The Raid 2 : Berandal

Being single certainly has its perks! For instance, I can go see as many Kung Fu movies as my heart desires to see without having to worry about watching the next 5 Kate Hudson movies as a form of payback for dragging my girlfriend to them! I was a witness to this on Thursday night. I saw a few women playing the role of the nice girlfriend and pretending to enjoy their time with their man, but I could also see the wheels spinning in their heads as each arm was being broken or each head was being smashed in on screen. These guys had picnics in the park followed by a Love Actually  marathon in their very near future, they just didn't know it yet! But I will say this, for every cheese plate they have to eat or for every love song they have to endure, seeing The Raid 2 in the theater is worth every second of the pain that is to follow! One disclaimer though, I have never actually made it through that neutering movie, so I can only assume that Love Actually is some sort of a painful musical.

But moving on...Raid 2 picks up right where Raid 1 left off. The first thing you see is Rama's brother being executed by the ambitious Bejo, a power hungry gang lord who has designs on taking over Indonesia's criminal underworld. And to do so, he has devised a plan to usurp the current lord in Bangun, which involves getting to his equally ambitious and frustrated son Uco. But we don't discover any of this until Rama (our hero) is recruited to go undercover and infiltrate Bangun's organization so that he can expose the corrupt cops that are in cahoots with them. In order to do this, they must create a new identity for Rama and get him arrested in a manner that will immediately get him credit with Uco. And once we reach this point of the movie, you begin to experience one of the greatest action films you will ever see in the theater.

The Welsh writer and director Gareth Evans has clearly integrated himself into the Indonesian culture over the years while working with the same production team and the same actors on his last few films. And his knowledge of the country and its ways definitely comes across on the big screen. Each character has their own interesting back story and Evans at least touches the surface on every one of them, which certainly contributes to the films length of 150 minutes. But the simple fact that he has an intricate storyline to go along with the outstanding action makes this a top notch film.

Speaking of the action, there is no way I can do it any justice with my limited vocabulary but you know early on in this film that you are in for an instant classic. 15 minutes into the movie you are already vocally cheering as Rama takes on this gang of about 50 dudes in his 4 x 2 cell as they attempt to welcome him in with an initiation of sorts. One by one he is tossing and beating guys senseless in a manner that would make Bruce Lee think twice about entering. And if you have seen The Raid 1, then you know that all this does is serve as an appetizer to what's coming later. Each subsequent fight scene takes it up a notch as the situations get more and more over the top and the quality of the fighting gets more impressive as you are introduced to a number of fighting styles.

The ultra violent gang brawl in the muddy jail courtyard where prisoners very casually assault the guards who try and break it up gives you an early indicator that this a no holds barred kind of movie. Also with the increased budget Evans received to make this sequel, he wasn't restricted to only filming this movie in one location and that consequently allowed him to have a more layered story. So thankfully he wasn't limited to only making a prison movie; he was able to quickly move on to Rama's integration into Bangun's gang in the outside world. I only bring that up so you don't think you're seeing Undisputed 4 or seeing a version of HBO's Oz with Kung Fu. And yes, I know the fighting style they used in this film is Pencak Silat but only about 3 percent of the people reading this will know that, so for the purposes of this review we will call it Kung Fu.

Rama has an epic battle against a baseball bat and hammer duo that almost takes him to a level of superhero status. Evans introduces you to two villains who are skilled in using a baseball bat and hammers to take out their opponents in very creative and punishing ways. And you cant help but yell out "oooooh shit" as these three are about to face off. I wont even disrespect the final fight scene between Rama and this Raid's version of the Mad Dog by trying to describe it but just know that my jaw was dropped the entire time and just when you think it couldn't get any more badass; it does! It was at this moment that I officially decided that this was easily one of the greatest action movies ever made and I cant help but give it a rating of TIGHT!