The Raid 2 (5 Stars)

"The Raid 2" is being shown as my local cinema's Weird Wednesday feature today. I would have gone to see it, but the weather is awful today. There's ice on the pavements. Even with my biggest boots on I was slipping when I went to buy pretzels this morning. I don't mind falling on my butt, it's big and soft, but I've already cracked my head open in a fall and I don't want to do it again. So I've decided to stay at home and watch the film on Blu-ray in the comfort of my home. It's not the same experience as the big screen, but it's safe.

"The Raid 2" has been called the greatest action film ever. That's a matter of opinion, but it is a truly great film. It has a slightly different style to the first film. "The Raid" is a police drama, a mixture of guns and martial arts. The second film concentrates on martial arts fighting, which makes it better, in my eyes. Anyone can pull a trigger, but to kill a man with your bare hands requires skill.

The main characters use the Indonesian fighting style Pencak Silat. I've tried to find out how it differs from other fighting styles, even watching videos, but I'm not a martial arts practitioner and can't tell the difference. All I can say is that Wing Chun, the original fighting style of Bruce Lee, focuses on close up strikes, whereas Pencak Silat uses long range attacks before coming close. If any of my readers can say more about it, please leave a comment.

I enjoyed the film, as always, and I look forward to seeing it on the big screen again.

Success Rate:  - 0.5

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The Raid (5 Stars)

Every month my local cinema has a "Weird Wednesday" feature on the third Wednesday of the month. Isn't today the fourth Wednesday? Someone can't count. But apart from that, the organisers have said they intend to do a Weird Wednesday twice a month, on the first and third Wednesdays. This is still in planning, so it might not happen straight away, or only sporadically.

In the past the films were really weird. They were low budget horror films. The recent films haven't been weird, by my definition of the word. There's nothing weird about "The Raid", it's just a first rate action film.

It was announced beforehand that the film has been remastered, and the new version would be shown. That confused me. I've watched the film several times on Blu-ray, and I couldn't detect any faults. My questions were answered in the cinema. There was a short introduction by the director, Gareth Evans. When it comes to their own films, directors are their harshest critics. He said that the film had been made on a relatively low budget, and he hadn't been able to make it exactly as he wanted. He claimed that some scenes had been too murky, which I hadn't noticed, so he brightened them. Some special effects were reshot by the original team. He also said that he would have restructured parts of the film, but he resisted the temptation. The new version is exactly the same as the original version, it just looks better.

I confess, it's three years since I last watched "The Raid", so I couldn't see any differences. I'll just take Gareth's word for it, and I'll wait for the remastered version to be made available on disc.

I asked the organisers after the film if they intend to show "The Raid 2" in a future Weird Wednesday. They said they want to, but they don't yet have permission from the distributors. 2024 is the film's 10th anniversary, so they expect it to be settled before the end of the year.

Success Rate:  + 6.5

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The Raid 2 (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #56

Even though I love this film, it's difficult for me to write about it. Maybe it's because I love it so much. It's probably the best action film ever made. The fight scenes are breath-taking, and they come fast on the heels of one another, especially in the last hour. It's worth watching the film for the six-minute car chase alone.

The fights involve a lot of martial arts, but they're dirty fights. If you watch a film like "Enter the Dragon", or even "Ip Man 2", the fights are stylishly choreographed to display the intricacies of the fighting styles. That's not the case in "The Raid 2". The punches are short and indistinct, and nearby artefacts are often picked up to be used as weapons. That doesn't make the fights any less enjoyable. They're still thrilling. If anything, the dirty style makes the fights more realistic. When you're fighting to the death in a nightclub your first priority isn't to make beautifully executed martial arts moves; if you see a bottle on the table you pick it up and hit your opponent over the head with it.

I've been waiting for years for a sequel. At first the director Gareth Evans suggested it would be made soon. Then he was delayed. Now he's left Indonesia, and he's lost interest in continuing with the series. He hasn't said that it's certain that there won't be a sequel, he's just said that it won't be made any time soon. I hope he doesn't wait too long. Delayed sequels are usually poor. After a masterpiece like "The Raid 2" it would be tragic if the third part doesn't live up to the quality.

There are still a few small points in the plot that confuse me. I need to listen to the director's commentary some time soon.

Success Rate:  - 0.5

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I've received a complaint from a friend about the presentation of my top 100 films list. He said that if I'm not doing the list continuously, which I don't intend to do, I should make a list so that my readers can find all the films in my list so far. That's a valid request. I've already added links to the other films in two of my posts so far, but I don't want to do it every time, because it would look like spam. I'll definitely add a list in my sidebar when I've finished, but should I start with a partial list now? Another possibility is to put a link to the previous film in every post, daisy-chaining my posts. What do you think?

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

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Mile 22 (4 Stars)

I got a shock when I went to see this film in the cinema today. I was the only person in the room when the advertisements started. Minute after minute went by. Finally, after about ten minutes, four other people walked in. (The advertisements and trailers in the Stuttgart cinemas last about 15 minutes, less than I'm used to in England). This is the film's first week, only the fifth day, so I can safely say that the film has flopped in Germany. As for the rest of the world, let's wait and see. It was moderately successful in America, but it still hasn't been shown in most other countries.

