The Raid: Redemption

Summary

A SWAT team enters an apartment building to hunt down a drug lord and find themselves in a bad situation. Fighting their way through brutal gang members, they have to make a choice: Should they leave the job they weren’t prepared for, or fight their way to the top and stop the drug kingpin?

Expectations Going In

Mr. Tropnevad's Thoughts

I heard about this movie late last year and people seeing it were claiming that this was the best action movie they have seen in not years, but decades. Last month it previewed at SXSW and critics I trust were raving saying you must go see this. Then, when I heard that it was going to be a limited release, I knew I had a small chance of seeing it in theaters. I found out it was going to be showing seventy five miles from my house and I informed Zentilack. I told him that I know we don’t review new release movies, but we have to go see this. Will it live up to expectations or did the hype kill the movie for me?

Zentilack's Thoughts

I had no idea that this movie existed until Mr. Tropnevad mentioned it to me, and even then I didn't know much beyond the synopsis.  I've actually been pretty busy the last couple of months, so I didn't have much time to look into it or even think about it. Thus, I went in without really forming many expectations at all--good or bad.



The Bad

Mr. Tropnevad's Thoughts

This doesn’t bother me, but I know it will some. Where the film lacks is in story. It focuses on why the hero accepts a mission and why his boss sent the SWAT team into a building that cops don’t go to. I can’t openly point out a flaw in the story without giving it away and I was able to look past all of that. I liked it so much I considered the story a minor point of the movie, and honestly, if everyone in the apartment building were to die, I could care less. I got what I came for and that was action and lots of it.

 Zentilack's Thoughts

I think what bothered me the most was the real lack of sense that the protagonist showed in a few places.  Specifically, why he kept leaving perfectly good weapons laying on the floor later in the film.  In one scene, the hero has taken out numerous assailants with nightsticks and knives in the hallway of the building he's in.  He knows that there are still numerous people around who want him dead, yet he walks past all these weapons and continues on unarmed.  As a viewer, I know why the filmmakers did this.  They wanted things to progress from guns, to melee weapons, to knuckles and kicks as things got more and more desperate.  But I wish that the hero, as a person, had some reason in his head for not arming himself.

The Good

Mr. Tropnevad's Thoughts

At the very beginning of the film we are introduced to Rama (Iko Uwais). We learn he has a pregnant wife waiting on him at home and he knows he is going into a dangerous mission and he volunteered for it. It isn’t till about half way through the movie that we are informed why he is going, but if you think about it you can figure this out in the first few minutes of the movie. Before Uwais was an actor he was a truck driver. Which goes to show you that possibly every Asian knows a form of martial arts. While he doesn’t have much dialog his acting is still good. His fighting scenes are amazing and I guarantee that your eyes will be glued to the screen when you see not just his fighting, but everyone else’s.

It has been a long time since I found myself in awe by a movie with so much violence. When the movie takes a break from fighting for what could be an entire four minutes it always jumped right back into where it left off. There are scenes that help slow the pace of the movie and give you time to breathe for a second, but the tension is still there and you begin to question if SWAT members will make it out alive. There is a scene in particular where a SWAT member who is injured and another member are hiding in a crawl space and a machete wielding psycho is stabbing the walls looking for them. Will they survive this moment? Will the tension intensify leading to more bloodshed, or will they make it out? There are dozens of slow down scenes similar to this and within a few minutes of the raid, you feel bad for everyone on the SWAT team.

Just to inform you of how dangerous this apartment building is, the drug kingpin tells all the tenants on a loud speaker that if you kill a cop you have free rent for life. The moment the SWAT team hears this they have a look of "were fucked and we might not get out." From this point on, everyone in this building is out for blood. The kingpin has two bodyguards he uses to do his dirty work. One of them is named Mad Dog and the first fight scene he is in you know this guy is truly a man not to be messed with. If I had to fight him I would have welcomed death by jumping out a window. He is truly a dog playing with its prey before killing it. The other bodyguard Andi isn’t very intimidating in appearance, because he is actually the brains of the entire group.

