action fans may recognize as Boss Tanaka from Kill Bill Vol. 1) gets wind of Detective Ma meddling in his affairs, he sends a top tier hitman to take care of the problem.

Don Lee seems tailor made for the role of Detective Ma, at times cool as a cucumber and polite but willing to smash heads to get the answers he needs from the scum of the earth. In a lot of ways, Lee’s delivery reminds me a great deal of Bud Spencer, both in his surprisingly swift bulk and sense of straight-faced comic timing. Like the previous Detective Ma films (The Outlaws and The Roundup), we get a nice mix of criminal intrigue, silly humor and great action sequences. The way Don Lee throws a punch is like poetry in motion, using his hulking frame to punctuate the force of impact like a freight train slamming into a wall at full speed. The plot seems to be kept intentionally pretty straightforward, using the story beats to move us from one action sequence to next. This might be seen as a negative if the action sequences weren’t so good, but fortunately The Roundup: No Way Out delivers the goods and even tops the climactic bus fight from the previous film a couple of times. Actually the only negative I have to say about the film is that the comedy sometimes does feel a little forced with some jokes from supporting characters falling a little flat. But there’s even a certain charm in the corniness of the one-liners akin to the classic American action films of the ’80s.

Capelight delivers a nice, clean 1080p transfer for the blu-ray edition (a UHD edition is also available but wasn’t provided for review) that captures the fast-paced action well with no distortion or compression effects noted. The audio comes in English and Korean languages, both as DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks, and they sound great, particularly during the action scenes where the effects are nicely separated and clearly delineated. Unfortunately there are no real extras to speak of. It would have been cool to have included a Jackie Chan-esque behind-the-scenes feature on the stunt work.

All in all, The Roundup: No Way Out is a blast to watch and sure to satiate even the most jaded action connoisseur looking for a fun night.