The Raid: Redemption

An incredible action thriller that deserves a larger audience. I first seen THE RAID about 10 years ago, long after it's theatrical run. Word of mouth had informed me that it was something special, so I eventually picked up a copy of it on Blu-ray. I went into it completely blind, not knowing who was in it, or even knowing the country of origin or the language being spoken (Its Indonesian). None of that mattered once the film began as it is very much a case of "all thriller, no filler". The opening few scenes provide the bare minimum of exposition and from there on in, it is a relentless 90-something minutes of incredible tension and brilliantly choreographed violence. Stylishly shot and intense, this is right up there with John Woo's pre-Hollywood classics. Having a modest budget, the film originally had a dark and murky look, but this new 4K restoration is quite spectacular.

There's not much to say about The Raid other than it's a great, violent action thriller. Go watch it. Unless you're put off by that description you'll like it. I'm mainly writing this review, though, to say: don't wait to see this on broadcast television or download, because the disc is a great package. This is a film that you won't want to watch dubbed, for a start, because the acting is very good and the Indonesian language is actually a joy to hear. (The dubbing actors are, to be honest, not very good by comparison.) The film is not at all heavy on dialogue, so subtitles are not going to distract you, and the soundtracks are in DTSHD-Master for both English and Indonesian versions. The director, rather to my surprise, is a Welshman (Gareth Evans) who gives two informative feature-length commentaries, one with one of the film's stars. You have to poke around a bit to find the second commentary in the rather cluttered menu design (one is in Setup, the other in Bonus Features, or of course you can simply use your audio button to select) but both are worth hearing. There are a load of extra features including a Q&A featuring Evans and the soundtrack composers. The soundtrack also gets its own featurette and don't forget to watch the claymation version of the film, which is enjoyable in itself. My only complaint is that the original Indonesian soundtrack seems to have been replaced by the second soundtrack, which was composed for the US release. It would have been nice to have two different music tracks, not least because the "lost" soundtrack was actually composed by the film's sound designers, and was the version on which the director himself did the most work. (That said, the US soundtrack is fine: no licensed Hip Hop here, thank God.) Visually this is not a $200 million movie, and there are certainly some visual flaws that get carried over to the Blu-Ray, but it's still a good-looking disc and the action scenes are well worth rewatching once you get done with the generous extras. One stunt was so amazing that I rewound it on first viewing; having watched the bonus materials I now know how they did it, but there are plenty of "hell yeah" moments that justify having this in your collection.

I bought this because some said it was similar to the new Dredd movie, but this came out first. Problem: I had actually watched Dredd first. Good movie. So I sat down to watch this on a quiet Sunday night. As I have been watching a few foreign films just lately, the language didn't bother me. Nope, no English language dubbing because it puts me off. Press play and had two options: UK Theatrical Release or original uncut? Doesn't take a genius to figure out which one I picked. Long and short of it is, this was an excellent, mighty fighty, no brainer, action flick, bloodfest. There is a subplot behind this all, but you'll have to watch it to figure it out. The choreography for the fight scenes was brilliant. Some of the effects were gruesome to the point you had to look away from the screen for that fraction of a second just to recover yourself. Any longer could have got boring. Any shorter, and you probably wondered what ended up on the cutting room floor. So sit back, relax, original soundtrack, and enjoy. Well worth it.

Excellent condition and a marvellous movie.

I watched 'Seven Samurai' at school and have since grown up and gone over the hill watching several exotic productions, from 'Porco Rosso' to 'Ong Bak', 'Azumi', 'Old Boy' and so on. I'm no expert, and I find myself in two minds over this one. One thing for sure is that the hype is, er, hype! The blurb, cover text included, is also plain wrong in terms of the number of floors the good guys ascend. For some strange reason - different continent, I know - I compare this with the original 'Die Hard' which, in my opinion, changed the face of "Get the h*ll out of a tight jam" films. (I accept that the parallel is not 100%.) My view is that 'Die Hard' held together because its sub-plots were woven into the narrative, the lead characters had some depth, there was the odd touch of humour, and you emerged from the cinema feeling you had done ten rounds with Rocky Marciano. In just the first 90 seconds of 'Die Hard' we found out a lot about John McClane's background and attitude. That's good movie making. 'The Raid' ain't quite there ... although, for sure, the action scenes are outstanding, even by 'Ong Bak' standards. That side of it had me gasping. But what about the plot, sub-plots, characterisation? No sale. Like any armchair critic I 'no fule wel' that if I could direct a movie half as well as Gareth Evans, I would die happy, let alone die hard! But, by the standards of the best, this film lacks depth, characterisation - and another 20+ storeys! I can't sell 4 stars to myself, and 3.5 feels right: I don't even want to watch the DVD a second time. I will give it 4 stars as it has so many admirers and I respect my fellow Amazonians.

