12/28/2023 0 Comments Watch the raid redemption![]() There are no lazy, nauseating messy cuts trying to hide any actual action, it is all out martial arts action, culminating in an awesome final boss battle.Įven after years passing and watching a host of other excellent martial arts and action films, The Raid, even upon rewatch still feels fresh and an awesome time. While some films may have issue with the quality and quantity of their action, the Raid’s is exhaustingly good, and it was very refreshing to rewatch and appreciate its perfection all over again. This film’s action is gory, visceral, fast paced, and everything you’d want out of an action movie. Rama could’ve been dull with somebody else, and it wouldn’t be as good as it is without Uwais. He owns the role of Rama, and pretty much catapulted himself to one of my favorites. This was my introduction to Iko Uwais, and this is the film that motivated me to watch a movie if I saw his name prominently on it. This really sets it apart as most action films nowadays will either have awesome action and a weak story, or a weak story and even weaker action. While the film has incredible action, it also has an interesting story to tell. He is joined by other members, including the unsympathetic Jaka (Joe Taslim) the near opposite of Rama’s likable protagonist, and a host of other men, some functioning as cannon fodder, others posing as adversary’s against Tama’s legion of goons. Directed by Gareth Evans (who would later direct The Raid’s sequel and Apostle), the man protagonist is Rama, one of those men tasked with taking down the drug lord Tama (Ray Sahetapy), portrayed by Iko Uwais who is quickly established as a good man and badass fighter, but also a good hearted rookie. It sounds like something out of a video game and that simplicity is perfect for the film. ‘The Raid’ takes place in Jakarta, Indonesia, and is about an elite SWAT like team who must, raid a squalid high-rise, and take down the drug/land lord within, at the very top. The Raid’s influence can especially be seen in the late Daredevil’s hallway fights: tracking shots of perfectly executed and choreographed carnage, but I digress. The kind of action that Id be willing to waste time to watch a straight to DVD/Netflix film to watch, and still get enjoyment out of. While there is nothing wrong with them, The Raid is the one that got me into higher level, expertly choreographed action. I grew up watching Arnold Schwarzenegger, and other 80s action films, and those remain some of my favorite movies of all time. The sheer volume and incredible quality of the action is proof of that, and many great action films can be traced back to The Raid and how it has pushed boundaries. ‘The Raid’ subtitled ‘Redemption’ for American release is a modern action masterpiece. The standout is the suitably named Mad Dog (Yayan Ruhian, one of the movie’s fight choreographers), a commanding physical presence whose hair hangs in front of his face like a shredded curtain.The film that sets the standard for modern action cinema On and on the evil floods in, springing out of apartments and doorways with firing guns, flashing blades, hammering hands and eruptions of thrusting, jabbing right-angled elbows. And turmoil there is, from the moment the team breaches the building, where it’s set upon by hordes of criminals heeding the call of a murderous mastermind, Tama (Ray Sahetapy). The story nominally centers on one of the tactical team rookies, Rama (the fast, fluid Iko Uwais), who, despite his face-and-fist screen time proves as largely incidental to the choreographed mayhem as the rest of the characters. Evans visually exploits it in combination with the unimaginative rest - the mousetrap setup and tight fight spaces, the bad blood and cruel deaths - soon makes the movie grindingly monotonous, a blur of thudding body blows. ![]() Yet while pencak silat may be unfamiliar to some Western viewers, the way that Mr. Evans doesn’t approach the imaginative and technical levels of those better-known directors, but he seems to have an ace up his sleeve with pencak silat, the explosive Indonesian martial art that’s the main draw here. There’s no question that the Welsh director Gareth Huw Evans has his genre fundamentals down and, to judge from some scenes and setups in “The Raid,” he’s watched his share of movies by masters like Johnnie To and cult figures like Park Chan-wook.
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