But what’s also not much of a debate is how you watch it. Obviously, deciding to watch The Raid 2 shouldn’t be much of a debate. Granted, it doesn’t make it impossible to read the dialog, just a lot more difficult than it should be. If you chose to watch it with its original Indonesian language track and with English subtitles - which you should - there are times when you’ll have trouble because the white type is set against a white or light background. ![]() In fact, the only real problem I had with The Raid 2 wasn’t with the movie itself, but with its subtitles. This is just a minor bit of unintentional humor in an otherwise solid action flick, though. There’s also, as long as I’m complaining, a character who uses a baseball and a bat to hurt people, but ends up coming across more silly than scary. As a result, The Raid 2 does nothing to dispel my feelings that slo-mo should be used very sparingly, and usually not at all. I just wish he had the same attitude about slo-mo, which he sometimes uses in cliché ways. Which sometimes means his shots are gimmicky, but more often than not, by taking a different approach, he ends up with an image that’s unique. ![]() It also helps that Evans likes to mess with the camera angels. (The exception to this being an exciting car chase/gun fight/punch- and kick-fest that recalls, well, the car chase/gun fight/punch- and kick-fest from The Matrix Reloaded.) But while the ones in such mob movies as Goodfellas usually involve a shootout, in The Raid 2 it’s all done with hands and feet. Think of it like this: In The Raid 2, as in such mob movies as Goodfellas, there’s the inevitable scene where someone gets double-crossed. But on the flipside, The Raid 2 ends up being just as interesting as its predecessor, in part because the martial arts bits are so raw, and in part because crime dramas usually don’t have this kind of unflinching action. Which, in some ways, is too bad, since if there’s anything Die Hard-esque action movies need these days it’s a dose of raw energy (2013’s A Good Day To Die Hard is proof of that). Instead, it’s more like a mobbed-up crime drama crossed with a martial arts movie like an action movie version of Infernal Affairs (the 2002 movie that inspired The Departed). Of course, by telling a more intricate story - and, of course, by having it take place in more than just one building - The Raid 2 is decidedly less Die Hard than The Raid: Redemption. While the original was a relatively simple tale of some cops infiltrating, and then trying to escape, a building full of criminals - hence the comparison to Die Hard - The Raid 2 has a deeper and more complex narrative. Where The Raid 2 surpasses The Raid: Redemption is in its plot and story. ![]() Which may sound similar to a scene from the original Oldboy, because it is, but again, in the hands of Evans, it doesn’t play out the same way. ![]() For instance, there’s one on a train where a woman ends up dispatching some guys while armed only with a pair of hammers. Similarly, while The Raid 2 features some fight scenes that are reminiscent of ones we’ve seen before, Evans takes them in different directions than you might expect. Because while sure, we’ve seen undercover cops win over bad guys in prison before, we haven’t them do it by kicking the butts of multiple guys with a series of lightning fast punches, kicks, slap, smacks, and counter moves. But in the hands of writer/director Gareth Huw Evans, who handled the same duties for the original, it’s not so much about what happens as how. Which isn’t, admittedly, the most original of stories. In the aftermath of The Raid: Redemption, The Raid 2 has officer Rama going undercover in crime syndicate in hopes of uncovering police corruption. But while sequels typically soften their edges or rehash the same ideas - y’know, like Die Hard 2 did - The Raid 2 is one of those rare sequels that matches, and in some ways surpasses, its predecessor. Now we have The Raid 2, which Sony Pictures Home Entertainment are releasing on DVD, Blu-ray, and digitally. Released in 2011, The Raid: Redemption became an instant cult classic by injecting raw martial arts fighting and an unflinching attitude into an Die Hard-esque action movie.
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