He may look short, but Mad Dog will tear you up and spit you out.
Today, I’ll be talking about a couple of martial arts movies
that have been critically acclaimed.
They don’t come from China but from the land of Indonesia. In 2012, The
Raid: Redemption was released. It was an Indonesian film directed by Gareth
Evans. To say this movie did fine is an understatement. The movie was met with
positive reviews when it was released. It did so well it even spawned a sequel
which was released last year. Even Hollywood wants to remake the film using
American actors, so that should tell you that the movie might be good.
I heard about how the first movie was really similar to
2012’s Dredd, so I rented it. By the way, their plots are similar, but the
movies are different enough. I’m guessing it was a coincidence since they were
released in the same year. I will say that I was interested in how a sequel
would pan out. When The Raid 2: Berandal was released in theatres last year, I
tried to see it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to and just decided to rent it. I
remember enough about them to give an opinion. I even watched them undubbed which
is something I’ve been doing with most foreign movies. With that said, let’s
hit it.
The Raid: Redemption
In the movie, our hero and his Indonesian SWAT team is
ordered to secretly raid a drug lord’s apartment complex. Tama, the drug lord,
finds out about it and basically sets the whole complex against the team. It’s
a bloody, grueling fight to the top. Our main hero and his team have to survive
the many denizens of the complex and get the drug lord.
I liked this movie when I first saw it. While the story is
pretty basic, it is a good one. It’s an action movie through and through. You
kind of don’t know who from the team is going to make it. You don’t even know
if Rama, our main hero, will make it. I thought Rama was okay as the main
character. There’s a lot more going on in the story than just a raid which
makes the story more interesting. I also liked the drug lord even though he
really didn’t do much. The standout character for me (at least action-wise) was
the drug lord’s enforcer, Mad Dog. Man, he was mixing it up!
Ouch. That's got to hurt.
Are there any problems with the movie? I don’t have many,
but I do have a major one. I’m not a big fan of really gory stuff. There are
times where I can handle it and times where I can’t look at the screen. The
violence did get a little unsettling at times. Mad Dog’s neck issues are just
one unsettling scene. Other than that, I think this movie’s good. The story may
be simple, but it’s decent. The action here makes this a movie to watch.
The Raid 2: Berandal
The next movie actually takes place a couple of hours after
the end of the first one. Rama ends up being assigned under some task force
that’s supposed to root out corruption in the police department. He goes deep
undercover and spends two years in prison. He befriends Uco, the son of a
notorious kingpin, after saving him. When he’s released from prison, he’s
employed by the kingpin and serves as Uco’s bodyguard. Things heat up when Uco
tries to start a gang war with another notorious gangster. Rama does all he can
in order to bring them all to justice.
Hmm... they must be listening to some Miley Cyrus. That can make anyone hurt.
This was another good one in my opinion. Instead of being a
straight-up action movie, it’s a crime drama sprinkled with high-octane, bloody
action. The story may not be original, but it is a good one. It kept me
interested until the end. It also built off things that were established in the
first movie. I liked the hero in this. He had a lot to handle with being
undercover and what not. I was interested in how his story played out.
I especially liked the villains here. Unlike the drug lord
from the first movie, these villains had more of a reach and were more powerful.
While most of them were just evil, some
like Uco and his father had some interesting depth to them. I also thought Uco
was a cool main villain. I also noticed that he looked a little like the late
Brandon Lee. The henchmen were also pretty cool. There aren’t many movies where
we see a girl in shades kill folk with twin hammers.
... yeah, I got nothing.
Of course, this movie wouldn’t be complete without the action.
The fight scenes and action scenes were really awesome. They were on par with
the first movie and were probably better as well. We even get a pretty cool car
chase/fight scene. While the last fight went a little long, it was still really
good. The fights in the prison, the car chase scene, and the final fights are
my favorite fights from the movie.
There are a couple of things that I’m not a fan of. Once
again, there is the gore to consider. A
lot of it is still unsettling and I think this one is gorier than the last
movie. There were some scenes I couldn’t
look at. The runtime is also a little longer than usual. The total runtime is
148 minutes. While it does keep you interested, that’s pretty long even for
most action movies. There was some stuff that could have been cut down a bit. Other
than these things, the movie is still good and is a must-see.
……………………………………………………………………………..
In the end, these are a couple of good action movies. I
recommend them with one reservation: if you’re not a fan of really gory stuff,
you may want to stay away from them… or at least see an edited version if one
exists. I don’t know what the next sequel will bring, but I know it’ll be
something good. As for the Hollywood remake, I don’t get it. The first movie
has only been out for less than five years and Hollywood thinks it can do
better. I’m not going to say that Hollywood is out of ideas, but I will say that
Hollywood can be stupid most of the time. Well, I have to finish watching this
one movie and I will finally be able to talk about some guy name Tony Jaa.
Peace and God Bless.
NEXT TIME: ONG-BAK!
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