Indonesian martial arts sequel is the best action film in years
“The Raid 2” — 4.5/5 Stars
“The Raid 2,” a two-and-a-half hour Indonesian martial arts/crime drama, is a sequel to the 2011 film “The Raid: Redemption,” which has a much simpler plot.
Part one is entirely set within a dilapidated, grimy, high-rise apartment building where many criminals of various degrees of power are harbored. A SWAT team infiltrates the building and makes its way up the levels much like a video game.
Rama (Iko Uwais), the protagonist of both films, kicks, hits, punches, slashes and stabs his way through dozens of manic criminals who are given orders to fight by the head honcho at the top of the building and the crime syndicate. The film is a virtuoso display of martial arts fighting and graphic violence confined in a single location.
The sequel expands the scope of the original film and picks up just minutes after its predecessor ends. Rama goes undercover as a criminal, starting in jail to befriend Uco (Arifin Putra), the son of the major crime lord Bangun (Tio Pakusodewo).
While he is incarcerated, a brutal brawl takes place in the prison yard in the rain with goopy mud on the ground. It is the first of many massive action scenes within the film.
A few years later, Rama and Uco are released, and Rama becomes
Uco’s right-hand man. Rama has to watch his every move in order to not be caught. His goal is to gather enough information about Bangun and his men that they can be brought down, but Rama’s vanity and determination to have a larger role in his father’s operations cause tension and distrust within the organization.
There is much backstabbing, both metaphorically and literally, along with an assortment of other violent acts, and the division threatens to make everything come crashing down.
This is one of the most amazing, awesome, breathtaking and violent films in years.
Welsh director Gareth Evans wrote, directed and edited this film with extraordinary skill. He allows the camera to stay on the action for many more seconds than in the average action film, especially American ones. The camera is turned around within the space of the action and stays on the characters to capture the fighting without relying on editing every split second to give the illusion of motion or impact. The action is staged so that even during the most complex scenes, the viewer can always tell what is happening and can clearly follow the movement of the characters in relationship to their surroundings.
The most astonishing aspect of the film is the physical performance of the actors.
The action is so brutal and bloody, and, unlike many action films, the characters look like they are in pain, and they do not simply walk away from every fight with their hair perfectly in place and a mere scratch on their foreheads. They truly look pummeled and bruised. The viewer viscerally feels what they are experiencing.
At the same time, there is a beauty and gracefulness amid the fighting and carnage. The martial arts choreography is like a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance, but with head smashing, bone breaking and throat slitting. While the viewer cringes and winces at the brutality, the sheer exuberance and athleticism of the actors’ performances turn the film into a ballet of spraying bullets, blood and bits of brain matter.
It is rather astounding that the film is not rated NC-17 because it is insanely violent. For example, one of the supporting characters, Hammer Girl (Julie Estelle), attacks a group of men in suits on a subway with a hammer in each of her hands, using the claws to rip the flesh of the men and the hammer to bash their extremities and skulls.
People know whether they can handle a film where blood splatters on the camera lens or someone gets killed by being beaten in the head with an aluminum baseball bat, and for those that can handle it, it will be a joy. For those who cannot, it will be a stomach-churning exercise in excessive and mindless violence.
It is the most thrilling and exciting and just plain fun film since “Gravity” and — along with the first “Raid” — one of the best action films of the last few years.