Blistering barnacles and
thundering typhoons!! I have not seeing this much of hand to hand combat action
after The Raid Redemption (2011) and this bone breaking second installment is
fantastic. It packs a heavy and a lethal dose of adrenaline for the action
movie lovers and that much of a does come seldom with effectiveness. Just like
the first movie Raid 2 starts off calm and quiet and gradually builds its plot
while becoming bloody and violent from floor to the ceiling.
Raid 2 picks up from the end of
the first movie. Rama (Iko Uwais) who is a cop in the Jakarta police force sent
undercover to discover evidence of a large crime syndicate. To do this he must commit
a crime and get himself in prison and get close to a son of an underworld boss
who is serving sentence. While his initial undercover plan last a few months,
once in prison he realizes that the game is uglier than expected.
Raid 2 is exactly two and half
hours long. And by the look of it it’s an insane long for an action flick. But
once the action hits the screen and plot starts to reveal the viewers will forget
the clock entirely. (or maybe the clock got smashed in to pieces by all the
punches and kicks). Not like the first movie which totally takes place in a 20
story drug run apartment Raid 2 hits the streets. And it hits the prisons, night
clubs, subways and even road sides like action madness. And this has elegant
looking yet blood thirsty bunch of villains and the most wanted element of a
thumping action movie, car chases. Imagine all this combined with the sheer
amount of punching power of the first movie. It’s definitely bigger and better
and this is something seldom I can say about sequels.
I must keep a note about the
action of Raid 2. It is obvious at a glance that it’s natural and performed on
location. As this is rare in movies these days the action choreography and
pulling it off in such a brilliant way is truly commendable. And the viewers
can actually feel the awesomeness of a pure combat with long action sequences
and that’s mind blowing. There is a high chance that you might miss lot of
details in one viewing so just as I did maybe you have to pause, rewind and
replay to catch them all. It’s lightning fast!
Though Raid 2 is violent and gore
it is not violent up to the extent of unwatchable insanity. Therefore most
viewers should be able to digest it. And violence is not the real thing to be
worried about. It’s the ample amount of kicks and punches and forever panning
camera movements. If you manage to get through them and survive the cracked
walls and shattered glasses Raid 2 will be one of the best action movies you
have ever seeing. And this movie will go to my archives of repeat watch worthy
action movies and believe me when I say this there is only handful there
already (Including The Raid Redemption).
Original title: “The Raid 2: Berandal”
Genre: Action
Director: Gareth Evans
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