Certification. 18
Cast. Donny Alamsyah, Pierre Gruno, Yayan Ruhian, Ray Sahetapy, Joe Taslim, Iko Uwais.
Rating. 74%
The plot of The Raid is painfully simple. A SWAT Team storms a dilapidated 15-story housing project owned by a notorious crime lord, Tama (Ray Sahetapy), whose hideout is located on the top floor. A seemingly, straightforward mission - take out his gang, arrest him and bring him to justice.
What ensues is perhaps one of the most entertaining action films in recent memory.
Yes, there is certainly a flavour of Assault on Precinct 13, Reservoir Dogs and Hard Boiled, but The Raid is innovative and inventive in its own right.
The director, Gareth Evans apparently favours speed and impact, and the action in The Raid is relentless. Initially, with semi-automatic weapons, but as the bullets start to become scarce the action switches to a series of brutal, high-impact pencak silat set-pieces. Pencak silat being a collective term for a variety of indigenous martial arts from Indonesia. For most of the hand-to-hand combat scenes, the director films continuously with a Steadicam, rather than over-editing or employing multiple viewpoints. The lead actors and accompanying stunt team do not let the director down with pulsating, brutal, bone-crushing realism.
I thought I stumbled across a B-list action movie, but The Raid is a genuine cinema experience. An adrenalin rush that will leave you gasping for air.
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