By: Anthony Zangrillo
In 2011, Gareth Evans made The Raid. A nippy 100-minute film that gave us probably the best action sequences choreographed in the last decade. The greatest thing about The Raid was that it didn’t take any compromises, heads were cracked open, limbs were broken and unlike most action features that we’ve seen in the last decade—people actually looked like they were hurt. But most importantly, it was a lot of fun to watch and it established Gareth Evans as one of the most promising action directors on the horizon.
Ultimately, The Raid resonated with audiences worldwide and it made a smattering amount of money considering it’s minuscule 1.5 million dollar budget. This, following interest from the director to make a sequel would pave itself for The Raid 2. But does director Gareth Evans deliver? I’m pleased to say that he does.
The Raid 2 comes from the “bigger is better” school of sequels. The Raid 2 follows 2 hours immediately after the events of The Raid, in which our protagonist Rama needs to go undercover and infiltrate the ranks of an Indonesian crime syndicate to protect his family and to uncover the corruption in the police force he works in.
From the get go, we get the feeling that The Raid 2 would be much more bigger than it’s predecessor. The films open with a wide shot of a field with storm clouds hanging overhead and a open grave waiting for a person to fill it. It’s a nice way of telling the audience that they should expect the same mayhem as they saw in the first film—but it’s all going to be bigger. The same could be said about the narrative, the scope of the narrative itself is huge, as it goes from it’s setting of the claustrophobic apartment complex in The Raid to open air Jakarta.
Because the action in the movie is the driving force of what is going on and the reason why people even show up, the story is almost as big as all of the set pieces. It’s almost impossible to catch up with all of the new characters, double crosses, motives and events that take up in the film. But to give credit to where credit is due, the narrative never feels forced and the story is never too confusing. In the end, it’s still pretty messy…but it serves its purpose and it’s never too stupid or too confusing to mess with your immersion into the film.
The action itself is also top notch; Gareth Evans is probably the best director working with action today. The greatest thing about The Raid 2 concerns the geography of the fights, even though the set pieces are huge; you’re never confused as to what’s happening on screen. Shaky cam is also used sparingly and effectively. Like it’s predecessor, all of the violence happening on screen feels real. This ultimately shapes up to turn into a movie where you will argue with your friends over which fight scene was the best, but you probably won’t reach a good answer because all of the fights in the movie are amazing. In the end, The Raid 2 is a “perfect sequel.” It expands upon the scope of its predecessor and it manages to deliver everything and more to what The Raid gave us. The story itself is pretty baggy, but in the end—it never becomes a problem. Believe me, it’s been 2 hours since I’ve watched The Raid 2 and I’m still having the same adrenaline rush I had while I was watching the movie.
I give this movie a 9/10.
