Hard-hitting action used to be a Japanese industry strength, as exemplified by Kinji Fukasaku¡¯s reality-based 1970s films about brawling and battling yakuza.?

But South Korean action movies have long delivered more bang and pow than their Japanese counterparts. A recent example is the hit ¡°Roundup¡± series starring actor and producer Don Lee (also known by his stage name Ma Dong-seok) as a relentless police detective. Four entries have been released to date in South Korea, starting with ¡°The Outlaws¡± in 2017.

Now, set in that same universe is ¡°Tokyo Burst: The Roundup,¡± a Japan-original story with Eiji Uchida directing and Lee producing. Unfolding primarily in Tokyo¡¯s Kabukicho nightlife district, the film aims to be as action-packed as its Korean predecessors. Its big-scale, headlong chase and car-action scenes, shot on-site in Kabukicho, would have been unthinkable not long ago when securing the necessary permits meant venturing into the bureaucratic Land of No.