Mark Wahlberg plays James Silva, a member of an elite American combat team called Overwatch. The team travels to Indocarr, a fictional East Asian country, to locate stolen caesium, enough to make six powerful atomic bombs. A local police office, Li Noor (played by Iko Uwais), says he knows where the caesium is stored, but he won't reveal the location until he's put on a plane to America. Indocarr's government officials try to negotiate for Li Noor's return, making it clear that their country is planning deadly attacks. Unknown to Overwatch a Russian secret service team has hacked into their communications and is attempting to kill Li Noor before he can leave the country.

Indocarr might not exist, but it's obvious that it represents North Korea. A Korean-Russian alliance is planning major terror attacks on six major western capitals.

This is a fast-paced thriller. Especially the fight scenes involving Iko Uwais are exciting. I wouldn't say it's a great story, but I enjoyed watching it in the almost empty cinema.

Headshot (4 Stars)

Is this Indonesia's answer to "The Bourne Identity"? The film begins with a man lying in hospital with a junior doctor sleeping on the couch next to his bed. He's been in a coma ever since he was washed up on the shore with a bullet lodged in his head. An operation has removed the bullet from his head, but he has to go to a hospital in Jakarta to have the remaining metal shards removed. The doctor is off duty, but she doesn't want to go home because she's fascinated by him. Who is he?

When he wakes up he doesn't remember his name or anything about his life, so the doctor calls him Ishmael. She offers to send him to Jakarta, but first he wants to meet the fisherman who dragged him out of the water. The two become friends, but before he can be sent to Jakarta things happen. Deadly assassins come trying to kill him, but he has fighting skills that are enough to defend himself.

This is a fascinating mystery and a thrilling action film with over-the-top violence. It's been criticised by people who say that nobody is killed with a single bullet when 20 can be used. I don't find that bad. It's understandable in the heat of battle. If you shoot someone and he falls over you can't be certain he's dead, so you have to shoot him a second time. And a third. And a fourth. And a fifth.....

Iko Uwais is an amazing fighter. He was also responsible for the choreography of the fight scenes in "Headshot". He isn't quite as invincible as in the Raid films, but his slightly weaker state is appropriate for this film.

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The Raid 2 (5 Stars)

It's difficult to understand why I've waited four years since last watching this film. It's one of the best action films ever made.

It's not absolutely necessary to watch this film back to back with "The Raid", but it's recommendable. In future I shall always watch the two films as a pair. "The Raid 2" begins by cleaning up after the events of the first film. Rama's brother Andi is executed. The good cop Bunawar kills the two police officers that Rama rescued from the tower block in the first film because he wants there to be no witnesses that Rama is still alive.

I admit that the film is confusing. There are three rival gangs, and it's sometime difficult to know who's fighting who. I think I finally figured it out today, but that's only because it was the third time I watched the film.

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The Raid (5 Stars)

I'm short of time this week, so my reviews will probably be shorter than usual. As my regular readers know, my blog is a film diary rather than a film review site, so I'll name all the films that I watch even if I have no time to write about them.

"The Raid" is a very male film. What I mean by that is that there are 116 men in the film (according to the credits) but only three women, and the three women are only shown briefly. The first woman is Rama's pregnant wife, who we see lying in bed at the beginning for about 30 seconds. The second is the wife of the man in room 726 who we see lying in bed sick for about 20 seconds. The third is a drug addict that we see in a catatonic state for less than 10 seconds. That means we see hardly any women, we only see them briefly, and they're all in some way disabled.

Nevertheless, this is an amazing film, one of the most violent films I've ever seen. After watching it for the third time today I've decided to update the rating to five stars.

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The Raid (4½ Stars)

This is an incredible action movie. A team of police rookies invade a high rise building that houses 15 floors of criminals, most of them violent. They are out of their depth, and most of them are killed before they can get even half way to the crime lord who lives on the top floor. Only one police officer, Rama, a skilled martial artist, refuses to give up the mission. He continues even when he finds out that he's been betrayed by his lieutenant, who has ordered the raid unofficially to settle a private vendetta. The rest of the police force knows nothing about the operation, so no backup can be expected when the raid goes wrong.

Iko Awais, the man who plays Rama, practises an Indonesian fighting style called silat. I'm no expert in martial arts, but I can see obvious differences. When Bruce Lee fought his movements were smooth and elegant. Iko's punches and kicks are fast, in jerking movements. They're less attractive to look at, but they're just as efficient in defeating enemies, incapacitating or even killing them.

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I watched "The Raid" at the Mockingbird theatre in Birmingham. Before it began we watched a short film called "Faith". The director Nick McKinless presented the film, and he told us that it was the first time he had seen it on a large screen. The film is made up of a single intense fight scene. Click here to view the film. Don't worry, it's legal. Nick posted it himself.

