Korea’s top action movie series, The Roundup, is back with its latest installment, The Roundup: Punishment, starring Don Lee. This time, the action moves to the Philippines.
The borderless action-comedy 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), tracks down one of Korea’s dangerous criminals Baek Chang-gi (Kim Moo-yul) who now operates an online gambling business in the Philippines.
In Korea, IT genius Chang Dong-cheol (Lee Dong-hwi) has even bigger plans. Lee shared with Variety that he wants the action and story to evolve with each film, reflecting current times.
The team follows the trail of a murdered young Korean who escaped Baek’s gambling ring. In the Philippines, they ride jeepneys and team up with local police. Jang I-su (Park Ji-hwan) returns, going undercover and setting up an illegal online casino to catch the criminals.
Filming in the Philippines made the movie feel more real, with scenes shot in cities like Angeles and Tarlac City. The film shows the reality of international online crime.
The Roundup: Punishment has been a hit in Korea, earning $75 million and drawing over 11 million viewers in just 33 days. It’s the third most-watched R-rated movie in Korea and is rated R16 in the Philippines.
Distributed by Black Cap Pictures, The Roundup: Punishment opens Aug. 14 exclusively at SM Cinemas.
