- Police brutality at its best.
This isn't a standard action movie,
after seeing the movie I decided that The Raid: Redemption shouldn't be called an action genre movie because it transcends the action genre. Ultra-violence or artistic brutality are certainly better phrases to
describe what I saw.
The movie is a macho descent into
gratuitous muay thai for just about 90% of the movie. There is a
story but it's almost as if they worked on the story for five
minutes, called it a day and went to work on the action. It's men
showing off what the human body can do or at least what the body can
do in a fictional world, as very little wire work was done – if
any. This is noteworthy as the trailer for the movie boasts "from
the company that brought you Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and
I can't believe you'd try to make that connection. That is an
artistic action movie where the action is fluid, and flows in almost
a gentle beautiful fashion. The Raid: Redemption is fluid, but it's
blood that is flowing and it's fast paced and harsh. Broken backs,
stab wounds just about anywhere you can think, bullets flying and
abstract weapons used in the most unsavoury ways.
For an Indonesian movie (go ahead, name
3 Indonesian action movies that got released in Canadian theatres) I
was pleased to see some new action stars that can bring new flesh to
a dying genre. Iko Uwais who plays Rama in The Raid, was fantastic.
He not only "acted" in it but also did the fight
choreography. Doni Alamsyah, Joe Taslim, Yayan Ruhian are all
noteworthy guys; their speed and ability is remarkable. The kitchen,
drug lab and interrogation room fight sequences are something to
behold. They are a feast for the eyes and cringe-worthy for any of
you weaker in the pack viewers. The action is amazing, brutal,
visceral and destructive. It's 1 hour and 41 minutes of pure
unadulterated high-energy action. The aforementioned drug lab
sequence was probably the turning point for me. It's there that I
started thinking about all the dumb action movies I've seen over the
years and realized that in all those years I had not seen something
that truly got the statement “fast-paced action”. I know this
review has probably already hyped you up beyond belief, but I truly
believe the action is top notch and this should stand with any of the
greats of the action genre.
 |
| Yeah, sorry, still not an even fight. |
The problem per se in the movie is the
story is stupid, but thankfully you shouldn't care. Don't go to this
movie for a story because you aren't really getting one. Okay, there
is a story and for the most part it isn't faulty; there aren't
glaring holes in the plot but its pacing is a bit off, and the
introduction and second act have some lengthy discussions that seem
long-winded mostly because you've seen more men get trashed, slashed
and dumped in the prior 30 minutes than any other action flick made
this year. It's so high energy, the story gets in the way of the
destruction you so much desire.
I really can't express how solid of an
action movie this was. It was dumb fun for action fans and honestly
if you can manage watch it ASAP because the movie isn't long for
theatres.
It gets a 8/10
PS: I'm serious I don't want to call
this an action movie, this needs a bigger, better name for the genre
because of this movie.
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