The Raid 2 (2014)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

As it stands, I think the Raid films are the best modern action films out right now. Where the first movie felt like one very long fight scene (which wasn't a bad thing), this one went bigger and took its time to create a meaningful story for the characters. With the story I began to realize that this movie's plot had multiple themes. It took its time to touch on issues of gang violence and politics, family, and blind ambition. Some of these themes can make for some really uncomfortable sequences but I believe the actors gave good performances despite what they had to do.The fights are even better here than they were in The Raid: Redemption. One major gripe I had with the first film was that the action would sometimes feel too "choreographed". In other words, Rama, the main protagonist, would be fighting his way through a hallway full of goons and he would always know when and how to turn a corner to take down the next guy. In the interest in showing the vulnerability of the hero as well as general realism, extended fight scenes should not always play out to the main guy's favor as he/she should become more reactive than proactive to survive. This, to me, is especially true in cases like this, where our hero is almost always outnumbered. This is something that this movie improves on because there were multiple occasions where I could see how susceptible to fatal wounds Rama really was, despite the main character immunity he may have sometimes. He wasn't necessarily setting the pace for the fights with his fighting expertise, but rather reacting to each and every strike in his (and ours) hopes to survive.The filmmakers for the Raid movies really seem to have a passion for action, which is awesome. Not only do they know how to shoot these sequences well, along with the fact that the actors didn't have stunt doubles, the fights always mean something. Whether its setting the tone for the next part of the story or showing the audience a glimpse of a certain character's true nature, my eyes were glued to the screen for every second of those sequences.The John Wick movies are the only contender to this film and it's predecessor. Asian action films centered around martial arts are always going to beat American ones because that style of action is deeply rooted in the culture. Despite some of the fancy camerawork in The Raid 2 (slowmos and unique angles), the close quarter combat is always the focus when it comes up. The filmmakers didn't rely on music to set the pace or excessive CGI coupled with stunt doubles to depict killing blows. Yes I'm a sucker for good action movies and this is most likely my favorite one yet.

Movie: The Raid 2 (A): Action - Indonesian Positives:Without a second thought, it's the extremely well choreographed, jaw-dropping, fast paced and never-seen-before action which is the major highlight of the film. The kitchen fight is definitely the best I've seen in my life!Iko Uwais excels in the action sequences and even in the scenes requiring him to emote; He's really impressive. Rest of the cast also delivers extremely realistic performances. The story is very good; the way director Gareth Evans has blended highly impactful action into a story of this kind is commendable.Negatives:Undoubtedly, it's an out and out action movie meant to be watched more for the action than anything else and that's why the long duration, which is mostly due to the dramatic scenes might not go down well with everyone.But still the film is a complete entertainer!Repeat value: Definitely!THE RAID 2 is simply one of the best martial arts action films I've ever seen. Do yourself a favour; just grab some popcorn and enjoy this action-packed blockbuster! The killer action itself is worth the price of the ticket/DVD/BD!

