June 13, 2014.
Cast: Iko Uwais, Arifin Putra, Oka Antara .
Director: Gareth Evans.
Cast: Iko Uwais, Arifin Putra, Oka Antara .
Director: Gareth Evans.
Rama and his wounded
colleague are out of the Serbaun Matt now, that is where Raid 2 starts off. The
Police chief is killed by his rescuers and they make him an offer to go to undercover
which will help wipe out the menace that is ruining the city, as a bonus he is
made to know that the person who killed his brother is part of the menace that
he is going to fix. Hesitantly though, he takes it up and ends up in a jail
where one of the gang members’ son is imprisoned. Rama earns his goodwill and
joins the gang after his release.
Raid 2 has a complex
screenplay unlike the first part, and Evans tries to establish a lotta
characters with a little bit of background of everyone including family at
times. This takes up a considerable amount of time in the first half to the
extent that we almost forget the really cool fights that were there in between,
apart from testing your patience at times. This is in stark contrast to the
super fast paced first part where it was all bang bang kill kill.
Let us hope
that we find justification for all this build up in the 3rd and
final part of the series, which is rumoured to have some overlapping scenes
with this part.
But then that is all the
fault that you can find, for, the rest of the film is just kick ass action.
Though the fighting style is similar to the first part the action choreography
is really fresh different and exciting. Gareth has added BGM to a few fight scenes and that pays
off really well providing a new dimension to the brutal combat going on. Even
otherwise the BGM throughout is really nice and fresh.
Just like the first part
Gareth has proven his expertise when it comes to action scenes with impeccable
camera placements and slick editing. This time he has given us a few slo mo
shots as well mainly in the first half, actually you do not really have
anything slow in the second, it is just a mad rush of adrenaline which reaches
it’s peak in the brilliant and brutal climax fight. It would not be a surprise
if the theatre is filled with shrieks and whistles from the audience as the
energy that gets transferred to you, specially during the fights, is
incredible.
Iko Uwais is slowly rising
up to the stature of a bankable star who can fight and act, and with the 3rd
instalment scheduled to arrive soon it would not be shocking to find him in
Hollywood; may be through a cameo in Expendables 4, let’s wait and watch!
I
am giving a 3.25 for The Raid 2. It is a tad lengthy but you have enough brutal
action to compensate for that!
Rating Scale (Out
of 5)
Less than 2
-
Unwatchable.
2 to 2.25
-
Below average.
2.5 to 2.75
-
Average.
3 to 3.25
-
Good.
3.5 to
3.75 -
Really Good.
4 to
4.25
-
Great.
4.5 and
above
- Extraordinary.