The Raid 2 (5 Stars)

Did you hear the one about the Welsh film director who made an Indonesian movie? That sounds like a joke, but it's serious. Gareth Evans went to Indonesia and loved the country so much that he didn't just make one film, he made three. This is the third, so far. Gareth has raised the bar in action adventures. Despite making films with relatively small budgets, they look spectacular, and the action sequences are breath-taking. What will he do if he's ever given a big budget?

"The Raid 2" begins immediately after the events of "The Raid". It involves Rama, the hero from the first film, being pronounced dead, so that he can be given a new identity and do undercover work for the police. To be more accurate, it's undercover work for a single police detective called Bunawar. The rest of the police force aren't told that Rama has survived, since Bunawar believes there are too many corrupt police officers in the force, on the payroll of one of the Jakarta gangs. It's a lengthy job. Rama has to spend two years in prison so that he can join one of the gangs when he comes out.

Even though his job is to work in a gang in order to expose the corrupt police officers, he begins to respect Bangun, his new boss, and takes his side when a power struggle breaks out within the gang. This situation escalates into an all out gang war with Rama caught in the middle. The action is over the top, with fight scenes following one another with barely a pause for breath.

The film ends on a cliff-hanger with many issues still unresolved. Let's see how it continues in "The Raid 3". Where will Gareth Evans take us from here? Can he give us even more action?

The Raid (4¼ Stars)

After watching and highly enjoying "The Raid 2" in the cinema last week I had to buy the first film. Among other things, it explains the film's title. No raids take place in the second film, so the title doesn't make sense. But the first film is all about a police raid, so now I understand. The second film's title has been picked simply to show that its events follow on from a previous film which was about a raid. This is a common procedure for sequels. Another example is "30 Days of Night: Dark Days", the sequel to "30 Days of Night". In the first film there was a prolonged night due to the film being set in Alaska, but the second film was set in Los Angeles. I'm not saying that I agree with this naming procedure for films, I'm just saying that I understand it.

The film's plot is simple. A police lieutenant leads a squadron of police rookies in a raid on a building belonging to a crime lord. The crime lord himself lives on the 15th floor, and the rest of the building is rented out to criminals under his protection. The police are suspicious that men as inexperienced as themselves have been chosen for a mission as difficult as this, but they obey orders. As they later find out, the mission is off the books, the personal vendetta of a corrupt policeman, so they cannot expect any backup when things go wrong.

Due to the element of surprise the police successfully advance to the 7th floor, shooting anyone who resists arrest. Then the criminals begin to fight back, wiping out almost the entire police force. This is the point, 35 minutes into the film, when it really becomes interesting. The fight scenes are incredible, though not as exaggerated as in the second film. A third film in the series has already been announced. I can hardly wait.

The film poster above looks good, but it's inaccurate. There are no helicopters in the film. The building is only 15 floors high, not 30. And is it right to describe the police as "elite cops"? Let's call them "elite cops in training". They obviously don't have what it takes for an operation of this magnitude.

The Raid 2 (4½ Stars)

Normally I sigh when I see posters like the one above. Claims like "The greatest action film ever" are usually a ploy to lure people into watching a third rate movie. But in this case it could be true. The action scenes are spectacular, and they take place from beginning to end, with hardly a pause for the viewer to catch his breath.

I haven't seen the first film, yet. As soon as I watched this film in the cinema I ordered "The Raid" on Blu-ray, that's how much I liked it. I've been told that the second film features some of the actors from the first film, but the plots are unrelated enough to make it possible to watch the second film first. The background story isn't important enough to be indispensable knowledge.

Rama is a young police officer in Indonesia. His superior wants him to go underground in a criminal gang with the intention of finding proof that there are corrupt police officers who assist the gangs, To do this Rama assaults the son of a rich businessman and lets himself be arrested, so that he can become friends with the already imprisoned Uco, the son of a gang leader called Bangun. Two years later Rama is released from prison and is invited to join Bangun's gang. At this point Rama seems to be distancing himself from his role as a policeman. He is loyal to Bangun as his boss and Uco as his friend, and he becomes torn when Uco plans a rebellion against his father.

The plot is complex. There are three gangs, not including corrupt police officers, and at times it's difficult to understand who's fighting who. I'm sure that will be cleared up when I watch the film again. But the fighting is amazing. It's mostly unarmed combat, the Indonesian martial arts style referred to as "Pencak Silat", but there are also guns and weapons such as baseball bats and hammers. To me the fighting style is reminiscent of Wing Chun, depending on close contact and short punches. In a way the battles are realistic, not as idealised as in modern Chinese films, but they are over the top in their extent. For instance, in one scene there is a car chase while Rama is on the back seat of a car fighting with three men in the car around him, one on either side and the third on the front seat. This fight at close quarters was so amazing, especially because the car was being rammed by other cars in the chase. I believe this is the first time a car chase and a martial arts battle inside a car have ever been combined.

Is it the greatest action film ever? Maybe. At the moment I can't think of a more explosive action film.