Movie review: The action doesn’t let up in ‘The Raid 2’

"The Raid: Redemption" was a surprising tour de force of action. Confining its players to one building and having them fight through it was a brilliant choice. It made things claustrophobic and intense. The fight choreography and directing made every punch, kick, throw, and takedown powerful. If you were an action fan, then you loved this 2011 Indonesian film.

"The Raid 2" expands beyond that closed situation and goes much, much bigger. One of the things that was admirable about the first film was how it was shot with a relatively limited budget, and yet it delivered powerful action sequences.

The success of its predecessor has led to a much bigger budget for the sequel, and it shows in the production values and largeness of scope that this new film exhibits.

The film opens with a wide shot of a field. It covers an immense space. Only in the bottom left corner of the frame do we see any movement. It is minuscule. We know that people are moving there, but from that vantage point they may as well be ants. This shot communicates the new largeness that the film deals with. When we finally cut into the scene and get a closer look, we are shown the demise of a character from the first film. It’s as if we are being told to leave that last movie behind. This will be a totally different experience.

And what an experience it is. These are go-for-broke, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink sequences. Like its predecessor, this movie strings together one amazing action scene after another. There’s variety and there’s a lot of style. One of the things I particularly like about it is that it isn’t pretty. Sure, there is a beauty to the movement, but the hits are brutal and punishing. There isn’t any slow-mo or conspicuous wire work to make us admire the motions. There’s just efficient brutality to convey how these characters are.

That said, I do have a minor quibble. It’s that three characters who could probably be considered mini-bosses if this were a video game show up. And they have themes. There’s baseball guy, hammer girl, and a dude with what look like little scythes. That scythe guy isn’t such a bad offender, but the former two feel almost cartoonish. They just seem a little tonally off when you consider the kinds of corruption and levels of crime that the movie wants us to believe in. That said, once these characters are fighting, then all my quibbles disappear and I am just sold on the action.

The movie picks up quickly after the first. Our lead, Rama, has been recruited to go undercover to help root out the corruption. First he has to go to prison and gain the trust of the son of a politician/criminal. From there he has to gain entry to the criminal organization and gather intel.

In terms of plot, the movie goes over well-trod ground. You get the usual prison story beats. Then once with the organization you also get some of the expected beats. The politician’s son is the usual entitled dick, and with that character profile you get some more familiar beats. Other criminal elements are introduced, including a dude with a cane and a penchant for wearing sunglasses indoors (yet another cartoonish character amidst this crime story) and a crazy-haired old hitman. All of these are familiar elements. And yet these feel worth watching because they help to tie together these outstanding action sequences.

This is a testament to the directing and editing skills on display here. The movie is pretty long, clocking in at over two hours. But it moves briskly and never seems to go slack. We get event after event after event, and though the motives of characters aren’t necessarily fully fleshed out, or verge on the melodramatic, given the stakes which the story operates in we can accept them. And once the action starts, all you want to do is sit back and admire the work that’s being done. Again, kudos to director Gareth Evans for shooting these tight, intense sequences. Much admiration should be given too to the fight coordinators, among them lead Iko Uwais. These fights go from multiple enemies charging one person, to an amazing car chase, to straight up one-on-one duels.

If you’re an action fan, you’ve probably been waiting for this. You won’t be disappointed. If you didn’t get to see the first film, run to see that, then watch this. You just have to. — BM, GMA News

"The Raid 2" is now showing in Metro Manila theaters.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own.