In the original Indonesian action film RAID: THE REDEMPTION from 2011, Welsh writer/director Gareth Evans didn’t bother much with story or character development, instead making his film a kind of videogame-inspired siege. Rookie cop Rama (Iko Uwais) powered his way through a 15-story tenement infested with killers, gangsters, and mobsters in a war that left bodies literally piled in the halls. Though RAID: THE REDEMPTION had a slight story, it was an unbelievably violent and excitingly frenetic film, a non-stop orgy of brilliantly choreographed fight scenes that scored on so many levels. With the sequel, THE RAID 2, Evans has applied the same high-impact directorial style to a sprawling, more complex, THE DEPARTED-like story about crime family dynamics, corrupt politicians, moral dilemmas and mixed loyalties. The result is a 2 ½ hour epic of compelling drama punctuated by fist-pumping action, and stomach-churning violence that barely gives the audience a moment to catch their breath. It’s a richer and more ambitious film than the original and it features my two new favorite villains: Hammer Girl and Bat Boy!
THE RAID 2 picks up just after the first film. After battling his way out of that building, Rama thinks he’s done and can resume a normal life, but his opponents there were just the tip of the criminal iceberg. His family at risk, Rama must go undercover and enter prison to connect with Uco (Arifin Putra), the hotheaded son of crime boss Bangun (Tio Pakusadewo). Once he’s released, he works his way into the mob and attempts to use his position to uncover their police connections. His greatest challenge comes in Uco, who betrays his father and sets off a bloody gang war with Rama in the middle.
THE RAID 2 is everything you’d want in a police action thriller: powerhouse characters, Grade A production values, a decent script and suspenseful direction. But most people will see the film for its action scenes and they won’t be disappointed. A bloody, muddy free-for-all in a prison yard kicks things off, faces are blasted to hamburger with shotguns, an extended car chase results in motorcycles sliding underneath the wheels of speeding cars (the complexity of this sequence boggles the mind), and there are several close-quarters brawls – one in a kitchen, another in a toilet stall, and another in a taxi – that have to be seen to be believed. The carnage is extreme and cruel and each blood-soaked action sequence is one-upped by the next. Yayan Ruhian, who played rabid villain Mad Dog in part 1 is back as a different character, a homeless, machete-wielding martial arts master. Hammer Girl and Bat Boy, the hoodie-wearing assassin who inflicts massive carnage with lumber and the deaf woman who gouges her prey with a claw hammer are minor characters, but when they show up, they send THE RAID 2 into a kind of insane overdrive and I’d like to see them featured in their own movie.
For some THE RAID 2 may just be too much; a blur of fists, blades, severed arteries, smashed faces and bullet-riddled bodies that run together into a hard-to-take bloody mess. It is as violent as any movie you’ll see outside (maybe) of some ‘torture porn’ horror and anyone remotely squeamish should steer far, far away. There may be a few too many dialog scenes that break the momentum but THE RAID 2 is presented with such assured direction and brutal fight choreography, it’ll leave you wide-eyed and gasping. Part 3 (filming now!) can’t get here soon enough!
4 1/2 of 5 Stars
THE RAID 2 Opens in St. Louis Friday, April 11th at (among other places) Landmark’s Tivoli Theater
Director/Writer Gareth Evans’ THE RAID 2 arrives in U.S. theaters today (March 28th) and Sony Pictures Classics’ will release the film in St. Louis on Friday, April 11.
After having an early look at Evans’ film, my fellow Movie Geeks are raving about it.
Tom Stockman, calls the R-rated movie, “a hyper-violent, adrenaline-fueled epic!” Jim Batts says, “RAID 2 is a non-stop thrill ride that will have your heart pumping almost from the first fade-in to the final fade-out! It’s an action film lover’s fever dream!” Look for WAMG’s review in the coming weeks.
Here’s what goes down in THE RAID 2 –
He thought it was over. After fighting his way out of a building filled with gangsters and madmen – a fight that left the bodies of police and gangsters alike piled in the halls – rookie Jakarta cop Rama thought it was done and he could resume a normal life. He couldn’t have been more wrong.
Formidable though they may have been, Rama’s opponents in that fateful building were nothing more than small fish swimming in a pond much larger than he ever dreamed possible. And his triumph over the small fry has attracted the attention of the predators farther up the food chain. His family at risk, Rama has only one choice to protect his infant son and wife: He must go undercover to enter the criminal underworld himself and climb through the hierarchy of competing forces until it leads him to the corrupt politicians and police pulling the strings at the top of the heap.
And so Rama begins a new odyssey of violence, a journey that will force him to set aside his own life and history and take on a new identity as the violent offender “Yuda.” In prison he must gain the confidence of Uco – the son of a prominent gang kingpin – to join the gang himself, laying his own life on the line in a desperate all-or-nothing gambit to bring the whole rotten enterprise to an end.
