Movie Review: ‘The Raid 2’

Film: The Raid 2
Directed by: Gareth Evans
Starring: Iko Uwais

Bigger is not always better, but The Raid 2 is an exception. It’s two-and-a-half hours of gangs, deception, and over-the-top violence that pushes the limits of visceral filmmaking to the breaking point (then snaps it in two). 

Picking up hours after the events of The Raid, the latest film from Gareth Evans wastes no time diving headfirst back into the bloody and often bleak underbelly of his cinematic universe. Rama, having just finished battling his way through more than a dozen floors of bad guys, finds himself sitting across from a man who explains that the efforts in the previous story only stopped a small segment of a much larger problem, and that in order to actually stop the gangs plaguing the city – not to mention guarantee the safety of Rama’s family – our hero will have to abandon the life he knows. Rama must go undercover to enter the criminal underworld and climb through the hierarchy of competing forces until it leads him to the corrupt politicians and police pulling the strings at the top of the heap, which he must then put to a stop.

The setup to The Raid 2 has all the makings of a classic crime epic: A cop doing whatever he can for his family while simultaneously fighting for the common good, bad guys with increasingly absurd skill sets, and a pace that rarely allows viewers to catch their breath, let alone soak in everything unfolding before their eyes. It’s like The Departed in a way, only with better accents, far more violence, and a superior third act.

Iko Uwais returns as Rama, and he is given the responsibility of carrying a lot more story this time around. Aside from an opening sequence that is not explained until well into the second act, Rama is at the center of The Raid 2 for the majority of its runtime. We meet him exhausted and frustrated from the events of the first film, then witness as he goes from volunteering to enter undercover duty in order to save his family, to fighting a variety of enemies throughout the city of Jakarta. His character is driven by his love for his family, and as the weight of time begins to take a toll on Rama’s relationships Uwais finds a way to convey the growing rage Rama feels inside on screen. This includes continually bashing guys’ (and gals’) faces in with a variety of hand-to-hand techniques and random objects, yes, but he also displays this evolution of emotion and motivation through his speech and the way he carries himself when not engaging in battle. He’s not a god or a Marvel superhero. Rama is a man, and man is capable of fatigue.

Fans of the original should know before going to the theater that the expanded runtime in the sequel is largely due to the time needed for a story to be properly wrapped around Evans’ elaborate fight sequences. The majority of the first hour is heavy on dialogue, with scattered awe-inducing battle sequences, but the film eventually settles into a nice groove that causes the remaining ninety minutes to fly by with eye candy to spare. It should come as no surprise that The Raid 2 may be one of the most violent films ever brought to screen, but it’s done so in a way that is both grisly and artistic. There is a beauty to the chaos Evans and his team are able to create, and it is unmatched in modern filmmaking. The same wild hand-to-hand combat from the original remains at the story’s core, but there are also car chases, prison riots, and characters with all-too-literal names, like Julie Estelle’s Hammer Girl.

As good as the storytelling and action may be, the real treat in The Raid 2 is watching Gareth Evans showcase his diverse set of filmmaking skills. Anyone can make a movie with a lot of action, but it takes a very specific eye like Evans’ to know what shots will make the viewers feel like they are actually a part of what is happening onscreen. Merantau and The Raid proved Evans knew his way around action, but here he is able to try more as he is given far more settings and characters to use and abuse as he sees fit. One sequence in particular, involving a car chase through the crowded streets of Jakarta with a 5-man battle simultaneously taking place inside one of the vehicles involved in the chase, is both breathtaking and technically inspiring. Evans is able to balance a large amount of complicated maneuvers, both hand-to-hand and car-to-car, while making very slick camera transitions and pulling off one or two tracking shots that fans of indie film will want to craft into .gifs right away.

There are drawbacks to the progression of The Raid universe as well, though they are admittedly few and far between. The plot-heavy first half makes the film feel a bit unbalanced, especially on repeat viewings. Its necessity is fairly understandable given the events that must follow immediately after the setup is detailed (which I will not give away here), but when compared to the pace set by the original film it can begin to feel a bit tedious. Also, as much as I love universe oddities like Hammer Girl and Baseball Bat Man, their existence in the film is too short to give the audience time to connect with their characters beyond surface level interest. This may all be part of Evans’ plan, but they are so fully realized in battle, not to mention incredibly entertaining, that I could not help wishing their was more of them to enjoy. Their presence lasts long enough to add twenty minutes to Rama’s journey, but they could ultimately be cut altogether without the central story being too heavily affected. 

If The Raid was proof there is still room for originality in the action genre, The Raid 2 goes a long way towards proving crime epics are far from dead as well. Everything you loved about the original has been expanded, often for the better, and the vast majority of the story’s new elements work to make the overall experience far more satisfying. You get epic amounts of blood and stunts, but there is also a story about a man willing to do anything for his loved ones that you will want to revisit again and again. It may be some time until The Raid 3 is brought to life, but thanks to The Raid 2 genre fans will have something to worship and study for years to come.

Score: A-

Written by: James Shotwell 

James Shotwell
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