A mudbath becomes a bloodbath amid exhilaratingly adventurous camerawork.īut ironically as the palette sharpens (with reliable red as the feature colour), the narrative loses its clarity. Daubed in a slightly bleached-out greyish hue, the prison scenes are drab yet somehow sharp and exciting thanks to a superb soundscape. It works a treat initially, thanks to some lovely photography and stunning segues between scenes in the first hour. Whereas the first raid occurred during one fateful 24-hour period in a Jakarta apartment building, the follow-up is more ambitious in scope, dodging back and forth in time as details are unfurled, introducing myriad characters with dubious motivations and layering on father-son subplots in order to imbue unlikeable characters with empathy (not entirely successful, but good on Evans for trying). However, this time he is embroiled in a tale more akin to the Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs in terms of its twisty turny narrative and long bouts of exposition. Even after a veritable pounding in a prison latrine, he picks himself up and takes out his frustrations on a wall. True to form, Uwais' unassuming charisma and extraordinarily impassive brutality make him a perfect hero. But a few things are different this time around. Those who saw the first film don't need to be told that murder and mayhem ensue. Audiences begged for more.Īnd so, exactly two years later, Iko Uwais leads another charge in The Raid 2: Berandal ("thugs" in Indonesian) as he reprises his role of Rama, the baby-faced, iron- limbed policeman, who must leave his wife and newborn son and embark on a deadly mission to infiltrate a criminal gang. The fact it was written and directed by a young Welshman, with dialogue completely in Bahasa Indonesia, speaks volumes. The Raid was heralded as the greatest, most inventive action movie seen in years (in this reviewer's mind, "inventive" as in "how many ways to skin a cat"- creative). Gareth Evans' second feature became an unexpected cult smash hit, catapulting an unknown Indonesian martial artist into the league of big-time action stars to rival Statham, Johnson and Chan.
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