This is a relentless and very impressive action/martial arts movie. The fight scenes are probably from the best ones I have ever seen and the understated performances of the protagonists fit perfectly here. I m wondering how did I miss this 10 years ago...probably because it's Indonesian! Written and directed by a Welsh guy -who discovered the Indonesian lead Iko- together with a tight editing and insane fight scenes (mostly Indonesian and some mixed martial arts) makes this a must to watch for fans of the martial arts genre and not only. If you want to stay bolted at your seat while watching an action film -and you don't mind of course the violence- then check this out. From the top 10 contemporary martial arts flicks out there, 9/10.
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After seeing the trailer, I knew I had to see this movie. Rarely our my high expectation met but The Raid surpassed it. If your seeing this movie, it's because you want to see action and The Raid hit every mark. The action is a mix of shootouts, hand to hand weapons, and mostly good ol' fashioned fists.
The Raid proves again how far behind American action films are. I've seen other great foreign action films like Ong-Bak, The Protector, and Ip man but The Raid surpasses them by highlighting a martial art style not shown in any recent films. Its brutal and never lets up. It's not your typical ultra clean fighting that has been done to death but something that looks real and desperate at times as people try to survive outnumbered.
Story wise it isn't anything great but at the same time it's better than most martial arts films due to interesting twists and being incredibly well paced to before you know it its over and you want more.
If your a fan of action films, there isn't any better out there now or any even close in decades past. -
gregsrants12 September 2011The Raid, a new non-stop cornucopia action film, comes from the most unlikely of sources – Indonesia. But don't let the country of origin fool you. The Raid is jam packed with some of the best action sequences we've seen in years and audiences are sure to walk away with an adrenaline rush punch to the gut that far exceeds their forked (over) entertainment dollar.
Starring a bunch of actors we can guarantee you have never heard of and written and directed by Gareth Evans (another name you are surely not to recognize), The Raid offers big time action sequences chalked full of gunfights, knife fights and enough hand-to-hand combat to rival any movie in recent memory.
The idea behind The Raid is remedial. A group of well armed police officers enter a 15-story apartment complex overflowing with a group of better armed drug dealers and bad guys intent on holding their ground. The police are lead by an over anxious Lieutenant who leads his squad of mostly rookies into the apartment complex where they are quickly over matched and out gunned. Their objective is to find the drug lord who resides on the 15th floor and bring him to justice. Easier said than done.
Bodies on both sides of battle fall to the ground like rounds from a Gatling gun in an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. The police – those that survived the opening shootout – are split into two groups with Jaka (Joe Taslim) fighting alongside the Lieutenant and a rookie officer, and Rama (Iko Uwais) who tries to protect an injured officer while battling the hordes of oncoming baddies.
What ensues over the course of the next 80-minutes is a rip-roarin' blast of gratuitous bloodletting. The gun battles are more intense than the bank robbery scene in Michael Mann's Heat, the apartment hallway battles make the scene in Oldboy look like a Pixar film and the cops are as overmatched as U.S. Army Rangers were against an entire Somalian town Black Hawk Down.
Director Gareth Evans clearly wants you to leave your brains at the door and celebrate in violent beatings and fight sequences that were stylishly choreographed and continue with such relentless regularity that you almost want to pause the projector to catch your breath before the next group of bare-fisted bruisers hit the screen. Our two main leads take more body blows than John McClane did in all four Die Hard films and their resilience and ability to be beaten to a pulp and yet have the ability and the strength to continue fighting is beyond this reviewer's comprehension.
If there was but one small issue we had with the film it was that everyone who lived in the apartment complex had the fighting skills of an UFC righter or karate expert. Young, small, big or tall, they hall knew how to deliver a multiple high-kicks or at least take one and get right back up for more.
There is a small twist in the film that is clearly evident a reel before the actual reveal on screen, but it hardly takes away from the fun filled excitement leading up to the plot turn.
The sum of all its parts makes The Raid a must-see for anyone appreciative of non-stop battles where machetes are luxury and where a broken fluorescent tube can send a packed theatre into jubilant applause. It may lack the sophistication of The Departed, but it catered to an audience that couldn't get enough by the half-way mark and then was left gasping for air like a prized fighter in the 12th round towards its conclusion.
www.killerreviews.com -
xxhimuraxx24 March 2012I decided to wait a full day before writing a critical review on this movie to let my emotions die down - In conclusion i have nothing but praise for this movie.
If your goal is to walk into this movie and be psychologically challenged or expect great dialogue you will be disappointed. There are some movies that you need to walk into and know little of what will unfold to get the full cinematic experience. I always check the ratings of movies on IMDb before considering watching them and after reading some of the other user reviews on 'high octane' intensity and non stop fight scenes i in the least expected some good action in this movie. Even with that though i thought an entire movie could not be based on fighting scenes and score above an 8 on IMDb (boy was i wrong).
This movie is earning glowing reviews because of the action sequences filmed in the movie that place you in a cinematic experience where you actually feel like you are watching real men fight for their lives. It's nothing poetic with backflips and flexible positions but simply man vs man often equipping anything in the room to disarm/disable and kill their opponent. It places you in the hot seat viewing the closest things to actual killings - Now this isn't to say the movie slows down on blood spurts or zooms in when someone is getting their throat sliced - it simply shows it how it is, it's fast, real and intense.
