RE: ACTION- PACKED

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RE: ACTION- PACKED - 26/8/2012 8:12:06 PM

Phubbs

Posts: 660
Joined: 3/4/2012

The Raid: Redemption (2011)

What we have here is Indonesia's answer to Thailand's martial arts star Tony Jaa. Leading hero of the film Iko Uwais utilizes the martial art Pencak Silat for some major romper stomper fight sequences that would give Jaa a good run for his money I'm sure.

The plot is pretty much videogame-like and extremely basic. A team of SWAT go into a high rise block of flats within the slums of Jakarta. Their aim is to take out all criminal targets within and get to the big boss at the top.

This film has more of a 'Die Hard' approach than Jaa's films which tend to be more about a lone man fighting hoods. That said the basis is the same as is the look of the film with its dirty, gritty, sweaty atmosphere, its basically an excuse for some kick ass fighting that looks stunning from all angles.

Yes I'm mentioning Tony Jaa a lot but if you've seen his films and like his stuff then you know exactly what to expect from this (minus the small amounts of occasional religion). The only real difference is this film is much more brutal with some truly nasty screen wincing knife attacks and of course many bullets to the head.

On one hand I did enjoy the film as I do like good fight flicks, this dating back to my JCVD fanboy days. On the other hand the fights are slightly ridiculous as they seem to go on forever. It does actually get a tad dull after you've seen the same two/three guys pounding each other over and over and over and over almost taking turns in getting the upper hand then losing it etc...

Speaking of JCVD, these modern day martial arts fight flicks certainly make all the old 80's/90's stars look pretty tame. I look back at Seagal, Norris, Lundgren, Dacascos, Li, Yen, Adkins etc...These Southeast Asian films put them in the shadows bigtime!.

Impressive as it is the film is pretty much fight porn which offers nothing new if your really honest about it. The characters are very bland with most being simple nameless cannon fodder while the carnage is maybe a bit too much? I mentioned 'videogame-like' already, well this film is virtually a videogame level of any FPS you can think of.

My personal diagnosis...take the pending doom and desperation in 'Aliens' of a small elite team being taken down slowly. Add to that the highly stylised visual flair of 'Leon' with the kick boxing martial arts variations of Southeast Asia. What you get is nothing particularly new now (seeing as Jaa got there first) but it is a mean ass action flick with great production values that has been crafted well.

(in reply to soulfood)

Post #: 91

RE: ACTION- PACKED - 4/10/2012 12:50:56 PM

clownfoot

Posts: 7739
Joined: 26/9/2005
From: The ickle town of Fuck, Austria

At last. It's October and I've finally got round to seeing a movie released in 2012! And I'm glad it was The Raid that broke that duck. Balls to the wall action that's gritty and dirty as much as it is spectacularly choreographed, the fact two sequences somehow better the knife fight at the end of The Man From Nowhere is telling in how good the action scenes are. Sure, the plotting is light, yet that makes for a deliberately fast paced no holds barred flick that just gets on with things; tedium takes a hike, who needs an intricate plot when the action can tell the story. And at just over an hour-and-a-half in length the pace is judged perfectly.A near flawless action flick for people that love proper action movies (Hard Boiled I mean, not bobbins like The Expendables) and more fun than a Tony Jaa - it takes at least 45 minutes for Jaa to properly show off in Ong Bak, which is just criminal when matched against The Raid.

The Raid is, quite simply, fantabulous...

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(in reply to Phubbs)

Post #: 92

RE: ACTION- PACKED - 4/10/2012 1:48:50 PM

Cool Breeze

Posts: 1633
Joined: 9/11/2011
From: The Internet

Dredd is better.

(in reply to clownfoot)

Post #: 93

RE: ACTION- PACKED - 4/10/2012 5:46:10 PM

rich

Posts: 4138
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: Neo Kobe

quote:

ORIGINAL: Cool Breeze

Dredd is better.

Haven't seen it yet, but I get the feeling nobody cares.

The Raid is a solid, visceral action movie but nothing new. I wouldn't even say better than some of Tony Jaa's stuff.

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(in reply to Cool Breeze)

Post #: 94

RE: ACTION- PACKED - 10/10/2012 12:57:54 PM

discodave101

Posts: 1883
Joined: 4/10/2005
From: Sheffield

Watched it last night. It was great fun, but personally I think the reviews giving it 5 stars are going a bit far. I suppose when its such a small, low budget movie like this, it catches the reviewers a little off guard. The resulting over-hype is a great way of promoting a film that people wouldn't normally notice, or even go and see. Problem with that is, I get hyped up thinking its going to be one of the greatest action films I've ever seen, which it isn't. Now, if you'd have told me, without knowing about the film, I was about to watch an Indonesian action film shot for about �1m by a welsh guy with no known action stars, and THEN sat me down to watch it, my review might've been 4 stars, not 3.

Definitely good fun, and definitely worth a watch, but I wouldn't get carried away by the 5 star hype. Saying that though, I did watch it at home, and I can imagine this film had a bit more "impact" on the big screen.

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(in reply to rich)

Post #: 95

RE: ACTION- PACKED - 27/11/2012 10:58:33 PM

film man aidy

Posts: 277
Joined: 8/3/2007

Where the hell are all the ***** reviews coming from?! Saw it yesterday and it's JUST ***. JUST. The fight sequences were well done,but most just went on on forever. The plot was way too lightweight for my tastes. Found myself checking my watch more than once...

(in reply to discodave101)

Post #: 96

RE: ACTION- PACKED - 27/11/2012 10:59:16 PM

film man aidy

Posts: 277
Joined: 8/3/2007

And Dredd IS better.

(in reply to film man aidy)

Post #: 97