The Raid 2

This weekend I was having a hard time deciding which movie to go see.

After Captain America: The Winter Soldier being nothing short of awesome last weekend I knew that this weekend wouldn't be able to live up to it and I'd most likely be handing out a 7/10 at best to either Rio 2, Oculus, or Draft Day, none of which were begging for me to see them. I nearly went to Draft Day...I had the time and theater planned out and my mind was reluctantly set to go watch a film about the freaking Cleveland Browns.

But then I remembered, I'm not sure why, that there was a sequel to The Raid: Redemption out. It took a while to get to Denver, but sure enough when I checked times, there it was, listed at multiple theaters. I cancelled my Draft Day plans and instead decided to see The Raid 2.

The original was an awesome martial arts film that was short, simple, and violent. I enjoyed it quite a bit but I also was a bit underwhelmed after all the hype it had received. I was also pretty tired when I watched it on my laptop many months ago, so there's that. To make a long story short, I enjoyed The Raid: Redemption but didn't really remember my time with it other than the fact that there were some well done fight scenes. Going into The Raid 2 I had somewhat high expectations, certainly higher than any of this weekend's other offerings.

"This will be a fun trip to the theater on a snowy Denver afternoon." I said.
"I'm sure it will be a good movie, but not really my cup of tea." I said.
"I'll enjoy it but probably not remember it." I said.

No.

No. No. No.

The Raid 2 Blew. Me. Away.

That's a deaf and partially blind hammer wielding chick right there.
She's basically a beast

You know a guy is a d**k when he never takes
off his sunglasses

I should really preface this review by explaining my relation to martial arts movies which is to say, that I have none. I've seen maybe half a dozen in my lifetime, the highlight being Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Much like the horror genre, they aren't exactly my jam as I find that the martial arts moves are fairly repetitive and they usually don't have worthwhile stories (I feel like they are ALL about revenge). As I mentioned earlier, I enjoyed the original Raid, but I think it's simplistic nature turned me off a tad and the fights, while somewhat creative, did get repetitive. So....yeah. I don't exactly have the best pedigree to be reviewing these sorts of films. However, I do see A LOT of movies and I know what I like and don't like and I'd like to think I know a thing or two about what goes into a great film. So with all that being laid out on the table I have to say that, while I may not be a huge martial arts movie buff, I find it hard to believe that there could be much better out there than The Raid 2.

"That's not the piñata, man!"

For me one of the highlights of The Raid 2 was the story. It's a martial arts epic tale of a cop infiltrating a dangerous criminal group where the plot is nearly as intricate as the fights it features. I had a bit of a hard time following along with having to read subtitles, but eventually everything made good sense. The Raid 2 clocks in at a staggering 150 minutes, which is a hell of a long movie and certainly starts to wear on the viewer at times. But by the end of it all it felt like one of those films that earns its runtime rather than just being that long for no reason at all. Rather than splitting the movie up into two parts the film pretty much wraps everything up that you would expect with a nice, bloody bow. I won't dare to try and match names to faces as I'm sure I would fail, but everyone does a damn good job of acting...something that I think is mighty rare in martial arts films. Our main character, Rama (played by Iko Uwais) is about as deadly as they come and he makes last week's Winter Soldier look like a haggard old man. The film's tone is also perfect...it emanates a sense of epic scale, darkness, and uniqueness. For this reason, The Raid 2 reminded me somewhat of Drive and The Dark Knight with the ultra violence, amazing cinematography, and great original score of the former and the dark, brooding seriousness of the latter.

"Who let her onto the subway with hammers?!?"

As impressive as the story is though, it takes a far back seat to how jaw-dropping, mind-blowing, and flat out gasp-inducing the fight scenes are. They are perfectly choreographed, captured even better from a cinematography standpoint and are absolutely RELENTLESS. Fist after fist gets thrown so fast that it will have you question whether they used CGI and the blood flows frequently, quickly, and everywhere. Some of the smaller fight scenes are a lot less impressive but then we are given some true cinematic gems that will go down in history as some of the best action scenes ever caught on film. A fight in a subway with hammers, a car chase/fist fight, a hallway battle of hammer vs. baseball bat vs. fists, a bloody-as-all-hell kitchen battle that will leave you breathless, etc. My personal favorite was a prison yard brawl in the mud that is just incredible. It's incredible they could do what they did in nearly six inches of thick mud but then to have some of the moves and camera angles they do really just made my head spin. Whether you are a fan of martial arts or not, some of the scenes in this movie will be burned into your brain for a long time.

One of the best fight scenes I have ever seen in my life.
No funny quips here because this had to have been insanely
hard to create

And with that I must place a disclaimer on the film itself. It is remarkably violent. Easily one of, if not the single most violent film I have ever seen in a theater. It's not for the light hearted or those who are squeamish. Bones break, bullets shred bodies, and stabs come at a mile a minute throughout. Even for me it was a bit much at times, but that's the nature of these movies. I just don't want anyone reading this glowing review and rushing out to see it not knowing full well what they got themselves into.

Oh this shot? That's before blood gets spilled...

With all this praise you might be wondering if The Raid 2 does anything wrong and my answer would be very little. Along with the violence you should know going in that it is a long movie, but as I stated earlier, it earns its runtime. The plot has a lot of yarn spooled out and the movie wants to wrap up a majority of those strands. It can certainly be hard to keep track of names and faces, but I think that's an attribute of most subtitled films. I think there were some scenes that were not entirely necessary and/or could have been trimmed, but most scenes serve a greater purpose and the ending really rewards the viewer for sticking with it.

The Raid 2 is not for everybody both because of its length but also because of its relentless violence. But that doesn't make it any less impressive that it comes scarily close to being absolutely perfect with regards to the genre its in. And maybe that's why it reminds me of The Dark Knight so much. Just like that film transcended the boundaries of what it meant to be a comic book movie, so too does The Raid 2 with what it means to be a martial arts film.

To put it bluntly: it's not a film that I will ever forget seeing for the first time.

CONS:

• I would listen to the argument that it's too long. But I would have rather had it this way than be split up into two films
• As is the nature of subtitled foreign films, I had a hard time with names to faces and I fell behind with the plot a couple of times
• The violence is relentless. I only put this as a con because there are a couple fights that just wear the audience out
• A couple fight scenes in the film are not up to par with the others

PROS:

• Some absolutely brilliant cinematography
• An equally as brilliant original score that reminded me a lot of Drive
• It's tone is well suited for what it tries to achieve. It wants to be epic and it certainly earns that
• A thrilling, complex plot with a lot of players that is well written, thought out, and directed by Gareth Evans
• The cast does a bang up job both in the fighting (pun intended) and their acting. Iko Uwais is a BOSS
• The finale is exceptionally violent and bloody but the last line uttered in the film gives it all a purpose. It wasn't all for show and there was a reason for the bloodshed
• Some of the most expertly choreographed fights that you will ever see and they are pulled off flawlessly in every regard. Some classic martial arts scenes are in this film and the mud yard prison riot is truly something to behold
• You can tell that there is an insane amount of love and care put into this film by everyone involved. They didn't just make a cash-grab sequel. They upgraded from a quick but light martial arts centerpiece to a towering epic that dwarfs its predecessor

Rath's Review Score:

10/10 -- Instant Classic