Director: Gareth Edwards
Writer: Gareth Edwards
Starring: Iko Uwais, Ananda George, Yayan Ruhian
This is exactly what I have been looking for in an action
movie. I don’t need you to tell me that you’ve got a particular set of skills;
you don’t even have to speak English. People have often called ‘The Raid’,
“balls to the wall”. They’re not only right but I’m pretty sure that these
actors would just know the wall down. It is one of the most impressive and
tense movies in recent memory.
A raid is set up upon a heavily fortified apartment building and the physically skilled Jakarta police force attempt to take the building floor by floor but all hell may or may not break loose.
I take pride in the amount of martial arts movies that I have watched. I haven’t perused Jackie Chan’s entire filmography but I consider myself rather well versed in the genre. Of all that I have seen, ‘The Raid’ has easily the best fighting. Iko Uwais deserves to be the next Bruce Lee or Donnie Yen. The actor’s superhuman abilities coupled with the fantastic cinematography makes for the most jaw-dropping and incredible fight sequences I have ever seen. For fight cinematography to be outstanding it only takes a lack of mistakes. All you need is to wait. If I see cuts between each hit, it looks false. Much like a oner, stringing together multiple moves is far more impressive than a single move. This film lets you see everything (although some might not think that is a good thing if they are adverse to gore).
Even outside of the hand-to-hand combat, the direction is great. The pace slows to a palpable rate and these unforgettable shots burn into your memory. There is a moment when the lights go out in the building and neither side can see the other. A shotgun flashes and you see the shadows of the assailants pulse up the wall so you know what is going on before the protagonists can even register it. These moments are provided abundantly making the struggle seem even more uphill.
The problem most people have with the movie is that it supposedly has no plot. Firstly, it really doesn’t matter because the film is so mesmerizingly impressive but also there is more nuance than first appears. There are some characters who are more than meets the eye.
The one issue I have with the film is that the first act I expect could drag on when re-watching it. You know that there is going to be incredible martial arts skills but instead you start bogged down by the police officers firing guns at each other. I even found this on my first watch. Guns in cinema are boring because it is so easy to find yourself in a drought of interesting situations. The most interesting gunmen are the snipers in stories like Saving Private Ryan and Phone Booth but in this, you are blinded by muzzle flashes for ten percent of the first act.
Don’t misunderstand this. This criticism only exists to show that the film isn’t perfect. By the end there isn’t a chance that you are dwelling upon the tiny parts of the movie that aren’t fantastic. If you want to get into martial arts movies or even foreign films in general, there is no better place to start than ‘The Raid’.
The Raid receives a: 9/10
A raid is set up upon a heavily fortified apartment building and the physically skilled Jakarta police force attempt to take the building floor by floor but all hell may or may not break loose.
I take pride in the amount of martial arts movies that I have watched. I haven’t perused Jackie Chan’s entire filmography but I consider myself rather well versed in the genre. Of all that I have seen, ‘The Raid’ has easily the best fighting. Iko Uwais deserves to be the next Bruce Lee or Donnie Yen. The actor’s superhuman abilities coupled with the fantastic cinematography makes for the most jaw-dropping and incredible fight sequences I have ever seen. For fight cinematography to be outstanding it only takes a lack of mistakes. All you need is to wait. If I see cuts between each hit, it looks false. Much like a oner, stringing together multiple moves is far more impressive than a single move. This film lets you see everything (although some might not think that is a good thing if they are adverse to gore).
Even outside of the hand-to-hand combat, the direction is great. The pace slows to a palpable rate and these unforgettable shots burn into your memory. There is a moment when the lights go out in the building and neither side can see the other. A shotgun flashes and you see the shadows of the assailants pulse up the wall so you know what is going on before the protagonists can even register it. These moments are provided abundantly making the struggle seem even more uphill.
The problem most people have with the movie is that it supposedly has no plot. Firstly, it really doesn’t matter because the film is so mesmerizingly impressive but also there is more nuance than first appears. There are some characters who are more than meets the eye.
The one issue I have with the film is that the first act I expect could drag on when re-watching it. You know that there is going to be incredible martial arts skills but instead you start bogged down by the police officers firing guns at each other. I even found this on my first watch. Guns in cinema are boring because it is so easy to find yourself in a drought of interesting situations. The most interesting gunmen are the snipers in stories like Saving Private Ryan and Phone Booth but in this, you are blinded by muzzle flashes for ten percent of the first act.
Don’t misunderstand this. This criticism only exists to show that the film isn’t perfect. By the end there isn’t a chance that you are dwelling upon the tiny parts of the movie that aren’t fantastic. If you want to get into martial arts movies or even foreign films in general, there is no better place to start than ‘The Raid’.
The Raid receives a: 9/10
Please feel free to leave a comment on either the movie or the review. Say if you liked or disliked the movie. I'm interested to find out what you think!
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