If you are a fan of action movies, you will love The Raid: Redemption. In many ways, Welsh born director Gareth Evans‘ Indonesian martial arts thriller is a delicate tapestry of gun battles, machete blades and flying fists. It is the ultimate roller-coaster ride for fans of the popcorn-munching action genre, but delivers suspense more in the vein of a horror survival film. In a space surrounded by superfluous excess and the mundane hyperbole of Hollywood, The Raid distinguishes itself for its raw unflinching power. Inspired by the likes of John Woo, Die Hard and other excessively violent police dramas, Evans has distilled the very essence of what makes watching violence exciting. Despite relying on an overtly simple premise that’s a tad thin on plot, the film is more focused on movement and rhythm and succeeds in keeping your attention hostage.
The story centers around rookie SWAT team member Rama, played by Iko Uwais a real life Silat martial arts master, who is part of an operation to extract a crime lord boss Tama (Ray Sahetaphy) from a rundown apartment building. However as the SWAT team rushes into action their presence is quickly tipped off to the boss by a child informant. What ensues is a death order from Tama to all residents of the building, comprised mostly of criminals, to help fight back the police and their raid. As a reward, they will receive rent free housing for the rest of their lives. From there on out the film becomes a seizure of nozzle flare, exploding walls and Ong Bak-like combat. Mixed in between all of this is some family drama for Rama, who has a pregnant wife waiting for him at home and and another family member in the mix. These subplot lines offer little insight into the characters psyche and instead merely serve as a bridge to raise the stakes and leave questions for the sequel.
Most of the entire film is spent during the actual raid of the building, keeping the location and action centralized at all times. Yet there seems to be no limit to the number of cinematic tricks Evans employs to keep the tension going at break neck speeds while mixing up dramatic styles. As the odds become tougher for the elite squad of police, the mood takes on a more frightening tone. The final few fights are more hand-to-hand than anything and showcase some impressive choreography from Yayan Ruhian, another acclaimed Silat master, whose character Mad Dog delivers some of the most memorable moments. All of this is heightened by some incredibly creative and ground breaking camera techniques that amp up the film’s kinetic motion even more.
Perhaps the biggest criticism against the film is that the ending feels abrupt and not in sync with the rest of the film. The way some of the overall story archs end up are fairly trite and there’s a surprise twist that is really not that surprising. But these minor complaints are not enough to create friction between the audience and your suspension of disbelief. Instead it aims to overwhelm you with visceral carnage and heart pounding warfare in an almost video game format. In some ways, it feels like the final scene in The Professional where Leon’s apartment is being breached by the SWAT team, only stretched out for an entire film. The Raid: Redemption is by no means a masterpiece of high art cinema, nor does it want to be. It’s perfectly content knowing exactly what type of film it is, which is a bad-ass action movie.
The Raid: Redemption is now in limited release.