Genre: Action/Adventure
DVD Release Date: 14 August 2012
Running Time: 100 minutes
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Director: Gareth Evans
Screenplay: Gareth Evans
Starring: Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Doni Alamsyah, Yahan Ruhian, Ray Sahetaphy
Plot Synopsis: As a rookie member of an elite special-forces team, Rama (Iko Uwais) is instructed to hang back during a covert mission involving the extraction of a brutal crime lord from a rundown fifteen-story apartment block. But when a spotter blows their cover, boss Tama (Ray Sahetaphy) offers lifelong sanctuary to every every killer, gangster, and thief in the building in exchange fortheir heads. Now Rama must stand in for the team's fallen leader (Joe Taslim) and use every iota of his fighting strength - winding through every floor and every room to complete the mission and escape with his life.
DVD Release Date: 14 August 2012
Running Time: 100 minutes
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Director: Gareth Evans
Screenplay: Gareth Evans
Starring: Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Doni Alamsyah, Yahan Ruhian, Ray Sahetaphy
Plot Synopsis: As a rookie member of an elite special-forces team, Rama (Iko Uwais) is instructed to hang back during a covert mission involving the extraction of a brutal crime lord from a rundown fifteen-story apartment block. But when a spotter blows their cover, boss Tama (Ray Sahetaphy) offers lifelong sanctuary to every every killer, gangster, and thief in the building in exchange fortheir heads. Now Rama must stand in for the team's fallen leader (Joe Taslim) and use every iota of his fighting strength - winding through every floor and every room to complete the mission and escape with his life.
The Raid: Redemption is one of those rare films from Indonesia that deserved very much of our attentions. There aren’t many films like this but it is critical to say that the Indonesians know how to make a film that verges beyond the conservative story. They can go more profanity, more hardcore and even bloodier than any of our local productions. Welsh writer-director-editor Gareth Evans must have seen the potentials with the spiritual martial art known as pencak silat, and he is using it as a language in this film. The end-game is a sensational action movie experiences that resonance with some of the stylish and substance found in Quentin Tarantino’s works.
The film sets in Jakarta where a police special-forces team (similar as “SWAT”) led by Jaka (Joe Taslim) lays out a mission to capture the brutal leader of an organized crime gang roaring a fifteen-story apartment complex. Rama (Iko Uwais) is an expectant father, a stalwart rookie member of the team but has every potential fighting skill. Unfortunately, nothing prepares him for the worst once a spotter blows their cover during the raid. The criminal boss Tama (Ray Sahetaphy) traps the team in a cat-and-mouse hunt and sends out ruthless killers and gangsters in the building in exchange for their heads.
The plot is perfectly simple to follow but also perhaps there is nothing much story to talk about. It is a straight forward mission – you go in, you got blown, you got kill, you survive and you live; much of a formula been used in the past action movies. However, the decision to leave the story out as much as possible is intentional (that is what I heard) and acts as an experiment to see how much this film can paves way for future sequels. Despite the niche of plot presentation, there are at least some critical plot and character twists written in the book, thus making richer story for the sequel.
The real story in this film is the mixed martial art. Rather than just conventionally using fist or gun, some machetes, axes and blades, even a fridge is also been used too. With so much action at stake, The Raid: Redemption feels like a well-choreographed bloody ballet performance that is exhausting, intense and spellbinding. This 100 minute action-packed film is a grandiose reward for the right audience segment, an inspiration to the martial art practitioner and a wildly satisfying entertainment that truly thrills for the others.
MY RATING:
Story: 3.5
Casts: 4.0
Cinematography: 5.0
Effects: 4.0
GREEN-TEA-O-METER: 15.1/20.0
