Writer(s): Evans
Starring: Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian, Arifin Putra, and Tio Pakusadewo
I remember all the hype that
surrounded The Raid: Redemption when it first came out. It was impossible not to notice; I broke a
longstanding boycott from going to the theater just to experience it on the big
screen, paying God-knows-how-much per ticket, and then was immediately reminded
why I do not see movies in the theater.
A movie that’s wall-to-wall action sounded like my wet dream, but I
discovered that you can only watch people beat the crap out of each other for
so long before it gets pretty tiresome.
Still, I admired what the filmmakers were able to accomplish on such a
small budget.
If The Raid 2 was in the same
vein as the first, I probably would have just let it disappear off my
radar. Yet early reports said the fights
were more varied, and there was a little bit more story to break everything up. And so I let myself get suckered in, making
the decision to wait until it arrived on video so that I could save a few bucks
in case it was as disappointing as the first.
I wish I could build a time machine, because this is the one I should
have seen in the theater.
This is hands down, without
even the slightest shadow-of-a-doubt, one of the greatest action movies ever
made, firmly entrenching itself in my #2 spot, just behind John Woo’s The
Killer, and ahead of the original Die Hard.
What makes it even more impressive is that it was accomplished on a budget
of just $4.5 million. To put that into
perspective, the average Hollywood movie had a
budget of $106 million—back in 2007. We
can only imagine that has doubled in the years since then, during a time when
studios like to blame piracy on dwindling sales and interest, without looking
at the unsustainability of rising costs and uninspired ideas (but “scaling
back” has never been a phrase uttered in an industry known for glamour and
excess).
It’s obvious that not a
single penny went toward stroking the ego of a narcissistic cast member, and
instead actually went toward production costs (what a novel idea!), because
everything in here is on par with the big boys:
The photography is imaginative, with several shots that will make your
jaw drop from sheer ingenuity; there are no words yet created in the English
language that can accurately summarize just how incredible the fight sequences
are; and the soundtrack does what any soundtrack should do, by highlighting the
action without ever overpowering the images on screen.
I mentioned there was more of
a story here, but for fans of the first one, don’t let that discourage
you—while it goes a little more in depth, the plot is used mainly as a way to
break up the action scenes, a decision that was sorely missing from the first
one. The events of The Raid 2 begin a mere fifteen minutes after the events of the
first film, yet span over two years after that time. Rama, the “good guy” of the original, is
offered immunity for his family, in exchange for going undercover to provide
evidence of corruption within the local police organization.
In order to gain access to this
information, Rama attacks the son of a politician who was in opposition of the
Bangun family. The Bangun family is one
of the two major mob families within the city (the other one being the Goto
clan), and this method is chosen because it will put Rama in prison for a few
months, where Bangun’s son Uco is serving time.
While in prison, Rama (who uses the name “Yuda” in the big house) saves
Uco’s life, and as thanks, Bangun hires him when he gets out of the slammer, a
whopping two years later.
Then we have a fairly typical
“yakuza” story: Uco thinks he’s ready to become the boss, his father disagrees,
so Uco makes plans with rival gangs to start an all-out war. His idea is that he can prove his worth to
his father—but of course things don’t work out that easily. So as Rama scrambles to gather evidence, he
is torn between his undercover allegiance to Uco, as well as his actual
allegiance to the man that gave him the undercover job.
At the end of the day,
though, let’s be real here: The whole
plot is merely an excuse to throw as much action on screen as possible. And it works.
Just when you think writer/director Gareth Huw Evans has run out of ideas,
or used up all his budget, he throws another stunt, or fight move at you that
will completely blow your mind. When it
comes to action films, Evans just might be the next John Woo—we can just hope Hollywood
The only complaint I can
find, besides the lulls in action which might bore some that loved the first
one, and the unnecessary addition of computer-generated blood, is more a
warning: This movie is incredibly violent.
And I’m not talking in the typical “gunshots and punches” way all action
movies are. I’m talking about NC-17
level violence: there’s one scene in particular involving a point-blank shotgun
blast to the head that alone could push it beyond R-rated territory. How this movie was saddled with an R is not
only beyond me, but it proves what we already knew: that the MPAA is one of the
most worthless, inconsistent organizations ever assembled. I’m not mentioning this as a knock—I can
stomach a large quantity of simulated blood and gore, and so I was actually
squealing in sadistic glee over all of it—but for those action fans with weak
stomachs (an oxymoron?), let this be a fair warning to you.
In the end, though, The Raid
2 not only vastly improves upon the original, but marks a huge step forward in
the evolution of Gareth Evans, who proves that he can also toss in a little
story with his action. At this rate,
along with his announcement that the third will not be released before 2018, it
will be truly exciting to see how he decides to push the envelope with The Raid
3.
RECAP: One of the greatest
action movies of all time, The Raid 2 picks up fifteen minutes after the events
of the first one end. Instead of
modeling this after the first one, and featuring one agonizingly long and
repetitive fight scene, writer/director Gareth Huw Evans actually allows some
story to shine through—while basic, it provides the perfect break-up from the
stunning action sequences. A word of
warning: This movie is incredibly bloody and violent, so the squeamish need not
apply. But for iron-stomached fans of
action films, this is hands down one of the best ever made.
RATING: 10/10
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