Review: The Raid 2

Much like its predecessor, The Raid 2 is a perpetual stunt demo of incredible choreography that puts all other action movies to shame. And like its predecessor, if you are looking for plot you aren't going to find much here.

Being the soul survivor of the drug raid on a tyrant's tower block, police officer Rama is recruited by a small internal affairs police unit hoping to hunt down crooked cops. But upon going undercover for one of the local mobs he finds himself caught in the middle of a massive turf war.

2012's The Raid was a simple but effective affair, boasting some of the best fight choreography to date but being light on any real character outside of this. The sequel boasts a plethora of characters (who are mostly given significance by whichever weapon they happen to use: baseball bat, hammers, blades) which makes the proceedings more memorable but more importantly it has a Godfather-esque power struggle between mob syndicates. This is a very different movie in tone and theme.

The action is primarily hand-to-hand combat with a host of unique fight sequences to fill a runtime one hour longer than the original! No, it certainly doesn't get tedious! If you enjoyed The Raid you will enjoy the hell out of this too, and if you haven't seen The Raid I insist that you do and discover whether you should see its sequel too.

But for what it does with plotlines becomes quite simple and predictable, and some of the more traditional fight sequences are also cliched. For example, one of the film's main battles is a highway car chase (don't misunderstand, it beats The Matrix Reloaded car chase into the dirt) but I felt there were a lot of action cliches being thrown liberally around, like how villains with guns cannot shoot or hit the hero when it matters most. For a films with such incredible choreography, errors like that stood out all the more.

The film amazed and captivated me with the sheer lunacy and intensity of the fighting, but little more than that. All action films should take note of how these movies are shot. A sequence of testosterone and adrenaline fuelled battles one after another.

Review: The Raid

A nonstop melee of gun battles, punching and kicking with some of the best physical choreography I've ever seen.

The story, as straight forward as it is, follows a squad of police officers sent into a high-rise building controlled by an underworld tyrant to take him down. Unfortunately the tyrant's calculated living has the building filled with criminals and outlaws dependent on his survival. What follows is fifteen floors of ultra-violent, urban combat.

Take your favourite action movie and times it by ten. Unlike many Hollywood action movies that rely on teaching A-list celebrity stars how to fight (and use choreography that isn't explicitly dangerous, Indonesia's The Raid never pulls its punches; you will wonder how many bones must have been broken during filming!

While the film starts out with pitch gun battles, the situation becomes desperate for the small team of police. Without backup, they resort to hand-to-hand combat, using knives, machetes, chairs, even broken halogen lights.

The film is very bleak, visually grey and blue with colours regularly muted, intensifying the building's condemned appearance. Everything is stark and broken, but very real.

One element that is lacking is characterisation; you are given the bare bones of substance, just enough to be carried along, and very occasionally scenes lack detail. But this film's purpose is not to tell a unique narrative, it is to show real fight choreography; there's no quippy one-liners, no flashy explosions or Statham lookalikes, no phoned-in romantic sub-plot.

If you like physical, kinetic action films then The Raid is a must see; the action is free-flowing and unbroken, making all other action films feel stiff and staged. It might not say much, but sure does pack a punch.

Additional Marshmallows: Oh look... there's a godforsaken American remake in the works already. Doomed before it even arrives? Silly question...