The Raid: Redemption

How does a guy from Wales go to Indonesia, hook up with Indonesia's top- notch martial arts experts, and make one of Asia's greatest action movies of all time for a mere $1.1 million? I don't know, but all the reviews here are true, this is 100 minutes of non-stop action and violence with spectacular fight scenes and impressive fight choreography and direction. Sure, there's very little character development, but that's because there's simply no time for it.

This is the type of movie "Max Payne" and "Hitman" wanted to be. Hollywood should scoop director Gareth Evans up immediately and let him helm its biggest big-budgeted action pictures!

High Rating and Awards? People may be tricked for the first time because this movie comes from a very unusual country, Indonesia. It's not often we see action movie comes from this country. Furthermore, the casts also aren't well-known at all in the world but guess what, they're really giving a great show in this movie. Gareth Evans, a Welsh born writer/director/editor repeat his success creating action movie after several years ago releasing another action movie also made in Indonesia.

For me, the real superstar in this movie is Rama (Iko Uwais), who was introduced as a newbie special force in the team. Fantastic martial art movements, which is traditional martial art called Pencak Silat from Indonesia truly filled this movie with wowing watcher's experience. Fast moves, intense close combat and his knife play in combat successfully increased my adrenalin. The best part of Iko was when He's about to face several people alone in a hallway. That was obviously cool. I think Iko plays the part like Jason Statham (fighting) and Steven Seagal (with his knife) but only better. The Raid was rained with bloodbath. So it's wise to avoid bringing children to watch this movie.

The other character that stole my attention was this man called Mad Dog (Yayan Ruhian). In my opinion, it'll be difficult to find this kind of man in this world. His expression and fighting style was stunning.

When I watch movies, I always intensely wait for the twists. The Raid doesn't give so many twists but it still has enough twist that improve the story. Still this is a nicely written story. Simple idea but creatively developed.

At first, I thought it'll be a one man show where Rama played the whole part of fighting till the end. But I was wrong. The Raid gives fair proportion to fighters in this movie. Rama isn't the only one that showed a great fight against the enemy in this movie. There're the sarge, Andi, the last cop in control room. The only thing that disturbed me a little bit is the original dialog which is Indonesian. I don't know but it's kinda awkward for me to hear the conversation in Indonesian although it's my native language. As I imagine, it may sounds better in English. Never mind, it's just me.

With only 1.1 million spent on this action movie, surprisingly give me such a great experience in cinema. Great movie. Great job!

9/10

The Raid, a new non-stop cornucopia action film, comes from the most unlikely of sources – Indonesia. But don't let the country of origin fool you. The Raid is jam packed with some of the best action sequences we've seen in years and audiences are sure to walk away with an adrenaline rush punch to the gut that far exceeds their forked (over) entertainment dollar.

Starring a bunch of actors we can guarantee you have never heard of and written and directed by Gareth Evans (another name you are surely not to recognize), The Raid offers big time action sequences chalked full of gunfights, knife fights and enough hand-to-hand combat to rival any movie in recent memory.

The idea behind The Raid is remedial. A group of well armed police officers enter a 15-story apartment complex overflowing with a group of better armed drug dealers and bad guys intent on holding their ground. The police are lead by an over anxious Lieutenant who leads his squad of mostly rookies into the apartment complex where they are quickly over matched and out gunned. Their objective is to find the drug lord who resides on the 15th floor and bring him to justice. Easier said than done.

Bodies on both sides of battle fall to the ground like rounds from a Gatling gun in an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. The police – those that survived the opening shootout – are split into two groups with Jaka (Joe Taslim) fighting alongside the Lieutenant and a rookie officer, and Rama (Iko Uwais) who tries to protect an injured officer while battling the hordes of oncoming baddies.

What ensues over the course of the next 80-minutes is a rip-roarin' blast of gratuitous bloodletting. The gun battles are more intense than the bank robbery scene in Michael Mann's Heat, the apartment hallway battles make the scene in Oldboy look like a Pixar film and the cops are as overmatched as U.S. Army Rangers were against an entire Somalian town Black Hawk Down.

Director Gareth Evans clearly wants you to leave your brains at the door and celebrate in violent beatings and fight sequences that were stylishly choreographed and continue with such relentless regularity that you almost want to pause the projector to catch your breath before the next group of bare-fisted bruisers hit the screen. Our two main leads take more body blows than John McClane did in all four Die Hard films and their resilience and ability to be beaten to a pulp and yet have the ability and the strength to continue fighting is beyond this reviewer's comprehension.

If there was but one small issue we had with the film it was that everyone who lived in the apartment complex had the fighting skills of an UFC righter or karate expert. Young, small, big or tall, they hall knew how to deliver a multiple high-kicks or at least take one and get right back up for more.

There is a small twist in the film that is clearly evident a reel before the actual reveal on screen, but it hardly takes away from the fun filled excitement leading up to the plot turn.

The sum of all its parts makes The Raid a must-see for anyone appreciative of non-stop battles where machetes are luxury and where a broken fluorescent tube can send a packed theatre into jubilant applause. It may lack the sophistication of The Departed, but it catered to an audience that couldn't get enough by the half-way mark and then was left gasping for air like a prized fighter in the 12th round towards its conclusion.

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This is a relentless and very impressive action/martial arts movie. The fight scenes are probably from the best ones I have ever seen and the understated performances of the protagonists fit perfectly here. I m wondering how did I miss this 10 years ago...probably because it's Indonesian! Written and directed by a Welsh guy -who discovered the Indonesian lead Iko- together with a tight editing and insane fight scenes (mostly Indonesian and some mixed martial arts) makes this a must to watch for fans of the martial arts genre and not only. If you want to stay bolted at your seat while watching an action film -and you don't mind of course the violence- then check this out. From the top 10 contemporary martial arts flicks out there, 9/10.

My knowledge of Indonesian cinema is somewhere between zero and zero. So when I heard about the excitement caused by an Indonesian martial arts thriller called The Raid, I felt I needed to check it out.

It's no secret that Hollywood action films have been stuck in a recent rut. They have relied on the same ageing bunch of actors making increasingly inferior films with tired scripts.

The Raid owes a debt to Die Hard as the action takes place in a tower block. A SWAT team are out to capture a crime lord and two of his most trusted man, the brutal Mad Dog and Andi located on the 15th floor.

The SWAT team includes a rookie, Rama (Iko Uwais) a devout Muslim with a young wife, heavily pregnant. The team is led by Sergeant Jaka and supervised by a shifty Lieutenant.

However the team are soon trapped as the raid is discovered and the hordes of bad guys start to pick off the SWAT team members until there are only a few left. Its Rama with his fighting skills that helps the others to survive but it seems he is getting help from an unlikely source and the remaining SWAT team members without help need to break out from the block to escape.

The version I watched is subtitled, the storyline is basic and functional. What is important is the unrelenting action and breathtaking choreography which is obviously inspired by Hong Kong martial arts cinema.

The film was directed by a Welshman, Gareth Huw Evans who is certainly a talent worth following. The Raid certainly deserves your time.