In some of the other reviews you hear fans praising the knife fighting scenes. This movie was incredible with it's knife fights and how effective and swift they are in close quarters. The finish was always swiftly at the throat but that wasn't before 2 to 3 lightning touches to the chest/quads or arms to disable an opponent or render them shocked in pain.
Heres the bottom line: This movie was made on the smallest budget i've ever seen for any movie to hit international screens. The director and all actors are no names that you have never heard however i guarantee that you will never watch another action film again because the raid is groundbreaking in it's reality/intensity and quality of choreography.
Every movie that scores high ratings appeals to a certain group of audiences. This is a very specific movie but is well deserving of the praise it is receiving from our users at IMDb. It is my hope to see more of this action from the director and actors cause i honestly don't think i can ever watch a fighting movie again.
MUST WATCH 10/10 Excellent. -
yannigk25 March 2012OK, let me start by praising Iko Uwais. Of all the actors, this guy fits the character flawlessly and is a highly likable actor. I thought I'd root for Joe Taslim (Jaka) better because of his better looks and taller figure but Iko is perfect.
The movie in terms of story: interesting. The premise is very simple, a bunch of cops trapped in a hellish building filled with the devil's men who knows silat and dead set on killing the cops. However, I can't really tell whats going to happen next, and there's enough twists that actually works, even if they were rather cliché (the rookie, the corrupt officers, the help from a friendly neighbor, the .. i should stop.. or i'd spoil the movie). There's nothing new in terms of plot, but that's not really a big problem. I sure do hope Gareth can find better writers to write the story next time.
What I do like is the pacing. It goes boom boom boom boom! and then it rests a bit before going into suspense mode, scary mode, and then boom some more.
Line delivery? Not very good. Some lines were obviously translated from English (it's written by Gareth himself) and some sounds quite cheesy (overused in other movies), like A: "Why us? why now?" B: "Why not?" Or "I need to get in, my wife is sick" And a bunch of others..
Secondly, some of them are not professional actors and as an Indonesian watching an Indonesian movie without subtitles, I couldn't catch most of the things they said! I wished there were subtitles!! I wished there were Indonesian or English subtitles so that the foreigners in indo can enjoy the movie as well! (although there's one guy with a manado accent who talks funny, obviously a joke which will not be noticed by foreigners) They either talked really quickly, or had poor articulation/enunciation that I couldn't hear what they said and had to ask my sister, who also didn't catch what they said, and had to ask her boyfriend. The only one actor whom I can hear clearly even when talking fast is the gang boss (Ray Sahetapi).. A veteran actor, obviously trained for acting.
By the end of the movie we also concluded that the Indonesian vocabulary in terms of curse words is so very limited. The word "anjing!" (means "dog") is used over and over, by everybody.. And the word "bangsat" (a bedbug) a few times.. "Babi" (pig) once, "kampret" (a small bat) once... They all basically means the same thing "Bastard"... So, this either means we are a really polite culture.. Or that they're trying to avoid censor.. Or that the translator for gareth's script has not enough vocabulary list... or maybe I really didn't get the badness of those animal curse words..
I mean I can think of many English curse words that is not too dirty.. Like.. Scum, filth, bastard, jerk, son-of-a...., prick, damn, what the heck, slime.. OK I don't really know how to translate those words into spoken Indonesian either so...
The fights were great. I can't comment on the choreography because I'm not a professional, but it puts you on the edge of your seat, so I think that speaks for itself. They hit hard, they fall hard, they kill hard, they die hard. I thought that some fights could be sped up a bit, as some moves looks like it lags a bit in terms of syncing, but only by a bit. If not, it adds a real touch to the physicality of the movie.
Most of the girls shrieked and made wriggling sounds during fight sequences (yes, one really shrieked out loud), and many sighed a relief, almost awkward laugh, when those fight sequences end. Which, in my opinion, means that the fights were a great success.
As an animator I felt the CG was a bit...hmmm... CG blood is slightly overused, but still acceptable, but one shot stuck out like a sore finger to me, the one where one guy falls over and lands on a balcony ledge. I really wanted to fix that animation.. Hahahaa... But again, that's because I'm a trained animator, as other people in the cinema gasped in their seats thinking that was real etc.
All I know is, it lived up to my expectations (a minimal story fight movie). I look forward to Iko, Yayan, and Gareth's next collaboration, which is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0hYVksfyrQ Again, if you're an action movie fans, you'd probably like it. -
0U22 February 2020This is no doubt one of the greatest action movies I have ever seen. This is a violent movie with very little dialogue so know that before going in. The hand to hand fighting in this film is the best to ever be put on the big screen. This movie seriously blew me away. The one flaw would be that it doesn't have the greatest plot but it's enough to keep the action interesting. Please do yourself a favor and watch this movie! .............................................................. THE RAID: REDEMPTION QUOTES Let's clean this city's mess!
