The Raid (5 Stars)

This is an exciting Indonesian action film starring Iko Uwais. A team of rookie cops is sent to capture a drug lord who lives on the 15th floor of a high rise building. The lower floors have been rented out to an assortment of criminals. The police advance quickly to the sixth floor, due to the element of surprise, but after that they have to fight their way laboriously to the top floor.

Why have rookie cops been sent in? It's because the job is off the books. Police lieutenant Bayhu has a personal grudge against the drug lord; possibly he wants to steal his money during the raid. When the raid goes wrong there's no hope of backup being sent.

For the first half of the film there are gun fights between the police and the criminals, killing most of the police. In the second half the guns disappear and the survivors have to engage in hand to hand combat. There's no logical reason for this, but it makes the film better. There are dazzling fight scenes.

Three years later a sequel was made, "The Raid 2", but it wasn't really a sequel. The screenplay for the second film was written first, but it would have been more expensive to make and the funds couldn't be raised. To solve the problem a prequel was written that would need a smaller budget. It's obvious when watching "The Raid" that a second film will be made, because people are named who won't be seen until the next film.

Success Rate:  + 6.5

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de