User reviews

The Raid: Redemption was such a success and regarded by many people as one of the best action movies of 2012, and the sequel is likely to end the year 2014 as the best action movie of the year. It's pretty much different than the first movie, in this one there was actually a story. This movie is a great combination of a gangster flick with a very well coordinated martial arts.

The director Gareth Evans is masterful at filming incredible action sequences, probably better than ANY Hollywood directors working right now. It is inspiring how he managed to make such unbelievable fight scenes, and car chase in a such limited budget. The cast were good in delivering the good, the dialogue was fairly good, the choreography were Spectacular! Not to mention the unforgettable cinematography that was brilliantly managed by people who knows what they're doing.The only downside is perhaps the running time which could have been shortened 15-20 minutes, but you will still always be entertained while watching this movie.

Overall, The Raid 2 is arguably one of the best sequels ever, and even one of the best martial arts movies ever. It's superior to its predecessor in terms of story telling, considering the running time, and the choreography was also quite a bit improved from the already unforgettable moves in the first one. It had more action and violence than the previous one, although less action percentage-wise. It will keep you on the edge of your seat. It has everything a perfect martial arts movie has to have, and it deserves to be regarded as one of the best in its genre. I hope that the director Gareth Evans would make more films with a higher budget to showcase to the world his true potential as a director, and it'd be great to have it featuring Iko Uwais, that could be an icon for years to come.

This sequel is better in every conceivable way.

The action might take up a little less screen time percentage wise, but is more brutal (way more), even better choreographed, varied and memorable. I think this movie has the greatest overall collection of fight scenes in the history of action cinema, and a fantastic car chase too. Obviously I haven't seen every movie in existence, but I have never seen anything with such a collection of incredibly well done and brutal fights.

Characters have depth to them, even if on a comic book level, and are well cast and well played. Story is fairly intelligent, and more than services the action.

Everything else; filming, editing, sound design, stunts, special effects are stellar. There are quite a few "how the hell did they do that?!?" moments.

Having watched and enjoyed the first film, also with all its hype i heard, I excitingly went to watch The Raid 2: Berandal this afternoon. In the first 5 minutes, there're some shocks especially for the viewers who've watched the first film. The aftermath of the 1st film was told in brief to give the background plot for Rama the protagonist character. So it's basically recommended for the viewers to watch the first film before watching.

With quite many characters're being involved, to make it less easier for the viewers to identify the characters, most of them only have short names and unique names (although it got me confused a little at some time till i was finally able to know them all). The most important key throughout this film's its violent top-notch fighting choreography which's jaw dropping and breath-taking. Also the view take (cinematic technique) in this film's simply marvelous, one which i really enjoyed's the car chase scene. It's such a superb performance to take those kinds of angles. I tell you, the story's a bit much equivalent with as if a mixing of "The Departed" + "The Godfather" + Gory Martial Arts, so in my opinion it's unwise to miss watching it.

Furthermore, this sequel is indeed a confirming proof that Gareth Evans's undoubtedly an experienced and adept action film writer-director whom i think should be eyed and wanted by the Hollywood producers to direct/write decent action movies, with martial arts but perhaps less violent. Iko Uwais, although his total screen-time percentage's less (reduced because of the more complicated story n characters) compared with the first film and the role of his character is, didn't lose his hero persona, he constantly showed off his skills in the martial arts by fighting tons of enemies, got a bit improved in his acting (thanks to the story with its more dialogues).

I urgedly forbid any parent to bring their young little children to watch this movie. Also for the viewers with weak-stomachs (anti-violence) definitely might want to reconsider and avoid watching this film, because it's utterly quite gruesome. After the film ended, you might find yourselves asking about some things which're left unsure and dubious. So gotta keep your eyes out for the continuation in the next last film of the planned trilogy which i reckon must've not come out yet at least not until 2017.

A must-see film for the action movie fans.

9/10

Okay so where do I begin I saw the first one and It blew me away. I watch so many movies no matter the genre. So while I was watching this sequel my heart was beating very fast and the adrenaline was pumping. It takes place 2 hours after where the first one ended. Swear to god every time there was a fight on I felt it and I kept shaking. The scene that had me pumped was the train scene and the prison fight. There is a lot of martial artist involved in this film which makes me love it even more because they use real stunt men and this movie just requires skill. This is by far the best action movie sequel ever produced and I hope it gets noticed by everyone around the world. Best one on one showdown in the end. If you love action movies and would love to turn your brain off for a moment then this is your candy. My favorite action movie ever, sorry Bruce Lee. 10/10 MUST SEE!

