The Raid: Redemption [Blu-ray]

First things first, don't watch the "Redemption" aspect of this film. Just watch "The Raid". It's better without the inexplicably terrible new Linkin Park soundtrack and astonishingly comical dub.The remix is in no way an improvement over the original soundtrack. I've nothing against LP, believe me, but the original soundtrack is simply more exciting and a lot more dramatic--I have no clue why they thought this poorly-done new soundtrack was warranted, because it makes the movie less exciting.OK, we have that out of the way? Cool. Now, if you've done this properly, you'll be listening to the original audio with subtitles (I know they can be annoying and I don't like to have to read subtitles either if I can help it, but anything's better than this laughably bad dub that couldn't possibly have taken more than a single afternoon).So, it goes like this:The Raid: Redemption: One star. Seriously, with the dub and new soundtrack, you can't even take it as a dumb action flick. It's there, but with the new audio, it's just...No, just no.The Raid (original): Five stars. Yes, it's that much better than the default settings on the disc.Now let's review "The Raid" briefly, in a few pros and cons to keep it nice and brief.Pros:- Some of the best martial arts sequences you'll ever see, especially given the cool context (no one's flying through China here on trees like in Crouching Tiger, it's just guns and fists and a lot of violent punching and kicking, not to mention some exciting takedowns involving windows, machetes, and exploding refrigerators.)- Best. Villain. Ever. Not the drug-lord guy, he doesn't really do anything, but Mad Dog, his protector, who is portrayed as a maniac...And he really is. The title of "Mad Dog" fits him perfectly, as he just detonates into a fury of complex martial arts when he gets into his fights, all of which are very exciting. He clearly and openly seeks out challengers for hand-to-hand combat among everyone there, since he often gives the good guys tremendous advantages on purpose just so he can have some sort of fun. He never uses a gun because, as he says, "I never liked these things. Pulling a trigger to kill someone is just way too simple. It's like ordering take-out." He literally positions two characters between him at one point before a fight just for the hell of it, like fighting one at a time isn't any fun at all and no challenge whatsoever. And who can blame him? You just can't stop this guy from beating the life out of everyone he comes across. He lives to fight hand-to-hand, and that's it. Screw guns, they're just a nuisance. He has this fanaticism of killing people with his bare hands, purely for the rush, to the point that he literally gets bored with fighting normally and intentionally ups the difficulty for himself (such as the aforementioned two-on-one he sets up for no real reason except his own pleasure). Yeah, he's one scary bastard.- The Dragon of the film, Mad Dog, has his own finishing move, and it's not what you think. It's freaking frightening. When he first uses it, it's just insane and unbelievably violent, yet signature for him. He's one scary bastard, even with a gun pointed at him.- Crazy-cool protagonist who does a great job being a protagonist who can beat the crap out of anyone without mercy, you know, for justice.- The police sergeant is also really cool and authoritative in his own way, and he definitely isn't all talk and no action. He also comes off as pretty intelligent along with being fierce. Nicely done character.Cons:- The plot is virtually identical to Dredd. Seriously, if you haven't seen Dredd, this is the film, just in a different context and with a higher budget. Even some of the scenes seem strikingly similar. Menacing drug lord on a high floor? Check. Sealed inside? Check. The practice of buying police to protect the drug lord from police? Check. Residents told to fight protagonists? Check. Drug lord on top floor watching everything through monitors? Check. Some similar spoilers? Check. Drug lab fight scene? Um...Yeah, check. I could go on, but yeah, pretty much the same movie, except Dredd was, well, Judge Dredd.- For better or worse, and maybe not really a con, every single person in this film--all of which are oriental--seem to know advanced martial arts, even the freaking guys making meth who are minding their own business. Yes, it has that thing where every single Asian character knows martial arts, like they're somehow born with it. The meth lab guys are a real piece of work. There's no reason for them to know any type of self-defense, but they're still skilled enough to give the protagonists a good fight.- The story initially appears to be the dumbest thing you've ever seen in your life and makes zero sense. This isn't a spoiler: The police can't handle when the power is cut. Yeah, apparently no one thought of that and brought so much as flashlights with them.- The box says "30 Floors of Hell". There aren't 30 floors, there are clearly 15. The drug lord's on the 15th floor. What's with the extra 15 floors we never see?- The box also says, iirc, "15 Elite Cops". But they aren't, they're rookies. That's not because they do stupid things, but because they're pointed out to almost all be rookies early in the film. So, uh, that's a lie. Not a big one, since the main characters can still kick enough ass for all of them combined, but these definitely aren't "elite cops". See: Flashlight problem, mentioned above.- Gunplay is a bit over-the-top, since *everyone* uses fully-automatic assault rifles that apparently don't need reloading (do they ever replace their magazines?) throughout the film. Some might not mind that, but one Commando is enough. There is no unit on the planet that uses fully automatic weapons for the simple reason that it's a dumb idea, and when they're all *missing* with that wasted ammunition, it kind of destroys the effect. They might as well be semi-autoing, you know, like every police or military unit does in close-quarters combat.- That thing regarding Andi...Well, not so well done. For his significance, he felt horribly underdeveloped, considering his key role in the film. They say a few sentences about him and that's it, despite that he turns out to be really, really significant. Well, whatever, no spoilers.SUMMARY:Okay, so that sounds like a lot of negatives, sure, but they're not that bad. The pros make up for it. It's not too long, it's stylish, and it gets its job done. Sure, the plot's about as deep as a generic PlayStation 2 shooter, but that's not necessarily an awful thing. It's a dumb popcorn flick, after all, and isn't supposed to be anything else, so no points off.Just remember: DO NOT LISTEN TO THE STUPID REMIX. And while you *may* be able to stomach the dub, it *does* suck. You'll probably choose subtitles, and you'll definitely want the original audio, which is paradoxically a lot more intense and heavy-metalish (as opposed to the downright strange and even boring electronic/nu-metal Linkin Park thing they threw on there) than the remix.Go for it if you want nothing but the dumbest of action and you like violent martial arts. Just remove the "Redemption" piece of it in favor of the much-better basic "The Raid" and you'll be good.

