Gareth Evans's 2011 action film The Raid: Redemption was, in my eyes, the greatest action film ever made. Evans has outdone himself with The Raid 2, however, bumping his own first film down to the second greatest action film ever made. It's one of the few sequels that works even better than the original, like Wayne's World 2. This is an extremely brutal kill first and ask questions later action film. People get their ankles cut, faces get shot off and arms get cut off. Did I mention that's only the first 20 minutes of the film? However, this is also the type of action film that is not at all mindlessly violent. Every piece of violence in here serves a purpose and is also strangely visually pleasing to the eye. Also, this is an intriguing maze of a plot that is likely to completely engage any fan of trust no one thrillers, even taking out the excellent action.
The sequel once again stars Iko Uwais as Rama, who is hired to purposely land himself in jail to uncover a corruption among the police. This is literally the only description of the plot I can give because saying anything else about the plot would no doubt ruin the fantastic surprises that are presented in this film.
Uwais, a real life martial arts champion once again proves himself to be an incredible action star who is more than capable of doing his own stunts. Evans's direction is fantastic, not relying on any of the overly used action shots that are so commonplace in film today. However, Evans also provides an amazing screenplay, full of great dialogue and incredibly intriguing conversations that keeps the audience engaged even when the action isn't taking place. This is no doubt the definitive example of a film that should be shown to high school and college students who aspire to one day make films of their own. Every shot, piece of dialogue, background noise, ETC are used to such perfection that it starts to sneak up on the audience that this is the type of film that the phrase "the magic of movies" is referring to. Although this film will obviously not be to everyone's liking, this is to an action film fan what The Wizard Of Oz is to a lot of people. In other words, action film fans 75 years from now will be looking at this and seeing just how timeless it is.
On all levels, The Raid 2 is a masterpiece. If you can stomach a lot of brutality (I'm talking close to Saw level here), two and a half hours of subtitles and a plot that is purposely complex and confusing...this is no doubt the type of film that you will absolutely be invested in.
(5 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for sequences of strong, bloody violence throughout, sexuality and language)
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