THE RAID 2 was produced by Ario Sagantoro for Merantau Films, and Aram Tertzakian and Nate Bolotin of XYZ Films. The film was executive produced by Rangga Maya Barack-Evans for Merantau Films, Irwan D. Mussry, Nick Spicer and Todd Brown on behalf of XYZ.
Matt Flannery (THE RAID: REDEMPTION) and Dimas Imam Subhono served as cinematographers.
To get the look on THE RAID 2, Evans and the behind-the-scenes team focused their efforts on balancing the old and the new. They wanted to make sure the audience recognized the familiar setting from the original, while exploring new parts of this environment.
The sequel focuses on of Rama entering Jakarta’s underworld, where the stakes are higher. The sequel was shot in cinemascope in order to provide a wider frame and give the story a more epic feel. The photography also explored a wider range of the color palette, using different lighting for each character. The film opens with similar tones as the first one and shifts as Rama enters the criminal organization.
Shooting the film was a learning experience. On MERANTAU, the team learned to shoot martial arts. On THE RAID: REDEMPTION, they learned to shoot gunfights. And on THE RAID 2 they went one step further, adding car chases to the mix.
On MERANTAU we felt we were focusing on the narrative drama scenes. For the action scenes, the takes were too long. We learned from that and fixed things on THE RAID: REDEMPTION. THE RAID: REDEMPTION had a majority of action scenes. We got to play a lot with camera angles and fluidity. Finding a new way to shoot action scenes. THE RAID 2 is a much bigger project. What we chose to do is a combination of the two elements we learned from MERANTAU and THE RAID: REDEMPTION: dynamic, edgy and fluid camera movements, while at the same time knowing when to go for more classical and sophisticated compositions (when to use jimmy jib, steady cams and dolly track). Combining those two different styles was an interesting challenge in that respect. (Evans)
Because this was the first time a car chase of this scale was shot in Indonesia, a lot of time was spent on logistics. Unlike places like Hong Kong or the UK, where they have been shooting car chases for years, Indonesia did not have a particular set-up for this. The production team had to build the structure itself to achieve specific shots:
“We had to have a shoot from the inside of one car going down a highway with the camera moving to another car straight away ,then have the back window to blown out for the camera to follow through the back window and out again. To do that, we discussed different combinations of computer-generated imagery, visual effects, green screens and so on. After a long discussion, we felt like we would be technically limited if we were to use too many special effects. In the end we decided to do it for real, meaning moving the camera from one camera operator to the other.
This is something we had done on THE RAID: REDEMPTION when we went through a hole on the floor. It was done in a controlled environment and the only issue was the person passing the camera to another. But the difficulty here was to pass the camera between moving cars on a highway. It was risky shot, but thankfully after a number of takes it was done well”. (Evans)
Camera moves were carefully integrated into the martial arts choreography. The fighters’ moves were choreographed to the slightest detail, and so were camera movements. Camera angles were designed before the shoot, so it never feels like the camera interferes with the action. A constant mantra during shooting was to highlight the actors’ performances.
Additionally, Madison Gate Records and SpaceLab9 have announced the worldwide release of THE RAID 2 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. The album hit digital retailers on March 25th, with the CD format coming April 29, 2014, followed by a deluxe vinyl LP edition early summer 2014.
Composer Joseph Trapanese (The Raid: Redemption, Oblivion, TRON: Uprising) returns along with Aria Prayogi and Fajar Yuskemal to provide a score equal parts electronic and orchestral, deeply layered and breathtaking, all while perfectly complimenting the frenetic on-screen action of THE RAID 2. The 24-track album features original motion picture score with over an hour of music, plus the original song “Hush” written and performed by Indonesian jazz artist Arti Dewi.
“It is with great pleasure that I share with you the original soundtrack to ‘THE RAID 2,’ a creative collaboration with director Gareth Evans that was equal parts inspired, fun, and satisfying,” says composer Joseph Trapanese. “I’m thrilled that Madison Gate Records and SpaceLab9 are releasing the album so that all the fans can relive this film’s brutality and beauty.”
Julie Estelle as Hammer Girl. Photo by Akhirwan Nurhaidir and Gumilar Triyoga, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
Premiering in January 2014 at the Sundance Film Festival, watch the new trailer for Gareth Evans’ THE RAID 2: BERANDAL.
Starring Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian, Arifin Putra, Oka Antara, Tio Pakusadewo, and Alex Abbad, the film continues where the first film ends. It continues with Rama (Uwais) going undercover and infiltrates the ranks of a ruthless Jakarta crime syndicate in order to protect his family and to uncover the corruption in his own police force.
Here’s what the director had to say over on Twitter.
@alibolong The Raid 2 takes place 2hrs after the first, The Raid 3 would start 2hrs before The Raid 2 ends.