I was lucky enough to catch a limited release screening of this film here in Australia as I was in high anticipation to see it after more than enjoying the first Raid film and in no way was I disappointed with this film. This is honestly, by far, one of the best sequels in existence today. The isolated first film is completely removed of all boundaries and expanded it to this ultra-violent masterpiece. First the possible negatives for some people; this movie is very long and structured differently to the first (Beginning Story - Action Centre - Ending Story) this film follows a back and forth style of (Story - Action - Story - Action) so the accumulation of story is quite large meaning a lot of reading for English viewers. Another possible negative is the fact this film feels almost nothing like the first film, the first being like an action survival story while this film is an action, espionage, martial arts film filled with gangs and all different personalities though in my opinion this gives the film a fresh style for viewers. If you were expecting same old style you may be disappointed but there is an American remake of the first film in production. The final possible negative is the vast amount of brutal and graphic violence throughout the film, this is one of the most violent action films I have ever seen but I enjoy the extreme violence side of cinema but those with a light stomach may find this film difficult for the sheer amount of blood there is in this movie in comparison to the first. These negatives in my eyes are strong points for the film in my eyes but to others might not be. To the positives which there are plenty of, firstly and most important; the action. As you probably would've expected the action in this film is the greatest bone crunching action you will most likely see in your whole life, its gritty and incredibly well planned style makes it like a form of bloody art. Gareth Evans knows exactly what he is doing here. One of my favorite aspects of the films was the direction. The slow pans and zooms Evans uses to build suspense as well as a perfect use of slow motion, not over the top in any way, just give the film an added visual style which boosts it even further. Evans also knows exactly how to build up an action scene, one of my absolute favorite fight scenes in the film in the prison yard fight which is so incredibly well choreographed whilst having this dark and suspenseful build up to the fight. This film try's a lot of new things and all of which work for example are car chase scene which is one of the best I've seen in any movie. The story in this film delivers what the first film was lacking, putting characters in the flesh and making you care a lot more, even for the villains. And with good story and characters of course comes excellent acting which is often rare in action films, these actors are absolutely teeming with talent, all of which can act and can fight. As I read the credits I could only see two stunt doubles for the whole film which is saying something. This is an absolute must see for any action film fan, it is nothing short of a masterpiece and needs to receive the credit it absolutely deserves

The first movie 'The Raid: Redemption' set the bar for action movies. With its fast paced action and believable fight scene choreography whilst not being over the top with an aim for realism that would diminish the combat's entertainment factor.

With 'The Raid 2: Berandal', we are brought back into the gritty world of the first movie directly following where the story left off. The viewers are introduced to an entirely new perspective on the world where the first movie is set. In the first movie we are locked in the one perspective of Rama and his battle through the building, whilst in the sequel we learn that this all takes place as part of a much larger setting. We find out that realism is not the aim of the series and instead its a world of gangsters, villains and corruption.

Evans is able to introduce new characters like the 'Hammer Girl' and the 'Baseball Bat' guy without making them seem totally over the top and ridiculous. We also get to watch them fight and are able to enjoy their unique styles rather than the usual, 'this character is a bad guy' scenes to barely introduce them.

The fight scenes are excellently choreographed and the way they are shot is spectacular, a lot of imagination and ingenuity is used to really throw the viewer directly into the action. The gore and violence level reflect far more realistic outcomes considering the brutality of both the scenarios and the weapons.

When I try to compare this to the usual Hollywood blockbuster action movies reduced to PG13 to get more people in to watch it, its impossible. The movie delivers far more in the way of action and fight sequences whilst maintaining a sensible and cohesive plot.

If you are expecting(for some bizarre reason) to see an amazing plot to compare to The Godfather or The Departed you probably are expecting the wrong things. If you are expecting to see a amazing fighting / martial arts movie with a believable plot you wont be disappointed. The movie reminded me a little of a Tarantino film with its characters, something like Kill Bill. But instead with way way way better fight scenes and frankly, a better plot as well.

Overall considering where this movie is from and the cast involved etc any negative rating is totally undeserved. Whilst not everyone's cup of tea as far as martial arts / action movies go this movie will be impossible to top in 2014, and frankly its probably the best action movie I have seen in the last decade, it will be on the top of my list for a while.

