Review: The Raid 2

The Raid 2 (2014):

Synopsis – After the events of The Raid: Redemption, Rama must go undercover into one of the criminal organizations that rule the streets. He has to punch and kick a bunch of people, because that’s what Rama does.

Starring – Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian, Arifin Putra

I saw this movie. I saw this movie, and it changed me. I have since dedicated my life to martial arts, and have been pursuing the elite in order to challenge them, mano y mano. Alright, that is obviously a lie. The change that has overcome me has to do with action movies. After having seen what was done in The Raid 2, I don’t think any action is going to be able to hold up. And I don’t even really like action movies! The pure hand to hand combat displayed throughout the movie was simply breathtaking, and I found myself grinning ear to ear as Rama beat his way to the top of the game. If you were to look at my review of the first movie, you might think I was an asshole hypocrite that just changes his mind willy-nilly. Well, that may be true, but the problems I had with the first movie were almost all completely resolved in the sequel. We got a movie with great action and a solid story! It can happen after all.

What I Liked:

-Listen, I know the point of most action movies is to get your blood pumping with the action displayed and not worry about the other bits (although you could argue that Michael Bay is very concerned with the cinematography of all his films, and he mostly specialize in action), but I want a story. I WANT A STORY DAMN IT! And this time, I got one. I got one in spades. I have seen many criticisms about the story and its length, but I freaking loved it. I hope the inevitable 3^rd movie has just as much.

-Rama (Iko Uwais) was great, but once again my love goes to Yayan Ruhian, who played Mad Dog in the first movie and Prakoso in this one. That man can do some crazy acrobatic stuff. And mad props to Cecef Arif Rahman for his fight against Rama.

-This wasn’t just a great fighting movie, the driving action was also really thrilling.

What I Didn’t Like:

-I had been hyped up to see Hammer Girl and Baseball Boy in action, but in the end I found them both pretty underwhelming. Because of the nature of their weapons most of their stuff had to be CGI’d in.

What I Hated:

-As I said before, I don’t think any action movie is ever going to overcome the amazingness of The Raid 2. At least nothing ever American made.

Verdict:

This is one of the best martial arts/action movies I’ve ever seen. If you don’t mind horrendous amounts of violence and reading (as it is subtitled) you HAVE to see this movie. So freaking good.