2024

The Roundup: Punishment 🚨
 
The fourth installment in the hit Korean action franchise The Roundup, starring Korean megastar Don Lee, had its World Premiere at the 74th Annual Berlin Film Festival.
 
The Roundup: Punishment reunites us with “Monster Cop” Ma Seok-do (Don Lee) as he continues his relentless pursuit of those in the criminal underworld who choose to disrupt the peace in Korea.
 
This time he faces off against a different type of threat, as ex-special force mercenary Baek Chang-gi (KIM Moo-yul) has setup an online gambling casino in the Philippines, where he has been bringing abducted Korean software developers to aid him in monopolizing the market and evading authorities.
 
When an innocent Korean gets caught up in this oversea racketeering setup, Ma Seok-do takes it upon himself to bring justice for the innocent’s family but quickly begins to realize his fisticuff ways might not be the best fit for cyber crime.
 
This is how people in the 80’s must have felt every time Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone came out with new movies, because I don’t care what the premise is at this point; if Don Lee is in, so am I.
 
What Keanu Reeves as John Wick does with his elegantly choreographed, finesse-filled action sequences, Don Lee as Ma Seok-do does equally well with his rock ‘em, sock ‘em, rough them up fist fights.
 
The sound editing really does wonders when it comes to the impact of those fists, as each punch has an awesome-sounding ripple effect that just vibrates through the screen.
 
Admittedly, this installment is the weakest of the series, with a confusingly campy score and a story that relies on overly convenient plot points to serve the clearly intended purpose of continuing this series, which is making this a vehicle for Don Lee to kick ass.

Everything in this film is set up to serve the action, which, if you’re like me, will be more than enough.

This is one of those watches where the score I give it isn’t indicative of my personal enjoyment because I honestly had a blast watching it.

The comedy may be corny, but I laughed. The story may be convenient, but the fist-pump worthy action scenes had me hyped.

The Roundup: Punishment may not live up to its predecessors, but the bravado of Don Lee is entertaining enough to carry you through a record-breaking Korean series that proves time and time again that “the law can never be ahead of crime, but if you try hard, you can catch up.”

Enjoy!

6.5/10 🍿 🎥

Runtime: 1hr49mins

Where: Berlin Film Festival

The Roundup: Punishment Review (2024) The Richmond Reviewer -  March 06, 2024.

#DonLee #Korea #Movie #MovieReview #Review #TheRoundup #Berlinale #BerlinFilmFestival

Maydegol 🥊

Maydegol is an eye-opening documentary by Iranian director Sarvnaz Alambeigi that premiered at the 74th Annual Berlin Film Festival.

It follows the daily life of a tenacious Afghan teenage girl who is pursuing her dream of becoming a professional Muay Thai fighter, but her toughest opponent will be the daily bouts of social injustice she faces living as an immigrant in Iran.

This is one of the most deflating viewing experiences I’ve ever had.

It’s so disheartening to see someone who should have their whole life ahead of them be stuck in a situation that stunts any kind of growth, progress, or freedom that any human fundamentally deserves.

Maydegol is an ambitious, driven girl who doesn’t want her life decided by a marriage, but because of the current climate in Afghanistan and the fact her family has been displaced to Iran, it’s either that or fulfill her dream of becoming a professional Muay Thai fighter so she can get a passport and move on with her life.

A lot of this is made even more difficult when another obstacle presents itself: the abuse she faces at home.

When you hear the recordings of her getting her finger broken by her father and then seeing the damage she took after getting her ribs kicked in by her mother and brother, it is undefinably heartbreaking.

Yet she still found a way to persevere.

This is why the fights she has in the ring are her saving grace. It’s the only time when things feel fair, where the only way you get ahead is by putting the work in and not having to rely on your family or getting married to some random man. It’s you and you alone.

So even at times when you wish she would choose another path, seeing all the work she puts in and how passionate she is about it, even in defeat, you’ll begin to understand that as much damage as she may take in that ring, it’s the only time she can find peace.

It’s also the only place she doesn’t feel like an other.

She’s lost her Afghanistan identity and passport, and she doesn’t have an Iran passport, and through that, she is forced to duck and weave through the oppressive nature of a family that is having a hard time settling into a place they know isn’t their own and end up taking it out on each other, leaving her to feel like an outsider in her own  home.

From the 2023 Iranian documentary Seven Winters of Tehran to the 2023 Vancouver-based short film ZIP, these stories about the injustice women face in Iran are a constant humbling reminder of the strength it takes to endure the things you can’t control.

Maydegol may mean broken flower, but Maydegol does not let that define her. Instead, she chooses to bloom like a rose in a dark room, with her resilient nature on full display for the world to see - as she continues to fight the good fight.
   

Enjoy!

7.9/10 🍿 🎥

Runtime: 1hr13mins
Where: Berlin Film Festival

Maydegol Review (2024) The Richmond Reviewer – March 06, 2024.

#Iran #Afghanistan #Boxing #MMA #Kickboxing #Documentary #MovieReview #Movie #Review #Maydegol #Berlinale #BerlinFilmFestival