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kgprophet31 March 2012Increasingly now, foreign filmmakers are making better Hollywood action movies than Hollywood is. In this case an English director who evidently now works in Indonesia seems to have mastered all the action story tenets despite this being only his 3rd feature film. Even more, the number of layers to this story parallels the number of floors in the apartment building that is at the centre of this film. All I could think of is how Hollywood will eventually commandeer this film and make a lifeless by-the-numbers knock-off that will only stain the original. And of course, the budget of the original is about the same as a Hollywood B-list movie actor's salary.
This film is a disciple of the Asian extreme action genre, with over-the-top karate and acrobatics mixed with guns and violence. Betrayal isn't just a plot twist in these films, it's the first act. At least 5 or 6 betrayals are expected in these type of films where thieves betray other thieves, cops betray other cops, and honest guys get betrayed by best friends. What makes this film a standout is the unflinching action and well choreographed fight sequences by leads Yayan Ruhian and Iko Uwais. Early Jackie Chan movies got this kind of notice overseas because of their energy and gifted action instincts. Here, Gareth Evans is a one man powerhouse writer, director, and editor, masterminding this intricate chess match of good guys trapped on the sixth floor, with angry thugs coming up from the fifth floor and determined killers descending from the seventh floor. You feel our heroes feel trapped and vulnerable. Evans finds sources of tension from many places. The apartment building has tenants with unknown loyalties. The man heading the raid has unknown motives. Each character is well established with a minimum amount of screen time, keeping the action going.
I was urged by a movie reviewer to see this film, describing it as one of the best action movies ever made. And you have to agree, this film, after providing a few minutes of backstory, takes off straight into the police raid of the apartment building filled with bad guys and a gang lord. Cinematography takes lessons from "Saving Private Ryan", using hand-held documentary style footage during firefights, and blasting the soundtrack with dozens of loud guns firing at once. The pulsing synthesiser score also hits with the punchy music stabs that propel the momentum as the police troops make their way up to the big bad guy on the top floor.
Action sequences are creative and provide new angles and fight tactics that keep the hand-to-hand combat kinetic. Fans of the Bourne movies are encouraged to seek this out. (Not a coincidence that a Bourne Legacy trailer played before this showing). Many human moments also ground this film. An innocent man caught in the crossfire, gets asked to risk his life. A police squad leader who gets frustrated when the man conducting the raid puts his troops at risk. A child hired as lookout for the gang lord must die in order to prevent him from sounding the alarm.
There is an intensity to this film that resembles scenes from "Black Hawk Down", with very intelligent setups for conflict, and innovative approaches to getting from point A to point B. This fresh drive, propelled by good guy Iko Uwais makes this 1 hour 40 minute film zip along with no time out to catch your breath. The fact this film is subtitled will prevent it from being a widespread hit, although it will no doubt have a long life on DVD. Instead, I expect director Gareth Evans to be directing movies with 150 times the budget of this small gem within a very short time. -
dan-131519 November 2012How does a guy from Wales go to Indonesia, hook up with Indonesia's top- notch martial arts experts, and make one of Asia's greatest action movies of all time for a mere $1.1 million? I don't know, but all the reviews here are true, this is 100 minutes of non-stop action and violence with spectacular fight scenes and impressive fight choreography and direction. Sure, there's very little character development, but that's because there's simply no time for it.
This is the type of movie "Max Payne" and "Hitman" wanted to be. Hollywood should scoop director Gareth Evans up immediately and let him helm its biggest big-budgeted action pictures! -
Prismark1014 November 2014My knowledge of Indonesian cinema is somewhere between zero and zero. So when I heard about the excitement caused by an Indonesian martial arts thriller called The Raid, I felt I needed to check it out.
It's no secret that Hollywood action films have been stuck in a recent rut. They have relied on the same ageing bunch of actors making increasingly inferior films with tired scripts.
The Raid owes a debt to Die Hard as the action takes place in a tower block. A SWAT team are out to capture a crime lord and two of his most trusted man, the brutal Mad Dog and Andi located on the 15th floor.
The SWAT team includes a rookie, Rama (Iko Uwais) a devout Muslim with a young wife, heavily pregnant. The team is led by Sergeant Jaka and supervised by a shifty Lieutenant.
However the team are soon trapped as the raid is discovered and the hordes of bad guys start to pick off the SWAT team members until there are only a few left. Its Rama with his fighting skills that helps the others to survive but it seems he is getting help from an unlikely source and the remaining SWAT team members without help need to break out from the block to escape.
The version I watched is subtitled, the storyline is basic and functional. What is important is the unrelenting action and breathtaking choreography which is obviously inspired by Hong Kong martial arts cinema.
The film was directed by a Welshman, Gareth Huw Evans who is certainly a talent worth following. The Raid certainly deserves your time. -
NOTE: Early, gushing reviews from TIFF Midnight Madness presentations should not generally be trusted, as many fest-goers are unable to separate the film from the experience, and formal critical consensus often sends most Midnight films into obscurity. Thankfully, THE RAID earns its stripes and deserves its praise, and stands firmly above the typically overeager reactions heaped on many other films screened in the Midnight program this year and in years past.
