Raid, The: Redemption (2011) [Blu-ray]
Action | Crime | Thriller

Tagline: We have to get out of this place.

Deep in the heart of Jakarta's slums lies an impenetrable safe house for the world's most dangerous killers and gangsters. Until now, the rundown apartment block has been considered untouchable. Cloaked under the cover of pre-dawn darkness and silence, an elite swat team is tasked with raiding the safe house in order to take down the notorious drug lord that runs it. But when a chance encounter with a spotter blows their cover and news of their assault reaches the drug lord, they find themselves stranded on the 6th floor with no way out. The unit must fight their way through the city's worst to survive their mission.

Storyline: In the Jakarta slums, a derelict apartment building has become a no-go area - even the police are unwilling to enter. It has become a safe-house for the most dangerous killers and gangsters. A SWAT team infiltrate the building, under the cover of darkness, to remove its owner - a notorious drug lord named Tama. The Raid: Redemption is an orgy of violence wrapped around a loose and uninteresting story, relatively bland characters, and routine plot developments. The movie succeeds on pure adrenaline, fight choreography, and guts alone. Audiences looking for anything other than butt-whooping firearm, machete, knife, and martial arts style should seek out another film. Director Gareth Evans' (Merantau) picture ranks high up on the list of ultimate guy movie adrenaline rushes; it's almost nonstop blood and violence, eschewing most other factors save for a few necessary breaks in the action and a handful of compulsory character scenes in order to bring viewers one of the most daring, relentless, and brutal movie experiences in some time. It's dark, dreary, inhospitable, and ofttimes frightening. It's as close as the Action movie and Cop drama can get to the Horror picture without featuring masked maniacs and unnecessary gore.
Merantau is an Indonesian martial arts film released on August 6, 2009, directed and written by Gareth Evans, and starring Iko Uwais. It introduces a style of silat known as silek harimau (Minang tiger silat) and a Minangkabau tradition known as Merantau. Evans and Uwais later collaborated again for the Indonesian action film The Raid: Redemption (2011).

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman on August 3, 2012 -- We have to get out of this place. --- The Raid: Redemption is an orgy of violence wrapped around a loose and uninteresting story, relatively bland characters, and routine plot developments. The movie succeeds on pure adrenaline, fight choreography, and guts alone. Audiences looking for anything other than butt-whooping firearm, machete, knife, and martial arts style should seek out another film. Director Gareth Evans' (Merantau) picture ranks high up on the list of ultimate guy movie adrenaline rushes; it's almost nonstop blood and violence, eschewing most other factors save for a few necessary breaks in the action and a handful of compulsory character scenes in order to bring viewers one of the most daring, relentless, and brutal movie experiences in some time. It's dark, dreary, inhospitable, and ofttimes frightening. It's as close as the Action movie and Cop drama can get to the Horror picture without featuring masked maniacs and unnecessary gore.

Rama (Iko Uwais) is a rookie cop who's dedicated to his job. He wakes early, works out hard, says his prayers, and unabashedly loves his pregnant wife. One day, he finds himself in the back of a SWAT van with several other heavily-armed officers. The team's mission is to take out a ruthless criminal kingpin named Tama (Ray Sahetapy), a man feared by his opponents and treated as if a god by those around him. He controls a massive apartment complex that's become home to all sorts of criminal types who work under him. The building houses his own drug lab and an army of expert fighters who will die in Tama's name. The SWAT team moves up and moves in. They secure the lower floors before their presence becomes known. When word reaches Tama of the incursion, he orders the officers taken down by any means necessary. What follows is a relentless bloodbath that will take an untold number of lives and a mental and physical toll on anyone fortunate enough to survive the mayhem.

That's the plot in a nutshell, but don't worry too much about story specifics. The Raid: Redemption is a shoot, slice, stab, punch, and kick first-and-only sort of movie. The picture offers endless and merciless violence, beginning with the execution of several unidentified people and continuing on until everyone in the movie is bloodied, shot, exploded, cut, maimed, or killed. But this is not an exercise in ratings-pushing. While The Raid: Redemption certainly shoves into boundaries, it never crosses into bad taste or celebrates violence, even if it turns violence into something of an art form at times. But the drab visuals, nearly colorless picture, and sheer awfulness guarantee that the movie puts a psychologically negative spin on this level of bloodshed, even if it in a roundabout way celebrates the artistry inherent in fighting and surviving in a closed-in urban environment. The dreary, inhospitable, worn-down building, saturated in bloodshed and slathered in hopelessness, only further emphasizes the gruesomeness that oozes from every scene. The movie finds that sweet spot where it makes the audience physically uncomfortable and even terrified, but at the same time energized and unable to turn away, no matter how brutal it may become.

So what's the point of this entire endeavor? That's difficult to say. The movie is entertaining and heart-pounding almost to a fault. If this doesn't get the juices flowing, chances are nothing will. It will certainly verify whether one's alive and open to the allure of cinema as escapism, that's for sure. If nothing else, though, the movie is just a cool-as-ice offering that's slicked up but not dumbed down, largely because there's nothing to dumb down. The picture is 100% fast action where unique kills, wounds, and near-misses are commonplace. The fight choreography is excellent, and even when the movie is so dark that it's a bit difficult to see what, exactly, is happening, it's obvious that The Raid: Redemption has its style down to a science. It's lightening-quick and the speed and pace give the movie some intensity and tension even when both are largely absent from a dramatic perspective. The good news is that the absence of drama and razor-sharp character development and dialogue doesn't hurt the experience. Audiences will come to know and care for the lead character, but only because the movie follows him and not necessarily because he's a rookie cop and an expectant father (yawn). The intensity definitely comes from the insane level of violence and relentless pace. The Raid: Redemption knows its strengths and its place, and kudos for sticking to its guns and not attempting to be something that it just is not.

Anyone who wants to see relentless violence, amazing fight choreography, incessant bloodshed, and all sorts of chaotic gun, blade, and fist action, The Raid: Redemption is the movie to see. Anyone who doesn't get excited reading that last sentence should stay far away. The Raid: Redemption is no masterpiece, but it's an exemplary action-only movie that knows its place and gets every last bit of blood and sweat out of its premise. There's minimal story and characterization, just enough to give the movie some sense of purpose beyond spilling blood. Stylistically, this is a dark, drab, uncomfortable sort of movie, just the right tenor for a picture as brutal and exciting as this. Sony's Blu-ray release of The Raid: Redemption features bland video, fair audio, and a nice assortment of extras. Recommended for fans of violent cinema.

[CSW] -3.3- . This low budget film has deliberately dark tone making it fairly flat and lifeless. However this movie is also brutally violent and focused on sending the audience on chaotic thrill ride that never lets up. From the intensely rhythmic opening montage this film lays down a pace where every scene increases in scope, ambition, and brutality. I really do mean brutality too! The craftsmanship behind the sound effects work shines thru a collage of snapping bones, slitting wrists, and shattering windows. With nearly wall to wall action this movie succeeds on pure adrenaline, fight choreography, and guts alone. Be wary though this is not a film for those with a weak of stomach!
[V3.0-3.5A] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box.

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