It is hard to believe but this movie is bigger AND better than the first one. I will say it has ambition in opening up this world into a mafia drama rather than another claustrophobic thrill-ride. The mob aspect of the plot might be generic and cliched at times but overall that part was surprisingly more engaging than some American movies of that kind. But we watch this for the action and it was insanely savage! We are talking level-11 sh-t here; high-speed pacing, masterful choreography and brutal as hell. Fight sequences that put most action movies to shame!! ...................................... THE RAID 2 QUOTES You Apologize to them in their languages, in our land. Where is your honor!

In Jakarta, Indonesia, the SWAT officer Rama (Iko Uwais) meets with police officer Bunawar (Cok Simbara) that invites him to join a secret anti-corruption team. The reluctant Rama accepts to join the team to protect his family and learns that Bunawar wants to expose the corrupt chief of police Reza (Roy Marten) that is dealing with the mobster lords Bangun (Tio Pakusodewo) and Goto (Kenichi Endo), but needs evidences. Bunawar asks Rama to hit the son of a politician to be imprisoned and get close to Bangun's son Uco (Arifin Putra) in the prison. Rama goes undercover using the name Yuda and saves the life of Uco in a mob in the prison befriending him. Two years later, when Yuda is released, he is hired by Bangun to work in their organization with his right arm Eka (Oka Antara) and Uco. But the ambitious Uco is not satisfied with the behavior of his father towards Goto's family and he secretly associates to the gang lord Bejo (Alex Abbad) to begin a war between the families. But Bangun does not want a war against the Japanese mobster and Uco kills his own father. Yuda saves Eka and now he has to fight for his own life.

"The Raid 2: Berandal" is a funny and entertaining martial arts action movie. The non-stop action associated to the choreography is amazing with spectacular fights. But it is weird to see body-guards not having guns and falling like sparring in fights against experts. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Operação Invasão 2" (Operation Invasion 2")

I was lucky enough to attend a special screening of 'The Raid 2' in Sydney last night, it was a big crowd for a small event with everyone excited for the film to begin. I can honestly say that myself, my friend who tagged along and the audience were very very entertained!

The plot continues 2 hours after the events of the first film, it places our hero into another intense mission to stop the baddies by going undercover for a special unit and blending in with the mob who's on the verge of war with their rivals. All I can say that follows is a orgy of brutal, bloody and intense arm-breaking, leg-snapping, hammer stomping, bat swinging, blade slashing, head blowing, bullet-loaded and arse kicking violence in a dash of Tarantino and Scorsese story-telling in its plot. The choreographed fights are all intense and realistic with the climatic showdown towards the last half hour of the film being the best sequences filmed on camera.

Overall, its a bloody amazing film to be released in 2014 and its a definite return for the genre too! I'm definitely keen to see this again when its out officially later this week!

((From: http://thinmanmoviereviews.wordpress.com/)) In 2011, Welsh director Gareth Evans gave us "The Raid: Redemption" – one of the best pure action films of the last decade – and hinted at his potential to be a new and exciting presence in the writer/director realm. The action was hard-hitting, lightning fast, supporting a simple, contained story of one man fighting against an entire tower of enemies in a way that was reminiscent of classics like "Die Hard". Well, if "The Raid" was one of the best action films of the last ten years, Evans' follow-up film "The Raid 2″ has now set the standard for the next twenty. In fact, I'm going to make a bold statement that you can feel free to quote me on:

"The Raid 2″ is the best action movie ever made.

Where sequels are concerned, this film does absolutely everything right. It takes the frenetic energy of the original, contained within the twenty-story drug den in which it took place, and lets it loose across the urban sprawl of an entire city teeming with warring crime syndicates, corrupt police officers, and the civilians often caught in the crossfire. No longer contained to just one address, the fight scenes in "Raid 2″ cover car chases, cramped subway trains, muddy prison yards, night clubs, and city streets, and every action set piece hits all the right notes. Every punch thrown and bullet fired is made even more effective by the fact that all of the action is done practically. In an era where so much of the action that we see on screen is dominated by the CGI-centric explosion extravaganzas of Michael Bay and the like it's incredibly refreshing to see highly trained stunt professionals being pushed to their limits to deliver a collection of the best action scenes in modern memory. Much of this work is shouldered by the film's lead, Indonesian-born Iko Uwais, the returning star of the first "Raid". Uwais is reminiscent of a younger Jet Li or – dare I say it – Bruce Lee; moving with such self-assured speed and practiced precision that every move deserves multiple looks to take in all the details. The comparison to Lee is bolstered by "The Raid 2″'s finale, which plays out like the final gatecrashing act of "Game of Death", in which our hero has to slug his way through opponents of increasing lethality. Unlike "Game of Death", "The Raid 2″ lets us see our villains in action almost as often as our hero, and it's a credit to Evans as writer/director that each of these characters is absolutely dripping with charisma and cool. There are no wasted characters here; we love every hero and love to hate every villain.