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In the future, when someone tells you a movie is wall-to-wall martial arts and gunplay, you should have no choice but to ask them how it rates against this picture, which has so much gunfire and brutal martial arts action -- all of it meticulously choreographed in ways more refreshing than I'd ever have thought possible in this world of peak-performance Donnie Yens and Tony Jaas -- that I very nearly lost the hearing in my right ear, in no small part thanks to the tendency of TIFF sluggos to mistake volume for quality when adjusting their sound levels in an aged, less-than--acoustically-ideal theatre.
Star Iko Uwais is the real deal: wiry, lightning-fast and evidently the leader of a team of experts that truly takes martial arts choreography into new territory with this film (and, to a lesser extent, MERENTAU before it). If there's a downside to his inevitable celebrity because of this film, it's that Indonesian cinema in general will fare no better than Thai cinema has in the wake of Tony Jaa. Like Jaa, anything Uwais makes from this film on -- especially if he keeps teaming with writer-director Gareth Evans, as he should for at least a couple more pictures -- will gain instant and welcome interest from the west, while the rest of Indonesian cinema (such as it is!) will remain the domain of low-brow entertainment that caters largely to the locals, with the exception of the occasional horror movie that can be scooped up for exploitation by "Asian Extreme" DVD labels and streams in the U.S. and Europe.
What really separates this picture from the hordes of martial arts films from the region is its heavy use of Silat, the native martial art of Indonesia. I've seen a billion martial arts pictures over the years, and a million "styles" to go with them, but I'll admit my knowledge of Silat was absolute zero, and this movie turned out to be a wonderful wakeup call.
The key thing about Silat is that it involves knives, lots of 'em, and the film's heroes and villains deploy them with extreme prejudice for almost the entire duration. One stab won't do, but ten capped off by a throat slashing is a good way to gauge whether you've won the battle.
By way of example, picture the exemplary alley-fight-with-sharp-weapons between Donnie Yen and Jackie Wu Jing in SPL (a personal favourite sequence). Now, double the speed (!), and make the ultimate goal to stab, slice or otherwise eviscerate your opponent into oblivion, and you've got most of the hand-to-hand combat in THE RAID. Hero cop Uwais has this neat little trick where he stabs a long blade deep into your upper thigh, then yanks it clean down to your kneecap. Ouch! This thing is bloody with a capital B, but it's so exceptionally well choreographed, photographed and edited that you never lose sight of the geography surrounding the combatants or feel like you've missed a single blow or puncture as each new pair (or group!) of fighters grinds each other down.
Evans' editing in particular is a standout, and rather refreshingly, it isn't used to hide little bits of phony business or make the fight participants look more skilled than they really are, such as it often is in so many action pictures these days (both in western, and, sadly, many Asian cinemas; Legend of the Fist, I'm looking at you). Evans' performers know their stuff, and his editing does more showing than telling.
As to the picture as a whole, if you thought the final 40 minutes of John Woo's HARD BOILED were collectively one of the greatest pieces of action cinema from anywhere ever, imagine that cinematic Nirvana expanded to feature length, and with virtually no fat. The movie starts with a team of elite cops attempting to covertly secure a maze-like high-rise slum apartment building run by a merciless drug lord (when we first meet him, he's executing five bound and gagged men in his office, but he runs out of bullets for the fifth guy, which causes him to casually grab a hammer out of his desk drawer . . . ). Within minutes, though, his goons -- who populate every floor of the building like cockroaches, fight like rabid dogs and spontaneously appear around every corner and out of every doorway -- turn the tables and wipe out most of the fleet in a monster battle of guns, fists, feet and the ubiquitous knives, trapping just a precious few of our heroes on the sixth and seventh floors with little hope of escape.
Aside from a couple of quiet moments where allegiances on both sides of the field shift, not unexpectedly, that's pretty much it in terms of plot, and it obvious the filmmakers would have it no other way. This is a showcase, for Silat, for Indonesia and for Iko Uwais, who is very much the "next Tony Jaa" (as I'm sure he'll be labeled far and wide), for better and, somewhat regrettably, for worse in terms of his country's film industry, for he may very well come to single-handedly represent it around the globe. Not that I'm complaining after having been winded by such an audacious effort as THE RAID.
Barry Prima who? -
hopla684 June 2012I must be getting old. after reading rave reviews in regards to this title ( best action movie in decades... sjeez..decades is a very long time, lots of movies)I sat down with anticipation. And I grew up on a steady diet of Jean Claude van Damme movies and all the copy cats, so my former education in this genre ought to be sufficient I guess.
I am not going into the plot,basically there is none and what there is is just a letterhead to get people into confined spaces where they can beat or shoot or mame the crap out of each other. When watching this movie my thoughts drifted away to another movie which had the same sort of rave reviews ( Laid to rest 2) which I also found a bit of a letdown. A completely different type of movie and genre ( this movie is far better made then laid to rest 2 will ever hope to be), but the same type of reviews promising - in that case- wall to wall gore. The problem I see with these type of movies is that there is no plot to speak of, just stages like in a video game where either a masked killer with a big knife ( laid to rest 2) or a guy who is REALLY good in kicking people asses gets into situations where he can do just that..again, and again, and again.
Its in a sense like a porn movie compilation, you leave all the not needed tidbits out and go right to the money shot, and put as much of those as you possible can into the running time.
