Movie Review: The Raid 2



The Raid 2 is the follow-up to the brutal and amazing 2011 film, The Raid.  Gareth Evans, who wrote and directed both films, proves that The Raid was not just a fluke.  He takes all the amazing action of the first movie and ups the ante.  This new film makes you feel every punch, kick, and hammer gouge.

The Raid 2 story begins just hours after the events of the first film.  Rama (Iko Uwais) is taken aside and given a new assignment of infiltrating even deeper into criminal underworld of Indonesia.  He goes undercover into a prison to get close to a mob lords son, Uco (Arifin Putra, Macabre).  It was supposed to be a short stint, but after two years, the two of them get out and go to work for Uco's father.  From there, Rama tries to find out who in the police force has been corrupted by the mob, while Uco starts up an all out war between the different clans because he doesn't like the way his father runs things and would like to take over.  Then all hell breaks loose.

The story seemed pretty basic, but it served it's purpose.  It was a little slow with the setup in the first 15-20 minutes though.  If you're going to a movie like this it's most definitely not for the story, but we'll get back to that.  The acting worked for me as well.  I mean, let's face it, between all the action sequences, there's not much time to act anyway.  But seriously, I think Iko does a fine job, and is so quick and amazing in the action scenes, that I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Hollywood gets their grubby little hands on him and underutilizes his talents.  Until then, however, Gareth Evans is already working on The Raid 3.  Color me excited.

Not much else to say about all that.  Now on to the meat and potatoes of the film.....the action.  This is where the both the actors and the director shine.  Iko moves lightning quick when he fights and Gareth comes up with spectacular choreography.  It also looks great because the actors are actually hitting each other on screen.  They somehow manage to pull their punches so there are no serious real life injuries, but still make it look like it hurts.

I will have to admit, I was a bit leery for the first half of the film.  There were a few fight scenes where the action was still as great as the rest of the film, but the camera was moving around so fast you couldn't tell who was who.  You still get to see some crushing blows, but the camera zips by way too quick.  Have faith though, gentle viewer, because the second half of the film pays off in spades.  That is when it goes cartoon crazy (and the camera slows down).  In the second half you almost forget there is a plot, because it is just fight after fight, non-stop.  And, as if, Gareth Evans hasn't proven himself enough with the fight choreography, he orchestrates a car chase that makes the chase in Captain America 2 look like the bumper cars at a fair.

The one thing that never made sense was, if these are mobs, where are the guns.  But that thought goes right out the window when you realize that would mean you wouldn't get to see Rama single-handedly take out the entire mob by beating the ever loving crap out of them.  You also wouldn't get the insanely strange three henchmen of on of the mob bosses.  There's a girl wielding dual hammers, a man with an aluminum bat, and finally one last man with dual curved knives.  Imagine what you could do with those weapons, and I'm sure it won't come close to the carnage they came up with for this film.  And unlike with the quick camera work in the beginning, you see every bloody hammer gouge and baseball splat.

I'm sure I've said enough for you to make a decision whether you want to see this or not.  This movie is not for the squeamish.  You will cringe at more than a few of the hits.  But if you enjoy a bloody good time (emphasis on bloody) with amazing martial arts choreography, then you've come to the right place.  Like I said before, the acting and story are fine and the action in the first half is pretty good.  The second half, however, forgives any flaws that the beginning had and bumps this up a notch or two to a must-see.

Rating: ********-- (8 out of 10)

Memorable quote:

Baseball Bat Man: Bring back the ball.