Champion
Champion is a sports-comedy film starring Ma Dong-seok in 2018. It was released on May 1st, 2018, and earned US $8.7 million in the Korean box office.
The comedy told the story of Mark, a former arm wrestler who dreamed of becoming a champion and who went to South Korea to compete in an arm wrestling tournament and search for the mother who abandoned him when he was young. In the end, he found his family but learned that his mother had died. He felt determined and overcame all obstacles to win the arm wrestling competition.
Unstoppable
Unstoppable is an action and crime movie starring Ma Dong-seok and Song Ji-hyo. The movie was released on November 22nd, 2018. The movie debuted at #1 in the box office and reached an audience of over 1 million within five days of its days of release.
The movie is about a gangster who is trying to move on from criminal life and live a straight life. His wife was kidnapped by a criminal syndicate and he formed a team to find his wife and took down the entire syndicate. Ma Dong-seok played as Dong Cheol, the gangster, while Song Ji-hyo played as Ji Soo, the kidnapped wife.
Dong Cheol is normally a docile and passive guy, as opposed to his gangster character. Even his gangster friends got annoyed with his passivity when handling a threat. Although it portrayed violence and fighting scenes, this is a lighthearted movie and much liked by Korean audiences. The movie earned US $11.6 million in box offices in Korea.
The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil
Ma Dong-seok appeared as main cast in the crime and action movie, The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil. The movie was about a mafia leader and a police officer who collaborated to catch a serial killer. The mafia leader is the only survivor who witnessed a crime conducted by the serial killer. The first person who catches the serial killer will take him away and use the killer for his own purposes.
Ma Dong-seok played as Jang Dong-soo, a mafia leader, while Kim Mu-yeol acted as Jung Tae-suk, a detective who teams up with the mafia leader to catch a killer, Kang Kyung-ho, played by Kim Sung-kyu.
The movie was released in Korea on May 15th, 2019, and was included in the Midnight Screenings at Cannes Film Festival. On May 5th, 2019, Sylvester Stallone announced that he would make an American version of the movie, with Ma Dong-seok as the only cast who kept his original role in the movie.
Ma Dong-seok’s Top Dramas
Other than movies, Ma Dong-seok appeared in 10 Korean television series. He played as supporting roles in five of the dramas and in a main role in two of them. He usually played as a tough and physically imposing character. His first television series was MBC’s Hit, airing from March, 2007, to May, 2007. He appeared as main cast in two TV dramas, Bad Guys and Squad 38, aired on cable networks.