Its a tiring experience to watch, and yes the main character - and basically all those involved- show an athletic skill that is off the chart but it gets repetitive..there just so many ways you can hurt someone with your bare hands, gun or knife. there is a parallel to the porn movie example I made somewhere here but I wont go into that.
And what I sensed after an hour or so is that I just didn't give a crap anymore who was beating who to pulp and I completely lost interest by the time the two good guys were beating up one bad guy who didn't get down even after getting a healthy portion of a light bulb stuck in his neck; talking about dedication. there was a feeling that the director also lost track of the proceedings because before I knew it they entered the liar of the main bad guy without to much resistance and the movie was basically done( rather literally because it was announced that every bad guy could go home because the show was over??) I read in another review that this was comparable to John Woo's hard boiled and that is in a way correct, although Yun Fat Chow has a lot more charisma then this main character and the character development was on a level you actually gave a crap what happened. And that is saying something because John Woo is no thespian in the plot department.
Of all the external reviews I found the one from Mr Ebert the most of my liking in the way that his experience was the same as mine.
So is this a bad movie, not really, just get the right mindset and go with the brainless, plot less flow..and be amazed what people can do when trained in martial arts with their bodies and with other peoples bodies. -
king_vsjn21 November 2011My number one list action movie is The Matrix because it balanced the depth of the story with the action. Somewhere among the top list, there was also The Dark Knight for the same reason. However, when speaking only 'action', I used to choose a Hongkong movie, Flashpoint, starred by Donnie Yen. Before Flashpoint, I'll choose a Thailand movie, Ong Bak which launched Tony Jaa career internationally. Now, when I speak an action movie that speak for the action, I will choose an Indonesia movie, 'THE RAID', choreographed by Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhiyan and starred by them.
The problem with Donnie Yen's Flashpoint was you need to wait about one hour and fifteen minutes to get the action really start but when it started, it was really worth to wait. The fight between Donnie Yen and Collin Chou, inspired by MMA especially BJJ was so well choreographed and made audience hold their breath and asking "are this sh*t a real thing?". In Evans' latest, THE RAID, you won't need those one hour and fifteen minutes because he already made the audience gasps in the first fifteen minutes.
I wouldn't say a thing about Ong Bak because in my opinion, Merantau was more superior than Ong Bak. The problem with Merantau was Gareth was trying to bring audience to understand the culture of Silat first because showing the full action.You can said, Merantau was like Yamakasi doing for parkour while The Raid was the B-13 of silat.
It is useless to review this movie from the plot because there wasn't any significant plot. The plot was made only to bridge between one action scene to other action scene. But d*mn! Even with the weak dialog and cliché plot, Gareth executed it well so we, the audience, didn't have time to analyze this or that. What we know, we were flooded by f*cking awesome action movies from infiltration scene, massacre scene, and of course, martial art scenes when the characters have run out of bullets.
I remember when one of Merantau review said Merantau was Ong Bak when handled professionally. The same can be said with THE RAID. The Raid was Flashpoint with larger actions and handled professionally from the music, cinematography, and even the visual effect.
The music composed by Aria Prayogi and Fajar Yuskemal was like a combination between Hans Zimmer's Joker theme and Rage Against The Machine. It brought the audience immediately to the brutal tone of the movie. In some scenes, those music suddenly disappeared, leaving uneasiness to the audience. I wonder how Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park will interpret the scene to his score because Prayogi and Yuskemal score was perfect for the tone of this movie and it was really different with any Linkin Park score.
The sound effect, oh my, I hardly believe this is Indonesian movie. Even Hongkong movies are rarely have this good sound effect, You can differentiate between the bullet shot next to you to the bullet shot from the next room, The sound of knife slashing was so beautiful to listen and combined by the beautiful art of Silat, the scene was a masterpiece of a brutal dance of angel of death.
THE RAID has little visual effect but when they did, it was done amazingly and effectively. Frankly, prior to watch this movie, I was a little bit disappointed when I heard there will be slow-motion scene in the movie. However, Gareth proved me wrong. He was not Zack Snyder. The slow-motion was done only in one scene and perfectly executed which I hardly imagined how it should be done in other way.
Matt Flanery and Dimas Subhono as DOP played camera creatively and yet it captured all the motion perfectly. In fact, some scenes was like a scene taken from art movie due to their creative angle but it didn't reduce the brutal tone of the movie, didn't make the impact of every punch and kick weaker, in fact, in some scenes, it enhanced the "BAM!" factor.
The choreography was the factor which made this movie popular. I have said previously that even the fight scene between Donnie Yen and Collin Chou in Flashpoint had been surpassed by almost every fight scene in the movie. In Merantau, Gareth didn't want to show the brutal image of silat due to the main character of that movie was a naive and kind young man from village. In this movie, the characters are cops and bad guy, so either be killed or kill. Both Iko and Yayan have choreographed it so well so even one reviewer said "I didn't know there was so many ways to kill people until I saw this movie" and he was right. Jeff Imada (Bourne Identity) and Yuen Woo Ping will recognize these people from Indonesia and you'll probably hear about them in coming years among the top list of fight choreographer.