THE RAID premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, where it took home the Audience Award in the Midnight Madness section. It went on to play at Sundance and SXSW, before it’s release in U.S. theaters through Sony Pictures Classics. Read Travis Keune’s review here: https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2012/04/the-raid-redemption-the-review/
When production on RAID 2 began in January 2013, the writer/director said, “To all our fans thank you so much for your support. We can’t wait to come back and show you what we have been working on.” “We’ll be there in 2014 with a film bigger, better and bloodier! Wish us luck.”
Sony Pictures Classics and Stage 6 Films will release the THE RAID 2 theatrically in the United States.
One of the biggest horror hits of last year was V/H/S, a movie that capitalized on the found footage craze by introducing the found footage anthology. The idea was that a bunch of directors coming together could exploit the best thrills that found footage had to offer, without any of the dull parts that come from having to pad out such movies to feature-length. Unfortunately, only two or so of the six shorts that made up V/H/S were any good, the rest running the gamut from bland to bad to downright ugly. But it did well enough to warrant a sequel, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. S-VHS is basically the same formula redux – five found footage horror shorts.
Here’s the thing, though: this film is a remarkable improvement on its predecessor, in pretty much every department. The production value on each short has skyrocketed. The directing, acting, and writing across the board has gotten a serious shot in the arm. The result is that S-VHS is, for the most part, a lot of fun in the theater. It’s all the more surprising given the incredibly short turnaround on the movie’s production – it started filming late last year. It turned out to be one of the best surprises at Sundance 2013.
While the overall anthology is well worth a look, here’s each individual segment broken down:
Tape 49
Directed by Simon Barrett, and undoubtedly the worst segment in the lot. This one acts as a framing sequence for all the other films, which is its undoing. How can a movie possibly be scary when it continually breaks for other movies? There’s no way to build any kind of atmosphere. But even if it were to be reedited into one piece, it wouldn’t flow well at all. The premise has a private investigator and his partner/girlfriend break into a house while looking for a missing college student. The found footage POV comes from the video cameras that they use to film their investigation, because… um… reasons. The girl begins watching some VHS tapes she discovers, and each tape is one of the other segments in the film. It’s building some kind of mythology for this franchise, as it follows from a similar framing sequence in the first film. What’s the point, though? Why does there have to be a justification for any of this? Why can’t these movies just consist one short film after another? It’s so silly.
Phase I Clinical Trials
Directed by Adam Wingard. The found footage POV comes from the recordings of a mechanical eye that has been transplanted into the main character (also played by Wingard). Despite the absurd premise, the movie settles into an interesting groove, as it turns out that this robot eye can see ghosts. There are some thrilling jump scares, although it’s disappointing that that’s the most the film really aims for. It doesn’t go very far with its cool premise. Just as the movie seems to be about to dive into the wider implications of the setup, it ends. Fun but airless.
A Ride in the Park
Directed by Eduardo Sanchez (director of The Blair Witch Project and thus one of the fathers of this style) and Gregg Hale, with found footage POV from a helmet cam. A guy, as you might expect from the title, goes for a ride in the park, only to encounter zombies. He’s promptly bitten and becomes one himself, making this the first zombie movie from the perspective of the undead. That’s enough to refresh the tired genre, and this segment, while not very scary, has its exciting bits, as well as some delightfully gruesome gore effects. It also ends on a surprisingly moving note of pathos.
Safe Haven
Directed by Gareth Evans and Timo Tjahjanto, with found footage POV from documentary film cameras, security camera footage, hidden button cams, one handheld device, and… well, there’s a lot of “eyes” in this segment. A team of journalists arrange an interview with a secretive cult leader, and go to meet him at his remote underground sanctuary. It quickly becomes apparent that something big is about to go down, and once it does, events spiral into escalating chaos that eventually reaches apocalyptic proportions. Far and away the best of the shorts, and on its own, probably one of the best horror films I’ve seen in a while. The way it builds and then releases (and releases, and releases… and releases) tension is unbelievable, and creates a fantastic atmosphere of dread that breaks into sheer terror. The only issue is that there are so many cameras in play (at least a dozen) that it might as well not be found footage. After a certain point, the question of why this wasn’t just a regularly-shot movie comes up. But whatever – it’s a horrifying blast of a film.
Slumber Party Alien Abduction
Directed by Jason Eisener, POV from a home video camera, which spends most of the short strapped to a dog. Yes, a dog-cam. The title is pretty much self-explanatory. There is a slumber party, and then aliens invade. The odd thing about this segment is that the first half, before the aliens come, is actually way more enjoyable and interesting than the second half. It’s all about a group of kids messing around with one another in a series of pranks, and it’s funny and feels completely authentic. Once the aliens show up, it feels more like the parents have come home early and spoiled our fun, rather than the beginning of a roller coaster of terror. While the aliens have a great, nightmare-inducing look, they aren’t very scary, thanks to barely-coherent camera work (again: dog-cam). There’s also the fact that most of the abduction is lit with a strobe light, a confounding decision that creates headaches instead of suspense. Eisener should absolutely make a feature-length movie about kids doing kid stuff (found footage I can take or leave), but this is half great, half a snore.
