Why The Raid May Be One Of The Best Action Movies Ever.

Premise: A SWAT team becomes trapped in an apartment building run by a ruthless mobster and his army of killers and thugs. Yes this is the premise of this Indonesian film. As the SWAT team gets picked off one by one, a lonely soldier decides to fight back. Basically, this movie is all about a bunch of ruthless killers hunting down a SWAT team one by one until no one is left. The acting in the film is fantastic and the dialogue serves its purpose. But what I clearly want to talk about is the amazing action. The fighting and violence in the film is awesome. Gun fights to knife fights, to hand to hand combat; this film has it all. Each major fight is built up beautifully and executed better than anything Hollywood has put out recently. What is perhaps the films greatest redeeming quality is the fact that even when the film is at its most ‘martial artsy’ points, it doesn’t feel overdone. In other words, when I watch films that focus too much on martial arts and this crazy hand to hand combat, I lose interest (see the Ong Bak series). What is awesome about this film is that the violence is original and quite brutal.

Some highlights include a 2 on 1 battle royale, a scene in which a guy willfully puts down a gun to kill someone by hand, and a bunch of machete wielding maniacs. Trust me on this one, please watch this film, it is pure awesomeness.

Sex: None

Violence: The entire film is brutal and gory

Language: Subtitles but very harsh language

Drugs: Some
Rated: R
Run time: 101 minutes
Grade: 3.5 Stars