After watching this movie, I found myself lost my appetite to other action movies. For me, other action movies was a snack before I can watch the next Gareth Evans project, BERANDAL.- Kunderemp -
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Miroslav-2714 May 2022Iko Uwais does most of the ass-kicking here, but a lot of credit has to go to Director Gareth Evans too. The Raid is well-paced, edited, and directed from start to finish. You may have to look away every once in a while if you're a bit squeamish, but you won't want to take your eyes off this film otherwise. An action-packed adrenaline rush that reminds you just how much fun a "martial arts movie" can be.
Verdict: Watch it. -
Dragon_Eye_Morrison1 July 2012What does a good action movie requires? I'll say two things: good action sequences, and well build characters. You just can't have one without the other, usually we get the first one, but rarely the second. This applies equally to a regular action movie or, in this case, one of the martial arts type. When you end up watching a good action movie you will remember these two things: the action sequences and the characters.
In the case of the Raid, you might remember several of the fight sequences, all of these very well made, from the stunt men to the direction and editing. Now here comes the problem, you are not going to remember a single character, and if you do, do you remember their motivations? See, in an action movie, both the good guys and the bad guys need motivations to fuel what they do. You could say this applies to any other movie as well. For the sake of keeping things simple, an action movie doesn't need complex motivations, but at least it needs the most basic ones in order to make us care about what is going on.
The Raid lacks characters with motivations, so all we are left with are extended action sequences that go on and on. The movie suffers from this mantra of "more is better" and it throws away proper pacing in exchange for non-stop senseless and aimless action sequences. Is not enough to have people shooting and fighting and stuff exploding, you need something behind the mayhem. The Raid gives us nothing, no character to care about. Every single character is interchangeable.
It has become a cliché to say that a movie sometimes looks like a video game, and it's ironic considering how hard many games these days try to look like a movie. The Raid truly feels like a game, one in the vein of those arcade beat em ups like Final Fight, Double Dragon, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, Streets of Rage and so on. We get a brief intro, usually a girl being kidnapped, we get a hero to choose and there you go, beat everyone on your path. Also, while you can forgive many things in the plot of an action movie, the movie just gets dumb for the sake of it. The bad guy has cameras everywhere, yet he can't pin a single guy, and he sends just a small group of people, none of them with guns. Some have machetes, but why would they want to use that when they could just gun down the few remaining good guys? Oh right, there wouldn't be any fight sequences left. Is like if in Die Hard Hans decided to tell his goons to look for Mclaine with knifes because that's more "honorable" or something like that.
If you are an action aficionado you will dig this, no question about it, but i don't think you will remember much of it. Again, the fights are very well done, far better than in Merantau, but the emptiness of the story and the characters will just make you feel that way, empty. It's like a very tasty fast-food snack that just won't satisfy your hunger. Good for a while, but in the longer term, you want something that has more meat to eat. -
adhipar17 December 2011I think other reviewers have explained the film quite detail so I only write about the experience I get over this film.
The background story is about a SWAT team trying to bring a ruthless and untouchable crime lord to justice. However this film is only focusing on a specific event in that story : THE RAID part - that turns into a brutal, and bloody survival game. It's become a final match or showdown between good vs bad guys. And you should see it that way if you want to really enjoy it.
We don't watch a final sport's match, any soccer, football, MMA fight etc looking for the plot, do we? We come because we want a great show, excellent executions and brutal take down, and any other things that could rush our adrenalin to the max. So forget about the plot!
We enter the building along with the good guys. We scream, yell, jump etc every time they score, though some bad guys are so nasty that they also caught our attention. We are scared, worried, angry when their luck runs out. Our heart is pounding when we know exactly or we think they're entering a deadly situations. We hold our breath on some very tense moments (and this film has quite a lot of it), even feel their pain. In the end we go home feel that we're just attending a good. exciting and satisfying game - which we want to see it again and again if we can, and the good thing is, we certainly can.
The combination of the cinematography, choreography, shot's angles, the original score (I'm curious how Mike Shinoda will outperform an already good score), effects and the editing are so perfect as if you're there. And if you think the trailer is cool, it's just a tip on the ocean's surface from an enormous iceberg below. The film itself is super-super cool!
100 mins flies so fast and when the credit rolls, I still sit there, thinking if I could catch the next show - which sadly impossible because the ticket has sold out in minutes, several days before.
Of course, The Raid is not without flaws. The acting, the dialogs, the CGI, the twist - you know - those usual unconvincing stuff which you can find even in some blockbuster martial arts/action movies, can be improved. But overall it is a superb action movie so I understand the high-praised comments from those film festivals.
Now, you may wonder why I compare it to Star Wars. Back then, when I first saw Star Wars, I was very amazed not by the story, plots or the acting, but by the cinematography, special effects, the laser saber duel, the sound effects, the robots, all those hi-tech stuff which are so an eye opener that we have no choice to compare the next sci-fi movies with it.
The Raid does the same thing for action genre. And I will be waiting eagerly for the sequels or even the prequels just like Star Wars.
