Movie Review - The Raid: Redemption

The Raid: Redemption (2012)

Directed by Gareth Evans

I'm not sure I've ever seen a film as violent as The Raid: Redemption...at least not within recent memory.  I'm also fairly positive that I've never seen an Asian martial arts-type flick in my life (although I remember growing up seeing some dubbed edited versions as I flicked through local tv on a Sunday afternoon).  So the only reason this was really on my radar was because of some surprisingly fantastic reviews it received upon its release plus some glowing recommendations from co-workers.  While there's admittedly very little story here, The Raid: Redemption is a pretty great action movie filled with some incredible fight sequences and some very tense moments making this one of the better films to come out in 2012.

What little story there is involves a police unit heading into a fifteen-story high rise apartment building in Jakarta, Indonesia, to take down a drug kingpin named Tama (Ray Sahetapy) who is the unit's scummy landlord.  We meet policeman Rama (Iko Uwais) in the opening scenes which show us that he's an expectant father and is quite honestly the only character trait attributed to him.  But the lack of character development surprisingly didn't bother me in the slightest.  Instead, as Rama and his fellow officers make the climb up the fifteen stories fighting off Tama's goons along the way, we're treated to some amazing fight sequences that are choreographed with such precision that it really made me wonder how in the hell they were done.

Writer-director Gareth Evans eschews the quick cutting we're used to seeing in American action movies and instead allows the camera to linger over certain action sequences.  That's not to say we're treated to overly long shots, but there was never a manic sense given to the editing of the fight scenes.  I will say that I was a bit worried at the start of the film.  Things were overly dark and there were some moments where I wasn't quite sure what was going on because of how lowly lit everything was.  However, about thirty minutes in, things brighten up (and the cast is whittled down thanks to the various deaths) and the film becomes much easier to follow.  Evans treats us to several sequences of genuine tension including one involving a hidden closet and a machete that will undoubtedly appear in my favorite scenes of the year list.  Yes, there are some moments of cheesiness whenever Evans actually tries to tell a story rather than focus on the action -- including a reveal for Rama about a family member involved in Tama's seedy underworld -- but the director never lingers on them for too long since he knows quite well the emotional moments can't hold a candle to the fight sequences.

Quite honestly, there's not a lot to say about The Raid: Redemption because if it's a film you want to see, I've already said enough to convince you to watch it, and if it's a film you don't want to see, you checked out when you read the first sentence of this review.  That being said, it's not a film I'd say was in my "wheelhouse" whatsoever, but I found it refreshing (albeit uncomfortably violent at times) and am quite happy I checked it out.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+