THE RAID: REDEMPTION is one of the most successful movies I've seen in YEARS. It's not the greatest movie, by a long-shot...but the gap between its ambition (which is pretty high) and its actual accomplishment is almost non-existent. I've long believed that movies need to be judge, in part, on how well they accomplish what they attempt, and not just how "good" they are by some high-brow, artsy standard. Thus, a low-brow comedy like KNOCKED UP can get 5 stars from me because while it isn't great art, it meets or exceeds all its own goals. And by the same token, a gorgeous, ambitious, "serious" film like, oh, let's say ANNA KARININA only gets 3 or 4 stars, because its reach so far exceeds its grasp.THE RAID: REDEMPTION is darn near perfect. It wants to be a nearly non-stop, adrenalin-fueled, ultra-violent, martial-arts heavy action movie. It tries to strike a balance between incredible tension and the visceral release of that pent-up tension. It wants to shock and awe. And it does.Set in Indonesia, we meet a group of heavily armed and armored cops who are planning a raid on a very tall apartment building. At the top of this building sits the city's most vicious crime lord, along with his two cruelly effective henchmen. Beneath them, for floor after floor, is a seemingly endless string of bad guys, the scum and villains of the town. The cops must fight their way from bottom to top...and once their presence is exposed the viciousness and intensity of the fight is nearly ceaseless.The movie, while not based on a videogame, is the best example of a videogame movie I've seen. Granted, that's a low bar...but THE RAID clears that bar so effortlessly. The action sequences, which start with gunplay and then devolve first to knife play and then hand-to-hand combat, are among the best I've seen. I've never been a huge fan of the MMA/martial-arts type of combat, where the hero and his foe kick, punch, block, flip, etc. But I've NEVER seen so many fights staged so brilliantly or executed with such brutal fervor. This is no exaggeration...during some of the action sequences, I found myself on the edge of my seat, talking to the screen (or yelling at it). I simply DO NOT do that, yet I couldn't help it. I was engrossed and engaged.Yes, there is a bit of a story. We are introduced, perfunctorily, to several characters and we do learn a few things about them. There is even a bit of a surprise relationship that is revealed late in the film. There are moments for dialogue and for catching a breath. I wouldn't say the dialogue is brilliant or the acting Oscar caliber...but it is a little better than one might expect. Iko Uwais plays Rama, our young hero...and he's a convincing screen presence (and a helluva fighter). This is the kind of movie that relies on archetypes to gives us a shorthand for understanding the characters. The heroic rookie, the guy with the smart-aleck remarks, the leader with a secret, the potentially corrupt higher leader, the insane bad guy, etc. etc. What THE RAID does, however, is take these stock characters and put them in nearly perfect motion for maximum impact. Gareth Evans wrote, directed, edited and co-choreographed the film. In my mind, his is one of the most singular accomplishments in recent film history. Again, his goals are not exactly lofty or ennobling. But I can barely conceive how he managed to succeed so well where so many others have tried and failed.This is a brutal film, and many viewers will not be able to finish watching it. Some will find it glorifies violence or is just deeply depressing in its depiction of insane violence. For me, it was a rush from start to finish. It was a punch to the gut, but it was somehow uplifting as well. It's simplicity of plot and tightness of purpose set it up to succeed beyond anything I could have expected. I had heard it was good, but was skeptical. "Surely that's just fanboys and genre nuts talking," I said to myself. But I was wrong. Evans and his talented team delivered one of the most thrilling movies I've seen. Wow!