This film is best seen with your group of friends who enjoy hardcore and bloody fights, so you can cheer, scream, yell, sigh together and talk about it (and probably count how many ways to die/kill people in this film) on the way home. Go to toilet before the shows so you don't miss any scenes. Snacks and drinks could be considered as 'nice to have' items. I was seating on the edge of my seat and my eyes were glued to the screen almost all the time that I only sip my drink once in the first 10 minutes and haven't touch my snack until the credit rolls.
9.5 out of 10! Sorry for my English. -
reysia28 March 2012High Rating and Awards? People may be tricked for the first time because this movie comes from a very unusual country, Indonesia. It's not often we see action movie comes from this country. Furthermore, the casts also aren't well-known at all in the world but guess what, they're really giving a great show in this movie. Gareth Evans, a Welsh born writer/director/editor repeat his success creating action movie after several years ago releasing another action movie also made in Indonesia.
For me, the real superstar in this movie is Rama (Iko Uwais), who was introduced as a newbie special force in the team. Fantastic martial art movements, which is traditional martial art called Pencak Silat from Indonesia truly filled this movie with wowing watcher's experience. Fast moves, intense close combat and his knife play in combat successfully increased my adrenalin. The best part of Iko was when He's about to face several people alone in a hallway. That was obviously cool. I think Iko plays the part like Jason Statham (fighting) and Steven Seagal (with his knife) but only better. The Raid was rained with bloodbath. So it's wise to avoid bringing children to watch this movie.
The other character that stole my attention was this man called Mad Dog (Yayan Ruhian). In my opinion, it'll be difficult to find this kind of man in this world. His expression and fighting style was stunning.
When I watch movies, I always intensely wait for the twists. The Raid doesn't give so many twists but it still has enough twist that improve the story. Still this is a nicely written story. Simple idea but creatively developed.
At first, I thought it'll be a one man show where Rama played the whole part of fighting till the end. But I was wrong. The Raid gives fair proportion to fighters in this movie. Rama isn't the only one that showed a great fight against the enemy in this movie. There're the sarge, Andi, the last cop in control room. The only thing that disturbed me a little bit is the original dialog which is Indonesian. I don't know but it's kinda awkward for me to hear the conversation in Indonesian although it's my native language. As I imagine, it may sounds better in English. Never mind, it's just me.
With only 1.1 million spent on this action movie, surprisingly give me such a great experience in cinema. Great movie. Great job!
9/10 -
anggra_waskito20 November 2011The Raid is an Indonesian movie that had gained vast popularity since its debut at 2011 Toronto Festival. Yet I and fellow Indonesians must wait until January 2012 for its national theatrical release. Thanks to our local action, horror, and fantasy film festival (INAFFF 2011) who bring The Raid as its closing movie so hundreds lucky Jakarta movie fans can watch this movie two month ahead its official release.
The story is as simple as its title. I knew some spoilers from some Toronto reviewers. So I attended the show for its martial arts and original score.
The version we saw was the international version, in Indonesian language with English subtitles, and original score by two Indonesian music illustrators. I was worried I would see the Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda score version because i read its original score was great and suitable the movie's atmosphere and indeed, Aria Prayogi and Fajar Yuskemal did a great job!
Now, the martial arts section... You will find many fight scenes that looks real and bloody, but if you're not new to martial arts movies genre you'll think they're great or spectacular because of its close, fast, realistic and unpredictable moves by both protagonist or antagonist side that makes viewers had some wow moments and gave applause to some fight scenes... Thanks to the superb action choreography by the two leading actors Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian.
There's no bombastic sling fights or overlong fights with the winner stay clean. The Director of Photography did a great job too, showing us not-so-shaky fight scenes. As an Indonesian i've never seen our original martial arts style (Pencak Silat) could be as deadly as i'd seen in this movie; i only know Silat for solely exhibition or championship purpose.
I'd like to compare The Raid to some of my favorite of Hongkong 90's modern martial arts movies such as Donnie Yen's In The Line of Duty 4 or Tiger Cage 2, or Frankie Chan's Burning Ambition and still i think The Raid is above them. Writer/editor/director Gareth Huy Evans create an efficient story with clever ending. It also had some funny dialogs for us -the native viewers- though its English subtitles (a little bit) didn't match the original. But still The Raid is a great martial arts movie, not only compare to Indonesian or South Asia action movies but in general...
Since The Raid got Sony and other international distributors' attention for its international release then there will be many martial arts movie fans worldwide are gonna watch this movie and i bet they'll like it too... -
CrazyArty18 February 2022Legendary Indonesian action movie about a group of heavily armed police storming a mobster stronghold building. It does not go according to plan.