The script is, with few exceptions, always on-point. What could have simply been a straight-forward action flick with minimal plot to carry us from one action set-piece to another is instead a mad whirlwind of conspiracy, murder, and double and triple-crosses, steadily ratcheting up the tension to the film's explosive conclusion. From a technical standpoint, the impressive cinematography matches the action stride-for- stride and, looking back, there are a dizzying number of wildly choreographed long-takes that put every nuance of the environment, characters, and action on display. Combine this with a pulse-pounding soundtrack and some absolutely superb practical makeup effects accompanying every injury, no matter how small, and "The Raid 2″ is the complete package. With a third film already in the works, making this a trilogy, Hollywood has been put on notice: Gareth Evans has arrived; he's just dramatically changed the landscape of action films and shows no signs of pulling any punches. [10/10]

Featuring an unbelievable command of fight choreography, cinematography and a great flesh pounding, blood splattering sound mix - The Raid 2 delivers a feast of lunatic filmmaking that keeps topping itself until its blood soaked masterfully coordinated end. There's a sprawling story that's padding the action and it's not a derivative narrative that simply connects the dots from one fight to the next - this isn't the most complex narrative either, but it's engaging enough so when the film calms down for a few minutes, it still commands your attention. This is a truly visceral film. The action is filmed with long takes and I can't even begin to imagine the complications of focus pulling and the crew hitting all of their marks to pull off scene after scene. The filmmaking feels invisible, which is the highest compliment I could give a movie that's all smoke and mirrors, but actually looks like dozens of people were really pounding each other's faces in. The Raid 2 is completely bonkers and highly recommended.

When I first saw the raid, (redemption) I was blown away. exhilarating action, leaving me breathless at times. I've since watched it multiple times with other friends. And each time, left feeling the same. Now, with such high regard for the first one, naturally I went into this movie, with extremely high expectations. I was NOT disappointed. Not even remotely. It was twice as breathtaking, twice as exhilarating, and endlessly more brutal. A stunning movie. Evans, is unbelievable. His eye for what people want in an action movie is impeccable.The car chase scene (my favorite scene) was one of the best I've seen in recent history. Which is made more impressive by the fact the it was gareths first attempt at directing such a scene. I can't recommend this movie enough. Believe the hype. Absolute 10/10.

Okay, I'm 50 films off having reviewed 4,000, so I've seen a fair few flicks in my time. Many of them have been good, some bad, a lot of them middling. But very few of them blow me away, and the ones that do so tend to be the really intense thrillers that are packed with suspense and absolutely great action scenes. THE RAID was a great movie which I really enjoyed, and I heard the hype about the sequel but was afraid to believe it. I needn't have been; THE RAID 2 is an absolutely brilliant movie and one of the best films I've ever seen.

This sequel doesn't slavishly copy the original, which is a good thing. Instead, it's a sprawling gangster movie, an Indonesian variant of the ones popular in Hong Kong and South Korea, enlivened with some incredibly violent and extremely well choreographed action sequences which usually take the "one vs. many" formula to the extreme. This stuff is great in itself, enlivened with larger than life characters and more depth than you'd expect from a typical thriller.

Stuff continues in this vein up until the last forty five minutes, at which point you realise that everything preceding this point was just the build up to the denouement, which is an action spectacular unlike anything ever put on film. There's a stupendous car chase, a great three-way between top fighters, and the final kitchen one on one, which I think might well be the best fight ever put on film (and I've seen most of the Bruce Lee/Donnie Yen/Jackie Chan/Tony Jaa fights). Everything is perfect: the choreography, the music, the violence. Iko Uwais and Gareth Evans both go from strength to strength and everything just gels together perfectly. Go buy this now, you won't be disappointed!

Occurring mere hours after the end of The Raid, this sequel sees the main character Rama agreeing to head undercover in a prison for a 2-year sentence in order to protect his family and himself from retaliation. This puts him into a situation where he is between gangs and split loyalties within gangs, all of which provides a plot which is not hugely detailed, but has enough to it that once you add the many action sequences to it, produces a film that is 150 minutes long. With the first film, I did think that perhaps it struggled to carry almost an hour less than this, with its rather base plotting, so I was ready to say that Raid 2 has no business being so long. However – it does and it easily makes the time fly.

