The Gist –
The Raid 2 picks up directly after the tower block events of the first film, Rama (Iko Uwais) is forced to seek help from Bunawar the head of an internal affairs like crew that do not think twice about executing corrupt cops. In danger from the even more powerful corrupt cops he and his family must go undercover.
Review
Did I forget to mention that all this happens in quite literally the first five minutes of the film? Writer/Director Gareth Evans slows down the pace once Rama is in prison allowing us to breathe and get to know some more of the characters such as the mob boss’s son Uko. Shortly after that we’re thrown into one of the most impressive multiple-fighter action scenes I have seen in a while. Taking place in the rain soaked muddy outdoors, countless thugs are trying to kill Uko, so Rama seeing this as a way to gain his trust fights them off until the prison guards arrive.
The fight goes on for about ten minutes and all done in one take gloriously shot by Matt Flannery and choreographed by The Raid’s Yayan Ruhian or better known as Mad Dog.
Here, Yayan returns as a completely different character called Koso and gets his share of screen time taking on legions of thugs but never meets Rama. And that is where this film 2hr plus, running time lies. As mentioned before, Evans occasionally breaks away from Rama and takes his time in establishing characters giving them all enough screen time, allowing us to remember them, especially the three most notable ones including Hammer Girl, Baseball Bat Man and The Assassin. However I personally could have done with a shorter running time but that is a minor complaint, let’s get to what these films are known for, action.
This movie has tons of it. Many of the action scenes are given in short explosive bursts until the three major baddies are introduced. And my god do they deliver. Most notable is the car chase. We get a martial arts battle inside one of the vehicles while others shoot and crash into each other all shot in long takes and at an angle, so we could see what was going on.
Thankfully Evans who also edited The Raid 2 didn’t go too crazy and shred the scenes to a series of millisecond cuts resulting in the audience getting a migraine and me in particular getting annoyed and demanding my money back because you know, I actually want to see what’s going on rather than watch two hours of a series of shaky one second shots.
The Verdict
So to wrap it up, Berandal is a major departure from the first movie and thank god that it is. It gives its audience and fans what they want by expanding the story and its characters.
Evans is showing or more like reminding us that action and fight scenes do not need to rely on too much CGI and wirework, as long as you have a good story, likeable characters and of course know how to frame and edit.
Watching The Raid 2, I was constantly reminded of what James Cameron did with Aliens and T2. Only a handful are able to make sequels better than the first, Evans is definitely one of them.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG9uFX3uYq4
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