The sequel to the awesome Raid movie, the question was how
do you top the original movie. Similar to Dredd, the Raid was about a bunch of
police officers who went to raid a crimelords building. Of course, the crime lord
found out they were coming and subsequently slaughtered most of them.
The original Raid movie was awesome because of the tight
action sequences set in densely packed corridors. It felt like an action game
brought to life well, which is no small compliment to the movie. And it managed
to do this with a minimalist storyline. Minimalist doesn’t mean bad, however,
as the storyline, like the action movie, was a tightly woven story of betrayal
and justice as a rookie cop finally succeeds in his mission.
The Raid 2 begins where the Raid leaves off, with the main
character, Rama, being recruited to go undercover to root out more crooked
cops. Starting off in a prison, we are once again treated to some slick action
sequences before the movie turns into a suspenseful crime drama of betrayal and
corruption. This story is surprisingly engaging, and it still works on a
minimalistic style. There isn’t a wasted detail or scene.
And then there is the finale. The set-up all leads to a
showdown as a one-man army of Rama goes through a bunch of gangsters. Every
action sequence is unique and brings something new to the table, from
introducing cool new characters (such as hammer-girl) or, my favourite, when
Rama is escaping from a car.
In short, The Raid 2 lives up and even surpasses the
original in several areas. It runs at 150 minutes, but it feels like every line
and scene achieved a point. The storyline was more involved without ever
feeling bloated, and the action sequences were just as good, or even better
than the original as they had allot more freedom in terms of locations and
props.
5 out of 5 machete cut waffles.
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