Gareth Evans
The Raid: Redemption

Tag Battle, Fight!

Let me preface this with one thing: I watched this more than a year ago. I realize that might be a poor start to a review, so I will, therefore, seek assistance from this other poster in the hope that seeing it might convince you that, all things considered, I am qualified to talk about it.
Okay, you still don't believe I remember it? Fine, you bunch of nonbelievers, here’s the plot, step by step:
We are in Indonesia, and a group of police officers S.W.A.T. style enters a building that serves as an operational base for the local baddies. The baddies lock the doors and (spoiler) they shoot and fight each other for the remaining 95 minutes. End.
Having confirmed that I remember almost everything, let’s proceed.

There are at least three reasons that make "The Raid: Redemption" worthy of attention. The first is that I was honestly tired of action movies stuffed with people pretending to be sensitive. Plots that wobble around flat characters and the inevitable pseudo-love story; enough! Seriously, enough: why would I care about Jason Statham's girlfriend in "The Transporter"? Why do I care??? It's an action movie; I want blood and bullets. If you add a romantic subplot, my testosterone levels spike, my brain crashes, I lose focus, and miss all the explosions. Let’s be clear: there is also a “beloved woman” here, but it’s pretend. Yes, because with its barely sketched plot, this film hits the mark. It doesn't tell anything because action doesn't have anything to tell; action is seen, and it has one job: to show off. And holy hell does Evans show it off. Handheld cameras like "Rec," point-of-view shots like "Doom," and Korean-style tracking shots, all edited as if in a blender by a genius of chaos (Evans).
Honestly, midway through, "The Raid" also starts to have a plot, like there are 2 scenes, three minutes each, where people talk and no one shoots or fights, but having already spoiled 90% of the film, I’d rather let you discover the last details yourselves (totally irrelevant and quite trivial, but well constructed and filmed, which is nearly impossible in a movie of this kind).

The second reason I think it's appropriate to talk about this is the film's choreographer. There's not much more to say: he's the one who did the choreography. His name is Yayan Ruhian (“Kill-You-Face” to friends), and in the film, he takes on the role of Mad Dog, a level-end boss with a palindromic name. Above him, there's only the final baddy; if it were Cobra's headquarters, it would be Destro. But tougher, much tougher. He’s someone who, when fighting, makes your living room wall shake and, when silent, can break your remote control with a glance. He is, in the final analysis, the classic guy who could scare even his mother if only he cared to visit her once in a while, poor woman, who has been calling him for five years, and he hangs up before even answering. A real gentleman, in short. The kind that, as soon as he appears, you start throwing popcorn; you don’t know why you do it, but reason sides with you and even roots for “Impending-Funeral-Face.”
The third reason it’s good and right to talk about "The Raid" is that we might be witnessing a new genre: "The Horde," "Dredd," "The Raid: Redemption," its future and imminent American remake, and the upcoming sequel "The Raid: Berendal.” All stuck in a building fighting to get out, because outside might be a bad world, but inside, it isn’t exactly business class either.

Now, if it’s true (and I don’t know) that we are witnessing the birth of a new (quite unnecessary) cinematic genre, it’s also true that this "The Raid" is the "absolute masterpiece without question." At the moment, it’s the masterpiece because it competes with only two other titles, one of which (Dredd) is particularly poor. In the future, it will remain the masterpiece because: first point "Say-Goodbye-to-This-World-Face" Mad Dog is a character with charisma concentrated in such a number of lines (zero) that you’ll have to wait at least twenty years for another like him; second, because there are 2 versions of this movie with 2 different soundtracks. One of them is created by Linkin Park's DJ, and yet the movie remains incredibly cool; third point: in less than two minutes, without having to field “If-You-Want-I’ll-Shoot-You” Mad Dog, it ridicules anything you’ve seen with "Wrong-Movie-Face" Scott Adkins. I have never watched a whole Scott Adkins movie, but I challenge any of his fans to argue otherwise. I am willing to challenge them all together with one arm tied behind my back.

In conclusion, if you’re willing to watch people shoot and fight for an hour and forty, "The Raid" is a bit like the centerfold of Playboy with Pamela Anderson blonde on top and black beneath: something to keep hidden under the mattress, enjoy alone, and that makes you feel truly masculine (and a bit silly too).
Those still convinced that "100 minutes of shoot-and-fight" is a metaphor should not even approach it, because I swear: with the plot of "The Raid," a "normal" film barely fills the opening credits.

PS: “Pure-Pain-Face” Yayan Ruhian also took part in the "beatings and choreographies" in the first Matrix. The first Matrix fights... I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen few more entertaining ballets. Not that I'm a big ballet fan, to be honest.

PPS: Rumors say that regarding the stunts, there’s no CGI involved, and they’re all authentic, but I prefer not to believe it.