Tropa de élite 2

I know I'm not supposed to link to other dynamic content here on IMDb, but I think it's worth pointing fellow users to order reviews by Prolific Authors, then read Cláudio de Carvalho's review to this movie. It is the only one of all reviews here, and I've read them, which has accurate information in a well-written form. There's little to add to what Cláudio already said, but if you're still not convinced, there are some extra stuff going on in and around this movie to incite your curiosity.

First, the context, time and social appraisal this movie has received on the box-office weekend is even more complicated than we once thought. I'd just like to say I'm not a sucker for ratings or box-office earnings, but the fact that it toppled any other movie in Brazilian theaters, national or not, is obviously noteworthy.

One month or so after the movie premiered, the actual BOPE was critical, alongside Brazil's Army and Rio State civil and military police, not to mention the huge political circus involved therein - on what's been infamously called The Invasion of the Complexo do Alemão, a huge gathering of equally enormous favela "clusters".

It was the start of a new era on the fight against corruption, organized crime and political inaction. Or so we're led to believe. It turns out not only the anti-hero Captain Nascimento is next to irrelevant on the fight against the Powers that Be, but so is pretty much everyone else.

Some people - myself included - have speculated that politicians used the upside-down popularity of the movie to go ahead with the invasion in the Alemão. I don't know where Padilha stands on this, but I think I have a quite good idea on where he stands, as far as idolizing the police, BOPE, Nascimento or violent acts of any sort go. But who would have thought? We're THIS stupid. Fortunately, the Invasion was bloodless. Yes, fortunately and extremely weird.

Anythewho... Add to that another unexpected impact of the movie on police crackdown on illegal DVD sales. While the first one notoriously skyrocketed pirate DVD purchases, which contributed to its fast insertion on public culture - the second one was remarkably unseen, or with good quality, in the streets with the camelôs.

Overall, I'd classify this movie as a masterpiece on its own. I took 2 points out of it for being a sequel, but I'm torn and seriously considering changing to 10/10. "City of God" didn't have a sequel, and it's good just like that. In the other hand, if we didn't have this sequel, we wouldn't have such a powerful and strong movie, one that speaks deep - or should - to our innermost misconceptions about poverty and the mind-numbing War on Drugs.

Unfortunately, the Steven Seagal-esque Brazil took a stand and it wasn't the one I like the most. People in power or not have and will keep misconstruing Padiha's work because we're just like that, we love to choose the moron way.

While the first movie tells the story of 3 cops, and evolves around them, this sequel takes a view from above. There is no character development like in the first installment, however the story is more complicated and it takes more effort to explain it.

The First movie, concentrates on a BOPE squad, and the drug dealers it fights. Elite Squad 2 shows a bigger picture. It shows the politicians and Defense system mechanism that operates the squad, and the purposes it is used for. Instead of police corruption we see here murderers in uniform.

There are some flaws in the plot, and it slightly falls in comparison with the first one, however, overall it's very impressive.

I would recommend seeing The first installment before.

This is a completely different movie from Tropa de Elite 1. That movie was about a few guys and their personal stories as they deal with crooked cops. They were a hindrance to good police work but not really a menace, more an annoyance. This movie is all about real deep- seated corruption in Brazil. The bad guys here are actually evil and ruthless, and as a result the stakes are higher for the protagonists.

The good: just as memorable action scenes, although there were less of them. The story had several twists and turns and it was fascinating overall

The bad: Character development seemed to have taken a back seat here to the grand narrative. The distinct personalities of the first movie are kind of reduced. Andre Matias is the biggest example of this, and I was disappointed with what they did with him. Cpt. Nascimento's wasn't nearly as bad-ass or imposing as in TdE1.

I recommend this to anyone who likes a good crime movie with a message. I'm not Brazilian but this movie still made me think.

9/10

I'll say one thing right off the bat, this movie is incredible. I saw it in a packed theater at the Sundance film festival and I've never heard louder applause from an audience. I would recommend watching the first film, just because its also very good and introduces all the characters. However, this film stands on its own. The director sought to make this stand out from the first film and he succeeded. This has fantastic action, great dialogue, and some hilarious dark humor. But most of all, its intelligent, its extremely well made, it's not plagued with any awkward or out of place moments. For some viewers, this film might actually be a learning experience. If you want to see an action film that isn't 90% action and 10% plot. If you want something that's hardcore, fearless, and has a message, this is it. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Padilha has definitely excelled himself... instead of going into the usual and expected cliché of making a sequel with the exact same formula as the first movie, he goes out of the box and makes a wonderful, completely new, movie. If you are one of those movie fans who would like to see a reproduction of the first movie, who is eager to hear famous lines such as "você é um moleque" or "pede pra sair" once again coming out of Capitão Nascimento's mouth, who wants to see more and more torture, more and more violence. Forget about all of that... this movie has nothing of the sort. Of course there is a lot of shootings, and some torture scenes, but they are nothing compared to the ones in the first movie, they are quick and do not show as much! But do not let this keep you from watching this movie. In fact, what makes this sequel so special is that it doesn't even feel like a sequel, it feels more like a SAGA, Capitão Nascimento's SAGA, his quest for justice and against crime. Its a deeper voyage into Nascimento's feelings and also into the inner workings of the CRIME machine. Its a more mature and better developed movie which will make you think. It will make you angry, and it will make you mad... but in the end it will make you want to cry out loud: GO CAPITÃO NASCIMENTOOOOOOO!!! And cheer for him!