The Raid was the closest I have ever seen to non-stop action. I mean, yes, there were breather moments where the threadbare plot inched forward but, mostly, it was just a buffet of carnage. Just, pure, unashamed, action.
The Raid 2 is both greater than and less than the original. The first thing that bugged me was the Alien3 beginning where Evans just totally undoes everything that happened in the first movie. The guy Rama and his brother try to bring to justice is killed, the brother is killed and Rama is just sent straight into a new story. Now, I know this was the story Evans wanted to tell all along and the first movie was just his "demo reel" but it is kind of a slap in the face to fans of the original to just say "fuck it, that was pointless."
So, then, Evans plays around with non-linear storytelling for about ten minutes and then drops it. After that, The Raid 2, essentially, becomes every undercover cop movie I have ever ever seen. He has nothing new to add to the story or the drama. In fact, a lot of what bloats this movie is time dedicated to building characters that just end up 1 dimensional no matter what.
Speaking of which, there is a lengthy portion of the running time dedicated to building up the character of Prakoso (played by Yayan Ruhian, who played a different character in the first movie) when his role in the overall story is pretty minor. Essentially, he is Rug Daniels from the start of Miller's Crossing but we didn't get to know Rug's entire life story before he wound up dead in an alley.
Part of the "fleshing out" of 'Koso was a sequence that demonstrates why he is a hired killer. It is a loving homage to Friday the 13th (complete with ch-ch-ch-ka-ka-ka sound effects and a machete) which is one of the many film moments this movie references. Kubrick and Coppola get nods as well. Evans is kind of taking the film Magpie approach of Tarantino but his characters need some more work. Or less, if they only exist as a plot point.
So, why can't I just come out and say I didn't like this movie? I mean, weak characters, weaker plot and inconsistent stylization abound...so, it sucked, right? Not so fast...
The action...my God, the action. I mean, that was the reason I came to see this. When Evans quits fucking around with his boring characters and just lets Rama fuck shit up, the movie recaptures that same adrenaline rush as the first one. Evans can direct the shit out of an action sequence. Like Rian Johnson, he will put a camera anywhere if it will give the audience a unique perspective on a fight. Like Alfonso Cuaron, he can stage an intricate scene with little to no effort. The set pieces in this movie are incredible. Just jaw-dropping action. Despite the lack of quantity, the quality of ass kicking is even better than the first one.
And really, how bad is it that I have to sit through generic cop plot #4 if it gets me to things like the car chase or the introduction of the three comically badass hitmen for the bad guy?
That is another thing this movie gets right, show us what the bad guys can do before the good guy fights them. Even have the hero lose a fight or two just to up the stakes. The baseball guy, hammer girl and knife dude reminded me of the specialized fighters in Big Trouble in Little China. They were a lot of fun.
So, yeah, on the whole this was an entertaining movie that failed to rise to its own ambitions. I liked it, in the end, but a little more discipline might help Evans in the future. Just my 2 cents.
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