If all action film fans need from their movies is a serviceable enough story and a healthy (read: unhealthy) amount of action scenes, then The Raid 2 will meet all of those requirements and more. The “and more,” here, is an eye-popping number of incredibly choreographed and directed action sequences that simultaneously glue your eyes to the flying fists onscreen, as well as all but force you to look away from the pain that’s felt from the audience seats. For a movie so, fun, it would be off-base to lament how during the entire two and a half hours, the movie moves in a repetitive fashion, alternating between slow burning and serious dialogue scenes and manic martial arts stunts. The Raid 2, for being a guilty pleasure head smasher, is nearly incredible in terms of its huge scale and overall execution.
This sequel, the follow-up to 2011’s The Raid: Redemption, takes off from the previous film’s end (two hours, to be exact), as we once again follow the deadly-when-cornered Rama (Iko Uwai), who learns that in order to ensure the safety of his wife and infant child, must reinvent himself as an undercover cop to expose a corrupted crime syndicate between police and local crime boss Bangun (Tio Pakusodewu). Uwai as Rama is just so good in these Raid movies, and his casting is no accident. A trained martial artists since the age of 10 and a 2005 National Champion in the Silat Demonstration category, Uwai was discovered by the film’s Welsh-born writer/director himself, Gareth Evans, when he visited Iko’s Silat school for a documentary in 2007, and ended up asking him to quit his daytime job as a driver in a telecommunications company to star in his production company’s movies. This film critic is glad that the chips have landed as such, as the low top Converse-wearing Iko in this film is simply arresting to watch, decimating his opponents in action sequences that seem to go on for tens of minutes without rest.
The Raid 2 seems to be that rare film that, due to logistical shooting and budgetary issues, surpasses its original in terms of both scale and entertainment factor.
According to Raid 2‘s IMDB trivia page, the sequel’s story was written before Redemption, but when funding fell through, director Evans decided to shoot a film with a lower budget, which would become the first film in the Raid series. And the jump in budget shows. If this reviewer had to guess, I’d say that each fight scene consisted of more than forty stuntmen, give or take, and lasted at least ten minutes long, sometimes optimizing whirling and impeccably timed single takes reminiscent of a much less stylized 300 for further impress. An early mud-drenched prison yard scramble nearly had me second guessing my choice in second row viewing; a truly incredible car chase (after which, roads had to be cleaned from 6am to 6pm) had me mouth agape and wondering how long it would be before Hollywood came knocking at the filmmaker’s door asking for the secrets; and the final fight scene, with a pulverized Rama advancing through four different rooms to one of the most EP-ic mano-a-mano showdowns I’ve seen in a movie, left me all but drained of energy and senses (imagine how Iko must have felt). Needless to say, all of the other fight scenes were just as hilariously engrossing.
Though the story itself isn’t one of equally inspired nature, as Bangun’s less than trustworthy son Ucok (Arifin Putra) rises to power within the inner circle and threatens to break the peace amongst the other crime families, resulting in war, it is still all constructed neatly, albeit familiar. The dialogue and expository scenes, even if most end up in simple shot-reverse-shots between characters, extend to include scenes with smooth pans and creatively composed wide shots with artfully designed sets, adding a welcome aesthetic and deeper dimension to help hold the movie together.
As it usually goes, the sequel never, or rarely, holds up to the original, as the elements that made the first so unique and beloved are typically rehashed to no end. However, The Raid 2 seems to be that rare film that, due to logistical shooting and budgetary issues, surpasses the first film in terms of both scale and entertainment factor. If you have the stomach, or willpower, to watch hyper-violent action where limbs snap in every possible direction, The Raid 2 will show you just how good an action movie can be, for action movie’s sake.
