Indonesia, 2011: The Raid

[Conde Koma]

Serbuan Maut
“The Raid: Redemption”
Indonesia, 2011
Genre: Action, Gangster
101 minutes
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1899353/

A team of special police officers must fight their way through an apartment building controlled by one of the most powerful drug lords in Indonesia.

The latest project by Indonesian-based Welsh director Gareth Evans, The Raid is the sum result of over forty years of martial arts cinema. Starring the exceptionally talented Silat master Iko Uwais, he and Evans build on their success and experiences with the film Merantau to craft a gorgeous and stunning tribute to the world of fight films. Although written by Evans, the dialogue is sparse, giving only just enough background to invest the audience into the story and leaving the rest up to conjecture and implication. It reminds me a great deal of short action films made by the semi-pro crews on Youtube, only expanded out to a full feature length project instead of confining itself to a paltry fifteen minutes. However, simply because it’s light on words doesn’t mean you should assume it’s a mindless gore-fest. The cast delivers where they can, and the non-verbal chemistry between actors works wonderfully. Evans manages to make sure everyone does a great deal with very little, and it comes off as much more than an intentionally cheesy or over-the-top film with no artistic merit. If you go in and don’t see anything beyond the blood and guts, I can assure you that it won’t be because there’s nothing else there.



At the risk of seeming hyperbolic, The Raid quite possibly has the greatest martial arts action sequences I have ever seen. It is the product of its history, and effectively uses techniques and styles from everything that has come before it. Yayan Ruhian and Uwais’s choreography is all at once brilliant, brutal, and beautiful. Using the spinning kicks and sweeps from the classic Hong Kong era, to the frantic winner-take-all frenzy of modern American films, to the crushing impact of Muay Thai, with a liberal dosing of local Indonesian Silat flavor, cinematographer Matt Flannery manages to capture it all with breathtaking grit and clarity. The sound design picks up where the visuals leave off, leaving every punch, kick, and break echo with fearsome authenticity. The shootouts are equally as intense, a storm of bullets and muzzle flares that boggles the mind with fear and violence. And while the score seems a bit on the generic side of heart-thumping techno beats, it definitely sets a strong tone and pace for the whole movie.

This is the textbook definition of a non-stop action thriller. It drops you right into the tension from the very beginning, and it will keep you on the edge of your seat until the final bullet rings out, and maybe after that as well. This is an absolute must-see for anyone with the stomach for real gut-wrenching action, with no punches pulled. Ladies and gentlemen, the bar has officially been raised.



Blog Link: http://fightfilmfriday.wordpress.com...iday-the-raid/

[It is Fake]

Now, if you like silat, FMA, Arnis, and Kung Tao you need to see the movie. The only flaw is when they take a longish break to push the story along. It screws up the pacing. Other than that, this movie was better than Expendable for me. I loved Expendables for cheesiness.

This is one of those movies that would make you take up Silat.

[Lebell]

Plenty of silat schools over here, as they were our colony.
It's horrible if you're over 5 feet tall because of the ridiculously low stances.
I like their food though.

[It is Fake]

What they did in this movie looked much close to muay thai with silat type trapping and knife fighting.

[Lebell]

What they did in this movie looked much close to muay thai with silat type trapping and knife fighting.

I was trying to watch it but didnt succeed.
I keep getting very poor quality versions.

[Elemental Fist]

It should be noted that the film's director Gareth has stated that he's trying to avoid bringing in the mystism of Silat in his films.

[Killbot]

Brutal fuckin movie.

[Tranquil Suit]

Watched it recently, IT IS GREAT!
Like IIF said, they fucked up the pacing a little. And the end was kinda anti climactic, they could've switched the last two scenes for an easy fix.

But those are minor issues, since the pace they set and keep building for almost the whole movie is PHWOOOAAAR.

[Permalost]

I saw it a few weeks ago. Good action movie, with some very suspenseful scenes (I liked the John Carpenter style music build up before the big gunfight, and when the machete gang was looking for them and tapping the blades on the wall). Oh, and the scene where the guy's trying to chop through the floor as the bad guys are breaking down the door. Very well choreographed, excellent musical selections, barely any story.

It was kinda weird how they break in and it suddenly becomes a huge, huge gunfight but then the rest of the movie they forget about guns entirely and all of a sudden its a martial arts movie. I would've liked to see firearms come into play more in the martial arts scenes.

[Tranquil Suit]

They ran out of bullets and/or and live peope who can hold the guns.

Besides, anyone still standing after the first 30 minutes was clearly immune to guns anyway.