THE RAID: REDEMPTION is one of the most successful movies I've seen in YEARS. It's not the greatest movie, by a long-shot...but the gap between its ambition (which is pretty high) and its actual accomplishment is almost non-existent. I've long believed that movies need to be judge, in part, on how well they accomplish what they attempt, and not just how "good" they are by some high-brow, artsy standard. Thus, a low-brow comedy like KNOCKED UP can get 5 stars from me because while it isn't great art, it meets or exceeds all its own goals. And by the same token, a gorgeous, ambitious, "serious" film like, oh, let's say ANNA KARININA only gets 3 or 4 stars, because its reach so far exceeds its grasp. THE RAID: REDEMPTION is darn near perfect. It wants to be a nearly non-stop, adrenalin-fueled, ultra-violent, martial-arts heavy action movie. It tries to strike a balance between incredible tension and the visceral release of that pent-up tension. It wants to shock and awe. And it does. Set in Indonesia, we meet a group of heavily armed and armored cops who are planning a raid on a very tall apartment building. At the top of this building sits the city's most vicious crime lord, along with his two cruelly effective henchmen. Beneath them, for floor after floor, is a seemingly endless string of bad guys, the scum and villains of the town. The cops must fight their way from bottom to top...and once their presence is exposed the viciousness and intensity of the fight is nearly ceaseless. The movie, while not based on a videogame, is the best example of a videogame movie I've seen. Granted, that's a low bar...but THE RAID clears that bar so effortlessly. The action sequences, which start with gunplay and then devolve first to knife play and then hand-to-hand combat, are among the best I've seen. I've never been a huge fan of the MMA/martial-arts type of combat, where the hero and his foe kick, punch, block, flip, etc. But I've NEVER seen so many fights staged so brilliantly or executed with such brutal fervor. This is no exaggeration...during some of the action sequences, I found myself on the edge of my seat, talking to the screen (or yelling at it). I simply DO NOT do that, yet I couldn't help it. I was engrossed and engaged. Yes, there is a bit of a story. We are introduced, perfunctorily, to several characters and we do learn a few things about them. There is even a bit of a surprise relationship that is revealed late in the film. There are moments for dialogue and for catching a breath. I wouldn't say the dialogue is brilliant or the acting Oscar caliber...but it is a little better than one might expect. Iko Uwais plays Rama, our young hero...and he's a convincing screen presence (and a helluva fighter). This is the kind of movie that relies on archetypes to gives us a shorthand for understanding the characters. The heroic rookie, the guy with the smart-aleck remarks, the leader with a secret, the potentially corrupt higher leader, the insane bad guy, etc. etc. What THE RAID does, however, is take these stock characters and put them in nearly perfect motion for maximum impact. Gareth Evans wrote, directed, edited and co-choreographed the film. In my mind, his is one of the most singular accomplishments in recent film history. Again, his goals are not exactly lofty or ennobling. But I can barely conceive how he managed to succeed so well where so many others have tried and failed. This is a brutal film, and many viewers will not be able to finish watching it. Some will find it glorifies violence or is just deeply depressing in its depiction of insane violence. For me, it was a rush from start to finish. It was a punch to the gut, but it was somehow uplifting as well. It's simplicity of plot and tightness of purpose set it up to succeed beyond anything I could have expected. I had heard it was good, but was skeptical. "Surely that's just fanboys and genre nuts talking," I said to myself. But I was wrong. Evans and his talented team delivered one of the most thrilling movies I've seen. Wow!

Great action! Outstanding bombastic Dolby Atmos mix! It’s a bit pricey, but worth every penny!

Great action that leave almost all other action movies behind.

"The raid" o "Redada asesina" como se la conoce en España es una película muy brutal y que apenas tiene un guión pero va a lo que va, acción puro y duro y muy bien rodado, la calidad de imágen del DVD de Sony está bien y el apartado de sonido también, es la versión uncut y contiene muchos extras, igual que la versión de USA en Bluray (que por cierto trae Castellano) pero es una película que no merece mucho la pena tener en Bluray ya que está rodada de una forma que en Bluray se ve muy parecido al DVD, muy recomendable la edición, el apartado de sonido también está muy bien contando con la v.o también.

Film tutto d'azione, con storia ridotta all'osso. Stunt incredibili e ritmo serrato, da vedere. Forse un po' sotto quel che mi aspettavo dopo le recensioni che avevo letto. Niente italiano, ma non c'è granché da capire, è sufficiente guardare!