☆ ☆ ☆ ½
The
Raid: Redemption (2011) – G. Evans
As close to a video game as you can
probably get. We follow an Indonesian
SWAT team as they break into a fortress-like tenement building that is home to
a notorious criminal/drug dealer. Once
the action starts, it never lets up – hundreds of baddies pour out of every
doorway and stream down every hall. The
ultra-violence quotient is cranked up impossibly high – blood spurts and
squirts everywhere and the martial arts fighting (Pencak Silat) is rough and
brutal; this film is not for the squeamish.
However, you’ll probably find yourself thinking more about the stunt
coordinator and the mechanics of making the action look realistic than worrying
about the real hurts involved. Still,
the ruthlessness is a downside for me, as I much prefer the Jacky Chan-style of
fighting film with some comic relief thrown in for good measure. Then I can enjoy the choreography without
grimacing too much. Here, the
relentlessness can be rather grinding (and the thumping soundtrack heightens
the effect); you also have to wonder (and worry?) whether there are people who
get off on the violence of it all. Nevertheless,
if you are looking for a visceral rush and can look past the broken bones and
machetes to the throat, this is a taut action film.
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