If you enjoyed the brutal melee of bludgeoning fists and retribution delivered by Don Lee in last year’s The Roundup and you’re ready for impending threequel The Roundup: No Way Out, you’d be wise to stay the course for its fourth outing, The Roundup: Punishment.
The production is announcing actor Kim Moo-yul to the cast as the villiain, rejoining him with Lee following their brooding 2019 action thriller, Lee Won-tae’s The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil, which landed a surprise addition to the screening slate for Fantasia Festival that year before releasing in North America through Well Go USA.
Seasoned Korean action veteran Heo Myeong-haeng (Hunt, Extreme Job) makes his feature directorial debut on the fourth chapter of The Outlaws franchise. Heo’s credits extend as far back as more than twenty years collaborating with directors like Kim Sung-su, Kang Woo-suk, Ryoo Seung-wan, Na Hong-jin, Kim Jee-woon, Park Hoon-jung, actor Ha Jung-woo for his 2013 debut, Han Jun-hee, Kim Min-ho, Kim Yong-hwa and more.
By proxy, the film also reunites Heo with Lee once again, adding to their numerous shared film credits, including the inaugural 2017 franchise starter, The Outlaws, as well as Lee Sang-yong’s sequel, The Roundup, on which Heo served as stunt coordinator.
The Roundup: No Way Out is due to release in South Korea on May 31 before making headway at Fantasia for its Canadian premiere this July. The film features Lee as the newly-minted member of a regional crime division that sees him taking on the son of a rich and powerful family, in a story that also involves the Yakuza. Heo’s The Roundup: Punishment, pending with a release date and further details, sees Lee back to steer the franchise as “The Beast Cop” works to hunt down the mob behind a gargantuan illegal online gambling business, led by an elusive criminal played by Kim.
As Screendaily’s Jean Noh reports (via Screendaily’s Digital Magazine), rights to The Roundup: No Way Out have already been acquired by Capelight Pictures for North America and Germany, and by Edko Films for Hong Kong and Macau, and Moviecloud for Taiwan.
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