It's non-stop intense action all the way. Very fast paced and entertaining. A simple plot but an extremely well made movie. Martial arts and camera work are amazing, although gets a bit martial arts overload in the end. Good movie. -
Fella_shibby23 February 2016This is the second collaboration of Evans and Uwais after their first action film, Merantau, released in 2009. Both films showcase the traditional Indonesian martial art Pencak Silat, with fight choreography by Uwais and Yayan Ruhian, who also worked on Merantau. After watching merantau, i was waiting anxiously for the raid redemption. Didn't had the hope that it might release in India. There was no endorsements or trailers on Indian channels. No marketing, but just a small ad in Bombay Times newspaper. I was rejoiced after i came 2 know that its releasing in theater. I had hope in Gareth n Uwais, but many ppl here was not aware of 'em. If you like martial arts movies, this one will blow you away! The choreography on the fight scenes is insane. This movie is a bone-shattering symphony of brutal fight sequences, awesome gun play and heart-thumping tension. The Raid's main lead played by the impressive Iko Uwais and the film's fiercest villain Yayan Ruhian are both incredibly skilled, life-long practitioners of the lesser known Indonesian martial art Pencak Silat. Awesome direction n writing by Gareth Evan. Really hats off to him for giving us (action movie junkies ) a masterpiece like this. Awesome editing by Gareth Evan. U don't feel bore even for a single minute. Best choreography by iko uwais n yayan ruhian. Nice cinematography by Matt flannery.
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When I finished watching this movie... I was left speechless. Usually, I would probably dislike mindless action films... the only notable exceptions being Transformers and Ninja Assassin, both guilty pleasures in their own right.
The Raid came off as the most insane movie I've ever seen. Gareth Evans really had the guts to pull it off: giving us a clichéd protagonist with a mediocre motivation and a weak, nonsensical plot, and instead, throws at us 99 solid minutes of mindless skull-bashing action and brain-numbing violence, inviting us to step into one adrenaline-maxed out scenario after another, the intensity of the fights escalating as the movie progresses, making all of the Hong Kong action films I grew up watching seem like child's play.
The film does have its rare calm moments in between brawls, but they are all too short to make an impression. When it does cool down... you're biting your nails, wondering what vicious and imaginative way would the director execute another fight scene or kill more people off. And when it arrives, the sequences would leave any viewer attempting to catch their breath... but the film just leaves no room for that.
Mindless action aside, the cinematography and editing were awesome, not what was I expecting from a movie that cost 1.1 million dollars to make, contributing to the intensity of the film. The gritty and dark photography cranks up the tension to the max, making it one of the best films that would get your heart racing by the second minute, a wondrous experience for action fanatics.
Forget the solid acting, the unbelievable situations of the film (Where the hell in Jakarta can you find a flat populated entirely by ridiculously psychotic or mentally sick criminals who knows how to put up a good fight whenever confronted?), the terrible and recycled writing. Leave your brain at the doorstep and watch it, immense yourself. I highly recommend this to any action fan. -
zarg781 September 2012OK. So there's not that much of a storyline to this movie. It's pretty much just 90 minutes of non-stop action, however....
The characters are sufficiently developed with a couple of twists in the story to keep it interesting....
But let's keep it real -- you're watching this movie because it's a simple, straight-forward, feast of totally immense and very well-made ACTION that's so good that you just don't want this movie to end. I could hardly believe I'd just been sitting in a cinema for 2 hours when this movie ended.
'The Raid' is by far one of, if not THE best action movies I have ever seen and is a definite MUST for anyone's movie collection! -
claudio_carvalho2 November 2012In Jakarta, Indonesia, Lieutenant Wahyu (Pierre Gruno) organizes the invasion of an apartment building that is the safe house of the powerful and cruel drug lord Tama (Ray Sahetapy) and his gang. The SWAT team breaks in the building but one lookout sees and warns the gangsters and the police force is trapped on the seventh floor. They learn that Lt. Wahyu has not informed his superiors about the operation. Now the police officers have to fight with limited ammunition against the armed and dangerous gangsters.
"Serbuan Maut" is a violent and full of action movie unfortunately without story. Actually it seems to be a video game, with police officers and gangster using different weapons and fight. I found it overrated in IMDb. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "Operação Invasão" ("Operation Invasion") -
kphizzy1018 April 2012Pure non-stop action is what this movie is all about! If you are a fan of martial arts/action movies, you must see this whenever you can. The camera angles are perfectly shot to keep you involved in the movie. A lot of times, I felt as if I was right by the actors. The music is perfect and syncs well with each scene of the movie.
There is an extreme amount of fighting, blood and gore, and profanity, so I don't think this will be for the kids lol.
The story is put together very well and has a few twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat.
GO SEE THIS MOVIE! -
jrmoviemaniac30 January 2013Although I am not the biggest fan of foreign films but this one is different.This film is all kinds of awesome:Great action sequences that are very well choreographed,a very fast pace,Lots of gore and a simple yet effective story.The only thing that could have been changed is the end fight it should have been a one on one fight.Two on one is kind of unfair in this film compared to other films like the phantom menace,attack of the clones,etc.Regardless, this film shocked me on how good it was:my 2nd favorite film released in 2012 in the US.Every filmmaker doing action films today should use this film as an example on how to do action.
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el_normandos15 July 2012I can't share the opinion of most of the previous reviewers. Well the movie has a straight handling and the action scenes are good. But to make it short this movie has no spontaneous moments and lacks really on highlights. The story can be told in two sentence. A special police force tries to raid a penthouse. The "owner" of the house tries to hamper this situation by force of arms and plenty habitants. The movie has no deepness, no details and endless fight scenes. Well endless fight scenes are generally not bad, but in the "Raid" the fights are turining into unrealistic and tedious moments. I can't propose to watch this movie it takes just life time.