The Raid is the most adrenaline pumped action film i have seen in years. The number of times i gasped 'holy shit' was countless and the crowd I was watching it felt the same way.
Annnnd Synopsis.....
Iko Uwais (remember that name) stars as RAMA a member of a special team (JAKA by Joe Taslim, BOWO by Tegar Satriya, ARI by Ananda George, WAHYU by Pierre Gruno and BUDI by Verdi Solaiman) arrives at a rundown apartment block with a mission to remove its owner, a notorious drug lord named TAMA played by Ray Sahetapy. The apartment block has never been raided before, never been touched by police. Seen as a no go zone the building has become a sanctuary to killers, gangs, rapists and thieves seeking accommodation in the one place they know they cannot be touched. Making their move in the break of dawn they work their way up the building under cover of silence, steadily controlling the location one floor at a time. But when a chance encounter with a spotter blows their cover, TAMA orders a lock down on the building with all lights out and all exits blocked.
Hit the Jump to Read what we thought.
The building we're talking about here is the one in the Poster above. So you can see this is a pretty simple idea that sounds more suited to a video game than anything else. BUT it works. It works perfectly for this film. The story is enough to make you barrack for Iko and his team. It's all enough to make you want Ray and his thugs to go down. So we care, we're engaged and in somewhat of a roller coaster ride for 90 minutes.
Iko has been training traditional martial arts since the age of 10 and IT SHOWS! You have never seen anyone move like this. This with the combination of his choreography and Gareth Evan's tight directing have created a number of set pieces that could perhaps go down as some of the best in movie history.
This film is ruthless and not for the faint of heart. People die. People die realistically, they squirm and scream in pain. Bullets penetrate flesh and knives wound in a flurry of blood and sweat. It's intense, concise, creative and most of all entertaining. The Raid gets it right with pushing reality slightly but not making it too over the top that it seems too far fetched.
This is not a leave you brain at the door action film. This is an engage your brain and take a ride of the senses kind of deal. You will laugh, squirm, gasp and curse out a loud. You will want to see it again and bring your friends, your dad and not your grandma.
Do yourself a favour and grab some friends March 22 and go for a ride on this film. It's a rush.
TRAILER
And now Brooksbot Reviews The Raid.
On Wednesday night, Castle Awesome staff were treated to an advanced screening of The Raid, courtesy of Madman Entertainment.
An, of all places, Indonesian piece of pseudo-home-grown cinema that is a far cry from the tropical beaches and peaceful mountainside temples shrouded in wisping clouds and golden sunshine that one tends to conjure up when thinking of the holiday hotspot.
Instead, Welsh born, now, Indonesian based director, Gareth Evans, introduces us to a city in turmoil. Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, portrayed as a festering underbelly of crime & corruption. At the heart of it is a decaying fifteen-floor apartment block that plays host to a raid by a SWAT team attempting to rid the building of the scum and villainy festering within, and ultimately take out crime boss Tama (Ray Sahetaphy) who is perched in his hideout on the top floor. But when the raid is compromised by a spotter, Tama offers free residency to all tenants who take up arms and dispose of the unwanted guests.
…And this is about the point that you realize that the painfully simplistic dialogue spouted by clichéd one dimensional characters does not lend itself to a script worthy of literary accolade, it is, rather, the expected binding for what is otherwise just a sequence of mother-cuntingly brutal fight scenes that are so well choreographed that it makes Jackie Chan and Jet Li look like wheelchair bound retards swatting at each other with wooden spoons.
Silat, a form of Indonesian martial art that, until Gareth Evans’ previous film, Merantau, was completely unknown by the western world... And it's pretty bad-ass.
This film is not first-date material. Even the most seasoned of hardcore ultra-violence veterans will find some toe-curling moments lay within.
For a few years now, Chan-Wook Park’s Oldboy has been the yard-stick by wich every Asian beat-‘em-up martial art film was measured, more specifically, the iconic hallway fight scene.
The Raid also has a hallway fight scene, in fact it has several.
…and it makes Oldboy look like a kids film.
It is truly brutal, but so, so well executed & the gritty film grain aesthetic just adds so much more to it.
I give it 3 ½ lighting fast stabs to the chest.
And finally a review from TimmehB
Wow, what is there to say about this film that hasn't already been said. We have talked about the choreography and action sequences, which are exceptional. We have talked about the minimal script that supports the film and yet doesn't detract from the overall experience. I don't think we really explored the suspense though, there are moments where i was holding my breath, the entire theatre silent with me. It takes a skilled film maker to build suspense like that, particularly in another language and my hat goes off to Gareth Evans.
This film is brutal, it is unrelenting and not afraid to show the full force of a machete slicing into a man.
Wow, what is there to say about this film that hasn't already been said. We have talked about the choreography and action sequences, which are exceptional. We have talked about the minimal script that supports the film and yet doesn't detract from the overall experience. I don't think we really explored the suspense though, there are moments where i was holding my breath, the entire theatre silent with me. It takes a skilled film maker to build suspense like that, particularly in another language and my hat goes off to Gareth Evans.
This film is brutal, it is unrelenting and not afraid to show the full force of a machete slicing into a man.
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