An explosion of fists, guns and impressive action!
I was recommended this movie and the sequel by a very respected movie expert that I know, and I was for sure not let down! Though the plot is quite simple (raid a building with Indonesian SWAT team, trouble during raid, fight bad guy, get out of building), the action sequences more than adequately lifts this movie up to a very high level.
At first I was a bit worried that the movie was going to be too slow and maybe based on dialogue or similar, which for me is an issue when they are speaking Indonesian, despite my current streaming service’s subtitles. After the first run-in with machete wielding thugs I was convinced that this was going to be one hell of a ride!
Iko Uwais might not be a super good actor but he really makes up for it with his martial prowess. The fight sequences are highly complicated and very very long. Impressive stuff! And that goes for all the stunts in general.
A funny thing that struck me was how this movie in some ways reminded me about the latest Dredd movie. which was released just about the exact same time. I have actually heard of an interview with the director of Dredd, where he talks about how similar they are yet neither project knew about the other. He was actually giving The Raid credit for being a good movie. In my opinion The Raid is a far better movie than Dress in many ways.
Watch this movie if you like tension, impressive and long martial arts fight sequences and and non-Hollywood brilliant action movies.
