Review LXXXV
The Raid 2 (2014)
"Hey, do you know The Raid 2?" my boyfriend asked.
I replied, "What, you don't ask me about The Raid, but you ask me about The Raid 2? I don't even know the first one, how would I know the second one? ... Is it American?"
"No, it's Indonesian."
"Are you kidding me..."
And so began my introduction in the apparently well-known Indonesian film The Raid 2: Berandal, directed by Gareth Evans and starring Iko Uwais as a continuing protagonist in the series. The first film, according to my boyfriend, is not all that special and was just bad, but the sequel, aha, the action is well choreographed. The plot is still bad, but the action was optimal. I was all ready to sit down and watch a depressing war film, something like Come and See, for example. But no, I had to go and watch The Raid 2. Sigh.
The film begins with a man named Bejo killing our protagonist's brother. This causes Rama (Uwais) - the protagonist - to join an undercover cop force that seeks undercover, corrupted officials in order to catch Bejo. Rama ends up joining an Indonesian gang, the Bangun gang, after protecting the leader's son in prison. With this new connection, Rama may be able to avenge his brother's life and protect his family.
The Raid 2 has an amazing score on IMDb, and honestly, the martial arts sequences are great. My boyfriend explained it best: you never get lost while watching the action scenes. In many action films, the sequences are not handled well and, consequently, you don't really know what the hell is going on. Here, every action scene is handled superbly. You catch every move, every punch, every hit. You follow everything, and trust me when I say you want to. The action scenes are great. They're grand fun, that's for sure. You can really see the effort Gareth Evans and the development team went through to make sure the scenes looked genuine and accurate. All I can is silat, Indonesian martial arts, is pretty brilliant.
Now, the movie is great fun, and part of the reason is because the characters are a mixture of Korean and Bollywood; basically, they're just over-the-top and freakin' ridiculous. Bejo is just so stock evil, it's hilarious. My boyfriend and I had great fun making fun of him throughout the film. Then Rama disappears for so long that even people in the film are asking what happened to him. I'm glad I watched the movie with someone because it made it all the more fun to make fun of everything. Not to mention you might start raging when you know that everything would go a lot smoother if only people actually used their weapons, especially their guns. While the director made sure the fighting scenes were creative and fun, he paid the script writers minimum wage. But really, what did I expect from this movie?
I'd recommend The Raid 2 if you're looking for a ridiculously crazy, yet very entertaining martial arts movie. Watch it with friends. Have a great laugh. Now let me go watch something depressing, please.
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