edit: Since there is this charming publicist lady who won't stop asking me to put this up. YOU CAN BUY THE DVD HERE
The action movies business has been the most boring thing for over a decade, now. It's always the same story. Some young director comes out of the woodworks, promising the grittiest, most badass movie since the glory days of Arnold Schwarzenegger and yet always end up shooting an unwatchable turd with metrosexual, airbrushed assholes striking poses and shaky, jumbled cam whenever things are supposed to get interesting. When Indonesian flick THE RAID: REDEMPTION started buzzing in local cinemas, I saw a flicker of hope in that fact. Asian cinema has a tradition of being dark and fearless. The Japanese and the Korean are already reputable for horror and crime, so why not Indonesia for action? But like an idiot, I held on watching THE RAID: REDEMPTION, because Roger Ebert of all people, gave it a scathing review. The old man's opinions have been garbage since he before I was born and this is no different. His review of THE RAID: REDEMPTION is as superficial as it gets. It's a quality action movie.
The action movies business has been the most boring thing for over a decade, now. It's always the same story. Some young director comes out of the woodworks, promising the grittiest, most badass movie since the glory days of Arnold Schwarzenegger and yet always end up shooting an unwatchable turd with metrosexual, airbrushed assholes striking poses and shaky, jumbled cam whenever things are supposed to get interesting. When Indonesian flick THE RAID: REDEMPTION started buzzing in local cinemas, I saw a flicker of hope in that fact. Asian cinema has a tradition of being dark and fearless. The Japanese and the Korean are already reputable for horror and crime, so why not Indonesia for action? But like an idiot, I held on watching THE RAID: REDEMPTION, because Roger Ebert of all people, gave it a scathing review. The old man's opinions have been garbage since he before I was born and this is no different. His review of THE RAID: REDEMPTION is as superficial as it gets. It's a quality action movie.
A whole SWAT platoon is mandated to bust through a reputable criminal stronghold and take out underworld legend Tama Riyadi (Ray Sahetapy). Elite soldiers like Rama (Iko Uwais) and Jaka (Joe Taslim) are mandated to this very special task force. Tama was expecting them and welcomes them with an offer to the tenants of his apartment tower. Rent is no longer a problem for whoever kills policemen. The mission suddenly becomes living hell as fiends, criminals and homicidal madmen start busting out of every door. Rama and Jaka both request for backup, which is denied by their platoon leader. There is a problematic issue with the mission, that is very detrimental to their chances of survival, to say the least. Nobody knows there here. Even worse, there's only one way out of the building and it's blocked by bloodthirsty maniacs.
Roger Ebert's main complaint was about the overbearing nature of the violence in THE RAID: REDEMPTION. He's got a point. Violence and death are annoyingly portrayed as beautiful and it's all over that film. Blood twirls out of people's heads in beautiful spirals as they get shot in the head. People literally croak on camera in the most undignified way and I'm supposed to be awed? Not exactly your gaze-into-the-abyss stuff I like so much. But it's only one dimension of THE RAID: REDEMPTION and the only aesthetic choice that I would openly condemn, although some people might get off on such a gory spectacle.
There is a lot of kicking in the mug happening.
The thing I preferred about THE RAID: REDEMPTION was the way the story is being told. Let's get something out of the way. It's a simple story with main goal of displaying as many fight scenes and gruesome kills as possible, but it's efficient. It's in media res approach works beautifully. You are witnessing an continuous fight that's about two hours long and yet the events bring light on what brought the policeman inside the building and add layers of interest into the ongoing conflict. You learn the secrets behind the raid and the sucker-punching secrets that some members of the police force live with. Despite betting mainly on visuals, the narrative of THE RAID: REDEMPTION can surprise you as well.
If you've watched Asian movies before, you will recognize patterns from the South Korean and the Japanese masters, a particular way of doing things. Director Gareth Evans (who is Dutch...go figure) makes a lot of effort trying to keep the viewer on his toes and finding new ways to break with the conventional viewing experience. Some of it reminded me of a video game dramatic construction *. THE RAID: REDEMPTION gets to a point where it lacks steam (it's not a great movie when people don't fight or argue in a life-and-death situation), but it acknowledges its weaknesses and try not to dwell on the down moments. Bottom line is, it's not because somebody is a renowned critic that he cannot be wrong. You might hate THE RAID: REDEMPTION and not be able to see through its strange portrayal of extreme violence. But that's the kind of thing that doesn't bother me if the film is worth it and THE RAID: REDEMPTION has a lot more that blood and death to offer.
FOUR STARS
*There is this terrific, atmospheric scene where Jaka is trying to gauge his attack on a hoodlum, judging by the approaching, tingling sound of a machete on the wall, for example.