The Raid Review
The Raid: Redemption – HOLY S#%@!
If you’ve already seen the ‘The Raid: Redemption’ you’ll know exactly why I say this and if you’re yet to see it, this is exactly what you’ll be saying once you do.
The Raid is an Indonesian action film that was released in September 2011 and is an intense, violent, martial arts, action thrill ride that will knock your brains out. The Raid has only had a limited release so it may be a hard to track down - but you won’t regret watching it once you do.
Note: The Raid is definitely not a film for the whole family – the level of violence is definitely not suitable for young children.
Here it is without any spoilers: A derelict apartment building, which is also a safe house for gangsters, murderers and drug dealers, is run and occupied by an evil crime lord. An elite SWAT team have to storm their way through and up each level of the building taking out waves of punks by using guns and martial arts to capture the crime lord. That is your story – awesome huh? :)
Now from that description alone there’s probably going to be two types of people out there;
- Those that will say ‘I’ll pass thanks’; and
- Those that think this sounds like one of the best action movies ever made!
All of those from group 2 please read on! NO SPOILERS HERE.
If you think this movie sounds like the plot for a video game – Streets of Rage or Final Fight for example – you are not far off. This movie definitely felt like an old-school, beat-em-up video game :)
The Raid is one of the best action movies I have ever seen. I watched this movie by myself and still swore out loud at least once in each action scene – there is seriously at least one element of either awesome athleticism or extreme violence in every action scene that will absolutely make you want to verbalise your feelings with a swear word or ‘ooh / ahh’. This movie doesn’t mess about and at about the 20 minute mark you are well aware of what kind of movie you’re getting yourself in for and then it is just a non-stop rollercoaster right to the end.
The fight scenes come out being amongst the best I have seen in a martial arts film and the athleticism of the cast and the choreography of each fight is insane and definitely worth checking out if you’re a martial arts/action movie buff. The martial arts featured in The Raid comes from Indonesia’s native style of Pencak Silat and it looks great in this movie.
There’s really not much more to say about The Raid here – and that’s a good/refreshing thing. It’s not over complicated with crazy back stories or overloaded with special effects, it’s just a great action movie and one that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It even reminded me of some of the great, old school action movies out there like Die Hard, Predator and Kiss of the Dragon. Some may argue about a lack of story but understand that The Raid’s awesomeness doesn’t come from weaving an engaging, thoughtful story, the ‘story’ is just a loose frame to hang an awesome, ass kicking action movie - exctly what a great action movie should be like.
For me, The Raid is like a return to form for action movies and an example of where most Hollywood studios should be getting their inspiration from.
If you haven’t seen The Raid: Redemption yet and are a fan of:
- old school beat-em-up video games
- action movies
- martial arts
you should definitely get onto tracking down a copy and checking it out - it's an awesome, action, thrill ride that you will love!
4/5 Stars
WEIGHT