Double bill time, Welsh filmmaker Gareth Evans has made a big splash with his action one-two punch which puts the Indonesian martial art "Pencak Silat" on a bigger map. Swimming against the tide of an inexorably digitized world, since the noughties, action movies have been experiencing a somewhat fundamentalistic revolution ushered in by ONG-BAK: THE THAI WARRIOR (2003), where a more tactile, point-blank and lethal combat style greatly relying on the performers' physical prowess sounding the death knell for a plethora of CGI-heavy schlock, and Gareth Evans takes the revolution further down that road, at any time of the day, it is more than welcomingBlanketed in its slate blue hue, THE RAID: REDEMPTION has a setting like a single-location entrapment horror flick, a catastrophic heavy blow incurs to a team of elite squad when they raid inside a tenement tower block owned by the crime lord Tama Riyado (Sahetapy) in Jakarta's slums, it turns out to be a set-up as a corollary of corruption among police top-brass. Assailed by not zombies but practically zombie-looking inhabitants (bedraggled drug addicts mostly) and a cohort of Tama's henchmen, they might find some painful irony (if they are still breathing) from recollecting the paradoxical pep talk of Sergeant Jaka (Taslim), who is leading the raid, paraphrasing here: it is a highly dangerous mission, but I don't want to see any of those seats empty when we return. The one who is bestowed with a protagonist nimbus is Rama (Uwais), a tyro in the forces and has an ax to grind in the game, when all the ammo is expended, his killer martial art skill starts to tip the scale in the bloodshed. Since its no-account story-line seldom fluctuates with plot development (barring a fraternal reunion), and although many tropes of suspense routinely deployed to the hilt, it is the action pieces taking our breath away, the go-for-the-jugular (joints, limbs, and other more cardinal parts) pragmatism and Evans' lenience on blood and guts, skewered together one set piece after another, our rapt attention becomes a given, and the brutal aesthetics reaches its crescendo in the close-range combat between Rama, his brother Andi (Alamsyah) and Tama's top muscle, a disheveled Mad Dog (Ruhian, who is a martial art virtuoso and the fight choreographer for both movies, also plays a completely different character in the sequel). After REDEMPTION successfully testing the water, THE RAID 2: BERANDAL (which means thug in Indonesian) is expectedly souped up by a significantly boosted budget and an ampler length (150 minutes, 50 minutes longer than the first installment). Mapping out an ambitious gangster turf war saga, Evans' script swiftly sends Rama to the joint to befriend Uco (Putra), the son of Bangun (Pakusadewo), one of the two kingpins of Jakarta's underworld, where a muddy mêlèe during a downpour set alight the first frisson of excitement (it is a virtue Evans doesn't overuse the worn- out slo-mo shtick, after THE MATRIX 1999 and its countless emulators, enough is enough). In fact, the resultant story veers more towards Uco's ill-conceived subversion, and Putra, not quite a martial artist himself but commendably takes up the gauntlet as a pompous gilded youth, too thrusting and wanting both wits and patience to mellow into a rightful heir of his father's cosmic empire, particularly when there is nothing to imperil his standing, what is the fuss anyway? Maybe like in every patriarch's incubus, he is just a bad seed and driven at lengths to carry out a patricidal sin, Putra's performance is vehement, visceral and transforms Uco as the film's heart of matter, a grab bag of what is wrong with today's youngsters. In the action section, on the one hand, Evans continues choreographing striking fighting sequences of Pencak Silat, and playing up the possibility of orchestration within a two-by-four space (a prison bathroom, or inside a barreling car); on the other hand, in tandem with an enclosed fistfight, he also cuts his teeth into a sterling car chase set piece with an ace in his sleeve, and what an adrenaline rush it spurs! Although it would be remiss of me to not mention a congenital hiccup rather common in action fares, those conspicuous ready-to-take-the-hit poses or caesuras, mostly from foot soldiers during their fleeting screen-time, it immediately dispels the "realness" of all the onerously rehearsed teamwork. The most pyrotechnic eye-catcher is indubitably the final showdown between Rama and the karambit-knives-wielding killer, credited as the Assassin (Rahman), which makes Very Tri Yulisman's Baseball Bat Man and Julie Estelle's Hammer Girl quite bathetic in their gore-fest, not to mention the boss who prefers heavy weaponry but is inept enough to toss it to the wrong one when the crunch comes.Both movies are cracking genre pieces made with labor of love, devotion and dexterity, and Evans' directorial flair takes a crucial peg up under the sequel's grander scale, blissfully, one can see the potential in a filmmaker which can unbridle the genre parameters.

Following The Raid,[4] the film opens with Bejo, a self-made Jakarta gang lord, executing Rama's brother Andi for siding with a figure named Bangun.After the disastrous raid on crime boss Tama's apartment building, Rama meets with Bunawar, a police officer deemed honest by Andi. After executing Wahyu and sending Rama's fellow survivor Bowo to receive medical attention, Bunawar invites Rama to join a clandestine anti-corruption task force. This undercover unit seeks to expose the backroom dealings of Reza, a corrupt police commissioner, and other police leaders who are affiliated with the Bangun and Goto crime families. Rama initially declines, but later agrees to join after learning of his brother's murder and the threat Bejo poses to his family. Bunawar fakes Rama's death to protect his family from Reza and the corrupt cops, assigning Rama to infiltrate the crime world by befriending Uco, son of Bangun and heir to his criminal empire.