Although some films make great use of enclosed locations and struggle to perhaps make things work once given more freedom, the open world given to The Raid 2 seems to have greatly benefited it. In terms of narrative we get a bit more actual development and structure to it, with the main character much more involved than simply fighting his way up to the boss level like a video game; this drew me in a bit more but it also serves as a very good frame for plenty of action sequence. What it also does is open up an endless variety to these sequences – where the first film benefited and was limited by the tower block location, this film has car chases, prison riots, nightclubs, massacres on trains – a lot of different locations and characters that really do prevent it feel repetitive even if it is ultimately mostly action.

One thing that is easy to miss while being caught up in the action is the reason why you are caught up in it – and that is the technical delivery. I'm no filmmaker (probably didn't need to be said) but I watch a lot of films and I can appreciate when things like sound and camera work are well done. In the case of Raid 2 it is astonishing what the camera does; whether some of it is CGI or not I do not know but the movement of the camera in and around the action makes it feel like the position of the steadicam operator was as important in the fight choreography as the position of the actors. The film doesn't leave it long for you to discover this, because the prison riot is tremendous, with brutal action but hugely impressive camera movement and coordination. This continues throughout the film and I really did love the sweeping camera movements in and around the action.

In terms of the action, it should be said that it is violent – incredibly violent. I am not one of these people who get upset because an action movie got a low rating and start mumbling about selling out etc, however I did watch this film a few days after going to see Expendables 3 and, while the latter was distractingly noisy, it did make me wonder why on earth Stallone wouldn't want his film to be as good as Raid 2? I not only watched this impressed by the filming of the action sequences and the choreography of them, but the sheer intensity and, yes, blood and violence of them also grabbed me. I watch many action movies as a passive affair since they require little thought and generally allow me to do chores at the same time; for this one though I was regularly engaged and gasping at the action (well – cursing more than gasping). It isn't that bloody violence made this a good film, but it really does make it that much more impacting.

Raid 2 is long and this can be off-putting, but it mostly carries its running time very well, justifying it with plot and, mainly, action. The many sequences are fast, brutal, brilliantly choreographed and filmed with a fluidity and engagement of the camera that even laymen such as I will be impressed. The film has flaws but ultimately you came for an action movie and in Raid 2 you get an excellent one.

First half is little slow, action sequences are amazing without a doubt but still first part was more gripping than sequel.

Very little things can be criticized about RAID 2; why bad guys do not attack three or four at a time or why do not use guns. Well both points can be defended; but in any case, you go to this movie to the outstanding skills of the fighter in this case are really out of this world. Think in a more human but ten times faster Bruce Lee.

The first Raid was basically a glorified video game with a couple of twist that made the movie interesting. In this case, there is a real story and many things are really unexpected and very well thought about.

The movie is 30 or more minutes longer than the first one which is mostly used for setups and character development; however the level of violence higher and realism of the fights is shocking.

Fights are filmed in very long takes but fast takes with no visible editing or digital makeover. Your brain believe everything as if it was seen by your own eyes.

This is the kind of movie cannot be made in USA. Insurances will not allow this kind of stunt work and will end in a fake digital scenes without any kind of realism.

Even the acting is decent enough. The bad guys have the required level of menace; and the stoic hero looks defenseless against all that (he is not at all).

In brief; if you look for hard adrenaline entertainment, forget Captain America or any other PG 13 action movie and go for this one. You will have to read subtitles; but it is really a minimum price for the best 2.5 hours of pure action you will ever find.

I love 'The Raid' - it was the hard-hitting kick-in-the-guts the action genre needed. I'm a little less in love with 'The Raid 2' - when it's good, it's very good, but it stalls a little bit too much to be a classic. Still, it is a very entertaining watch for action and martial arts junkies.

The good bits: the fight scenes and action set pieces are majorly ramped up from the first film. More than likely, this is what most of us came to this film for and they do not disappoint. The fight choreography is great, and the sights, sounds and overall feeling of impact during the action is amazing. The camera whirs around at a frenetic pace in places which may be a deal breaker for some, but it suits the action perfectly. There is also some impressive technical shenanigans going on for some of the close quarters stuff. In fact, the film looks brilliant overall: vibrant and stylish in places, gritty and decaying in others but always nice to look at.