Director Gareth Evans did an amazing job of directing this and he and the editor deserve several awards on how great this film was made. The next American director who decides to film a fight scene should contact them for help. In other words Paul Greengrass (director of Bourne Supremacy and Ultimatum) has a lot of learning to do. I only recall one, maybe two, shaky cam fight scenes, but this was only due to Evans moving the camera to follow the fighting movements. The fighting scenes are clearly done all in one take and the editing in between fight scenes and slow down scenes is a smooth motion.

I should point out that every martial arts movie is choreographed and Evans knows how to film these scenes. He scans back and opens wide on the camera. It’s filmed in one shot and we see every hit, kick, throw, impalement, and bullet lodge into a body. Evans isn’t playing games when it’s time to die. Before I forget there are scenes where men are going through a hole in the floor and while you would expect some editing, there isn’t. The camera follows right through the hole. No, not like a found footage movie, but like you are the camera. In other words it’s a first person perspective.

The story is stripped down to a bare minimum and I know I mentioned this in the bad, but I think you need a better understanding of this movie. Since this is an action movie it doesn’t put dozens of subplots into it like romance, who is who, I need to get this person back, investigate this and that. The story unfolds itself by informing the viewer of why they are at a building they shouldn’t be in, why the hero is there, and how will they escape something when there is NO way out. With very little story and dialog the film makers were able to explain everything in ninety minutes and keep the audience entertained and satisfied. Every question you have will be answered by the end of the film.

I loved that the film does not hold back on the violence and shows you everything that is going on. You’ve never seen a knife hurt so badly before or a fluorescent light. When all of the weapons are gone they go straight to martial arts and don’t stop. You will probably be thinking "damn man, I need to take a breather before I watch you beat the next guy to death." There are a few scenes where they walk past weapons and don’t bother to pick them up, because this movie is about martial arts and not guns and knives. Would you choose a gun over a fist any day of the week, yes. The real question is, if you’re a bad ass like Mad Dog, why not show your enemy you have skill and stamina far beyond them? If you have the skill, use it and that’s exactly what this movie does. It has skill and stamina to go on and on.

Zentilack's Thoughts

I liked the way the story panned out.  It was not overly complicated, there were no elements that served no purpose, and there was no massive info-dump that brought the film to a grinding halt.  Character development and story progression was doled out as it was needed, in small parts, during the few breaks in the action.  

The action was amazing.  Gun battles were exciting and believable (except for the fact that the denizens of the building stopped using their firearms for no apparent reason after the police ran out of ammunition).  The use of knives and other melee weapons was brutal, and the hand to hand martial arts fights were top notch.  Certainly some of the best combat I've seen in a film in a long time.

Speaking of seeing combat in a film, the cinematography was great.  As a viewer, I could actually see what was happening.  There were very few quick cuts in the fights, allowing me to easily keep track of who was doing what in the frantic combat scenes.  Shaky-cam was generally not used, which I applaud.  There were multiple occasions where the fights were fairly long, single take sequences.  The level of effort put into this must have been extraordinary.  There was also a battle scene in a drug lab where I noticed some guy in the background frantically stuffing money or drugs (couldn't tell which) into a bag.  It was a nice touch amidst an already impressive fight.

The building where all the action takes place looked sufficiently worn and dilapidated, giving the impression that it was somewhere that really was overrun by the criminal element.  It gave good locations for creative battles and set a dark, dangerous mood.  The filmmakers picked a good place to set their movie, and they made great use of it.

Overall Thoughts

Mr. Tropnevad's Thoughts

I’m confident enough to say that The Raid is not just the best action movie of the year. I would say best of the decade, but I know I would be over doing it, so I will say best of this type of action genre of this decade. Definitely best action movie of the year and I have a feeling Sly and Arnold and all the other American action stars are going to be thinking "crap the Expendables movies look like a bromance movie compared to this one." Be glad this isn’t in 3D, because if it was I have a feeling an Indonesian would be there to punch you in the face and slam your head into a wall.

Full Price and BUY.

Zentilack's Thoughts

The Raid is a top-tier, violent action movie, among the best of the best.  It gives just enough story to let you understand what is going on, and just enough character development to let you know why you should care.  There were several times that the whole theater, including me, audibly responded to an extraordinarily painful looking moment on screen.  If you are looking for a good action film to watch, you will not go wrong in giving The Raid: Redemption a watch.