The Raid: Redemption

A bloody punch-up that is the perfect embodiment of the action adventure movie. The plot is maybe as simple as the thought processes of the Hotel Paradise guests, a SWAT team raids an apartment block of bad-ass killers and come up against tough resistance, but prevail. Amazing choreography, no shortage of brutality, blood splatters, fight dosage according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Yayan Ruhian is a killing machine and Iko Uwais is a grandmaster. Shinoda’s soundtrack is great for this movie. (07/19/2012)

A film that has become a cult classic over the years. When thinking about the best in the action genre of the 21st century, The Raid: Redemption is the first to come to mind. I never would have expected this from an Indonesian film, but it's true. Americans should take notes from this approach. Perhaps a big part of this is Iko Uwais, whose charismatic presence convinced me of his role, though the same can be said for the others, particularly "Mad Dog" played by Yayan Ruhian, who will remain etched in my memory for a long time. It’s incredible how a simple premise (a building overrun by thugs) can be so engaging; normally, I might criticize this, but in this case, it surprisingly didn’t bother me. The film relies heavily on hand-to-hand combat; sure, there are shootouts, but machetes, various sharp objects of all kinds, and bare hands take center stage. Such choreography is rare elsewhere; the camera maintains a steady perspective, so you truly appreciate the action on screen (unlike much of the Western competition, where everything shakes, and you get nothing from it). The R rating is worth noting; it's not for the faint of heart. The ending is also well-built up. I have no complaints. I give it 91%. (10/29/2019)

A handful of cops, a billion Asian butchers and a building where even Chuck Norris would shit his pants. In other words, a manual for success. We can finally confirm that the aura of an exceptional film built around this Indonesian action sensation since its première at the Toronto Film Festival a few months ago is the real deal. The Raid: Redemption is the kind of film you really don’t see every day. A relentless action ride, brutal, intense and at times terrifying. It’s hard to talk in detail about this beauty, it has to be seen. It’s been long since a genre five-stars was this pure :) (05/29/2012)

Don't blame me for the three stars. I guess I really wanted more from the film because even though the director and choreographer understand what can be squeezed out of the actors (and that it definitely exceeds every conceivable limit of what we've seen so far), the plot, on the mental level of an arcade, just slips into a painful stereotype in the second half and just repeats what we've seen before. In addition, the final fight also loses a lot of its attractiveness, so if I want to contemplate this in the pub I'll take a big sip at the memory of the trick with the fridge, but the rest will be like that cheap catchphrase "...you know how that guy is going to beat up the other guy, right?" This likely says a lot about the fact that I'd regularly suffer through it a second time; in fact, I kind of envy those who are giving it perfect reviews. :) (05/29/2012)

That long-haired walking holocaust especially, who gives soda to the main characters even with a fluorescent light down his throat, is really growing on me, and the fact that the animals are really, really badly hurting each other and it looks so real that I'm still not sure there weren't people dying in the filming, gives truth to the claim that films kicked off with a convo like "Here’s a building and a million bucks, do what you want." "Okay." might be the real thing. (05/30/2012)