The not-so-good bit: for me, the story didn't fit so well within the film. There were just too many strands to the narrative and consequently this killed the pacing for me. I can see what director/writer Gareth Evans was going for but I think there were just too many ideas for one film - it was begging for a shorter, sharper narrative. The police corruption and international underworld crime elements seemed more suited to a Kang Woo-suk, Johnnie To or Martin Scorsese film than here. Having said that, I would be interested to see Evans tackle something in this vein in the future as there is an inkling here that he could handle such a story.

Overall, 'The Raid 2' was a little bit less than what I was hoping for but not to the point of disappointment and I still had a good time. If you enjoyed 'The Raid' you will enjoy 'The Raid 2' - it's bigger and louder than its predecessor which both helps and hinders it as an action film.

The movie opens with a long, wide, and distant shot of cloudy fields with something going on in the lower left corner. Some bearded villain has someone executed after giving one of those only-in-the-movies speeches.

Next we meet Rama, the hero from the first raid, right after it's over. He's sitting next to some guy and facing some other guy who shoots the guy next to him. The guy in front of him now tries to recruit him to some secret off-the-books police unit to clean up the city. Rama rejects the offer but then accepts it. To the police brass he will be presented as another corpse resulting from the raid. Meanwhile he'll be undercover in jail, to get close to the son of the one of the city's bad guys.

That gives us a couple of fights in jail, including a huge all-male mud fight for some reason. I think in that fight Rama saves the son of the bad guy who's now indebted to him. Years later he gets Rama out of jail and introduces him to his dad who hires him to work with his son doing menial tasks like dealing with problems of payment-collection. We are introduced to some homeless guy martial arts expert who works for the dad. We are told there's a 10 year truce in the city between the dad, the bearded bad guy, and the Japanese. Son is mighty frustrated though as he's being treated as a low employee by the dad. He wants to take the reigns of the organization. But he's also one arrogant elitist pig who thinks himself superior to everyone else.

One day bearded guy proposes the son a deal--to start a war between the dad's group and the Japanese so the son will end up in charge. All this in exchange for some real estate the the Japanese own. Son accepts. The first move is to kill the homeless killer and blame it on the Japanese. But dad won't fall for it, he doesn't start a war. Bearded guy has 3 wicked assassins--a girl that uses two hammers, a guy with a baseball bat, and a martial arts expert. They orchestrate a simultaneous campaign to kill Japanese.

Suddenly cops go after Rama. After beating them up, Rama arrives at the dad's office to find out the son is coming clean about his plans. Rama now has to reveal that he's not on the side of the son. Now the assassins go after him.

The Raid 2 doesn't feature a raid. It really doesn't have a lot to do with the first part other than the presence of the Rama character and that the story starts soon after the end of the first. This movie is 2 hours 30 minutes long. And unlike the first movie, very little of that is fight scenes. There are occasional bouts of violence in between lots of story. But here's the problem, while the violence is quick and fast, the rest of the movie is s l o w. The story itself shouldn't take up that much time, but what gets in the way is the director's overbearing concern with style. And this movie is stylish. At times it feels like browsing through a modern interior design magazine, in slow motion. The director's signature shot of the camera rolling forward slowly a couple of inches in a rectangular space gets tiring and is pointless.

When there is action it's violent, bloody, gory, Westernized. In fact it's less about the choreography here than about camera work and jarring editing. But only few action scenes truly stand out--the chase scene and the final confrontation with the assassins. The rest is just so-so. The entire jail scenes are lame. I don't understand what is it about jails that fascinate movie-makers. Probably that it's an all-male environment. And the mud-wrestling scene is utterly confusing, you can't tell who's who and what's the whole point. Well, the point is the mud-wrestling scene, but when it happens it not nearly as impressive as the director thinks. Another problem is that Rama isn't much of a leading character. He doesn't get to do much and for a good part of the movie seemed to just not be there.

It's not easy for me to review this movie independently of The Raid: Redemption. If you're like me and were blown away by that movie and were looking forward to the sequel, then you'll probably end up disappointed as I was. Sure this movie is bigger, longer, more polished, with more story. It just lacks the exhilaration, the fascination, the madness, the genius of the first one. The Raid 2 perhaps is too ambitious for its own good. The director knows how to direct action...dialogue not so much. And he's a far better director than he is an editor. This movie could have been saved with tighter editing that focuses more on story and action and less on empty style. The Raid 2, while not as groundbreaking as The Raid 1, still puts Hollywood action to shame and is a unique ode to violence.