Review: The Raid 2

The Raid is one of the best action films released in the last twenty years. Welsh expatriate Gareth Evans created a stinging punch to the nuts of martial arts cinema with his claustrophobic, cops-versus-gangs thriller. Despite the limited budget, the movie was a critical and commercial success so the inevitable sequel (and western remake) was quickly announced. It would have been easy to simply modify the scenario for The Raid 2, moving it to another closed-in space with different antagonists and just rinse-and-repeat the formula – but Evans is seemingly far too ambitious for that.

Picking up straight after the first film, Rama (Uwais), the rookie cop who managed to survive his time in the tower block from hell, is asked by his superiors to go undercover to bring down the network of crooked cops who plague the force. In order to do so, he is sent to prison to get close to Uco (Putra), the son of one of the main crime lords in the city, Bangun (Pakusodewo). A truce has existed between Bangun and his rival Goto (Endo) for twenty years – but Uco’s ambition, as well as the planning of newcomer Bejo (Abbad), threatens to restart the feud, with Rama stuck in the middle.

In case you have not guessed from the above, The Raid 2 is a wholly different animal to the original. The basic straight-line narrative of the first movie is replaced with a sprawling, crime epic, with multiple rival characters and a time span of years rather than hours. This brings both positive and negative changes to the formula that made the first movie so popular.

The most impressive improvement comes in the form of the far more adventurous action set pieces. The Raid was not lacking in memorable moments that took your breath away. However, there are times here where I caught myself with my mouth agape. The larger scope allows for car chases, prison riots and assaults on veritable armies worth of grunts which dwarf anything seen before.

Evans has also given himself a far bigger tool box to use to tell his story. The camera work is phenomenal. One shot takes place moving from the inside of one car, outside to the highway and then back into another vehicle, seamlessly. The action is always in frame and crystal clear – which is a miracle during the prison fight, involving well over a hundred combatants. The range in the soundtrack also sees an increase, with classical music melded with thumping bass tracks.

The writing and acting also comes under far more scrutiny this time as the narrative demands more exposition. More scenes take place between characters talking politely in suits – rather than fighting furiously in riot gear. Thankfully, while never rising to the level of Tarantino’s dialogue and story-telling, Evans manages to keep the drama flowing. His job is made all the easier with strong performances from the main cast.

One aspect I was surprised to see more of was the violence. This may sound like an oxymoron for an action film but Evans was adamant during the press for the first movie that his film was not overly gory. He felt the mere glimpse of a gruesome death was enough to get the message across. Here, there are multiple moments of violent imagery, especially in a film with characters called Hammer Girl and Baseball Bat Man. While I did not necessarily have a problem with this change, I can imagine some audience members may have felt differently to me.

The Raid 2 is proof that Gareth Evans is not content to simply sit on his laurels and repeat what probably would have been an equally successful rehash of the first film. Instead, he had the courage and ambition to try something with his characters which has paid off in spades. I, for one, cannot wait to see what he does next.

Tags: Alex Abbad, Arifin Putra, Gareth Evans, Iko Uwais, Ken'ichi Endo, Sony Pictures Classic, The Raid, The Raid 2, Tio Pakusodewo