The Raid 2 [DVD] [2014]

An action/thriller/martial arts movie, which is a sequel to 'The Raid.' That film was all about rookie Indonesian cop Rama trying to survive when a raid on an apartment block went wrong. And discovering a few things about police corruption as well.This movie picks up for the character a very short time after the final scene of the first one. And you really do need to have seen that in order to really get into this.Rama finds that the web of corruption he has become aware of is very big indeed, and the only chance he has of surviving is to help bring it down. Which involves going undercover. Into prison. And befriending Uco, son of a gangster. Uco is a charming ambitious and very dangerous man. And he's not the only one out there.....This like the best kind of sequel takes what people liked about the original, and tries to give you more of that. But do it a bit differently at the same time. There's plenty of the Indonesian martial arts and action seen in the first film, but it instead involves many locales and a different kind of plot, all about gang wars and corruption. And people trying to stay moral in a very grey world.It's a bit of a slow burn at first, because it has lots to set up and a fair bit of exposition to get in as well. So the first two thirds of the film are more four star material than the five stars of the original. There are a lot of characters, which does mean that Rama does disappear from the action for a lot of the middle.But you have to admire the final third, which really does take it up to a five star release. The action comes thick and fast, the stunts and fights are amazingly well choreographed, and although the ending is a bit predictable, Rama's journey to it is not something you will be able to take your eyes off. It does have a great variety in action sequences as well.All the characters are very well cast, acted, and three dimensional, but Iko Uwais really does impress once again, with his acting ability being just as good as his martial arts one, making his character so down to earth and yet righteous and moral with it, fighting to stay that way all the time.A memorable watch. Worth five stars.The dvd has the following language and subtitle options:Languages: English. Idonesian.Subtitles: English.Thus you can watch it either dubbed or subtitled, whichever you prefer.The disc begins with several trailers and an advert, which can be skipped via the next button on the dvd remote.Extras:A commentary from the director.The next chapter: shooting a sequel. A ten minute long look at the making of the film. Which is quite an interesting watch.

The Raid 1 is one of the best action movies I have ever seen. The action, martial arts, and gritty crime setting made it such an exciting experience that took me by surprise. Yet it was so very simple. The story, the characters, the setting, it was all so bare bones. It was only the mind blowing action that made it so amazing.The Raid 2 not only improves upon the action, but it is a deeper, more complex, and more emotional movie. This is one of those rare occasions when a sequel outdoes the classic original in every conceivable way. I watched, expecting a simple yet fun action movie, I finished realizing that I had just watched something so much more.There are many more characters with personality and roles in the story this time around. Rama once again proves himself as the King of kicking the daylights out of people. There is a large cast of criminals, all of whom have their own memorable personalities, their own motivations, and their own subplots that makes them so much more than generic bad guys. There are also many twists and revelations that I doubt anyone will be able to predict.The cinematography is brilliant. The scenes are shot so well. Not just the fight scenes, but everything. The footage slows down at just the right moments, the camera may focus on a wisp of smoke, or a droplet of water, or any other mesmerizing image at certain points. The sets are beautiful too, and are a vast improvement over the bland apartment block in the first movie. Sound and music are also very important here. They are used with great effect at key points in very creative ways.But the main thing in the Raid 2 is the action. All of the fight scenes are spread out more evenly than in the first movie where it was near constant. This movie handles pacing so much better, and each of the fight scenes get more tense and impressive as we near the big finale. They are all extremely varied and very creative. A handful of my favorite fight scenes of all time come from this movie. And there are many of them!One of the few criticisms I can make is that it can sometimes be confusing what is going on because the movie jumps around a lot. It's also easy to confuse peoples names and peoples role in the story. This is mainly to do with the large cast of this 'criminal epic'. If you want some advice; pay attention when the film starts rolling!Watch this movie. It puts all other action movies to shame. I'm not even exaggerating.

The story was ok though I definitely bought into the characters but the action sequences were intense and utterly superb.

Including Merentau and The Raid. I think of this as the 3rd in the 3 films directed by Gareth Huw Evans and starring Iko Uwais. For my money the second ,The Raid, is my personal favourite action film of all time. , Its brutal certainly, but more pure.. This is kind of the culmination of his experience and no doubt because of the acclaim of The Raid, it attempts to cater to a wider more international audience perhaps. Its more sophisticated if you could say that, more expensive (you get the idea) but I still think it has less power than The Raid. But these 3 fllms would make a great all-nighter. If there are fans of Yayan Ruhian (I think that's right) he appears in all three and features strongly in this.