The Raid (18.)
Directed by Gareth Evans.
Starring Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Ananda George, Ray Sahetapy and Doni Alamsayh. Indonesian with subtitles. 101 mins.
What The Raid is, is violent; very violent. Not only is it more violent than most anything else out there but it is more skilfully violent, more variedly violent and more inventively and entertainingly violent than any other film out there. It starts off machine gun violent, shifts into sharp implement violent before graduating into fisticuff martial art violent. It delivers the kind of frenzied brutality that slaps involuntary hoots of contentment from you. If this doesn’t sate your need for violence, you should probably look into getting yourself locked away.
Though we never did get a film version of J.G. Ballard’s High Rise, vague notions of it have seeped into films such as Attack the Block, [Rec] and French zombie flick The Horde. The Raid may be the film they were all working towards with its plot about a squad of armed cops launching an assault on a 30 storey tower block. It is the base of the city’s main crime lord and its tenants are almost entirely criminals and henchmen. The cops’ plan quickly unravels and becomes a frantic struggle for survival.
No surprises there; the film’s only mysteries are why someone called Gareth Evans is directing an Indonesian action flick and how he has come from nowhere to be the world’s best action director?
It’s not that Evans does anything you haven’t seen before. Most acclaimed action directors have one or two little tricks that they flog to death. Evans (who also edited and wrote) has taken everything on board and lets it emerge into a single seamless style. He moves the camera beautifully in time with the action and when he chooses to cut quickly it is never so fast that you feel cheated.
It is a lovely synthesis of Western and Eastern action styles. While Hollywood actioners often seem like a bunch of old men hobbling around in search of their stunt doubles, the impressively balletic action in Asian films can seem so self contained and choreographed as to be like circus acts. Martial arts are such a ritualised and long winded way to go about administering a slap that they often sucks the credibility out of already creaky revenge plots. Here though the martial arts scenes flow seamlessly out of events.
Directed by Gareth Evans.
Starring Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Ananda George, Ray Sahetapy and Doni Alamsayh. Indonesian with subtitles. 101 mins.
What The Raid is, is violent; very violent. Not only is it more violent than most anything else out there but it is more skilfully violent, more variedly violent and more inventively and entertainingly violent than any other film out there. It starts off machine gun violent, shifts into sharp implement violent before graduating into fisticuff martial art violent. It delivers the kind of frenzied brutality that slaps involuntary hoots of contentment from you. If this doesn’t sate your need for violence, you should probably look into getting yourself locked away.
Though we never did get a film version of J.G. Ballard’s High Rise, vague notions of it have seeped into films such as Attack the Block, [Rec] and French zombie flick The Horde. The Raid may be the film they were all working towards with its plot about a squad of armed cops launching an assault on a 30 storey tower block. It is the base of the city’s main crime lord and its tenants are almost entirely criminals and henchmen. The cops’ plan quickly unravels and becomes a frantic struggle for survival.
No surprises there; the film’s only mysteries are why someone called Gareth Evans is directing an Indonesian action flick and how he has come from nowhere to be the world’s best action director?
It’s not that Evans does anything you haven’t seen before. Most acclaimed action directors have one or two little tricks that they flog to death. Evans (who also edited and wrote) has taken everything on board and lets it emerge into a single seamless style. He moves the camera beautifully in time with the action and when he chooses to cut quickly it is never so fast that you feel cheated.
It is a lovely synthesis of Western and Eastern action styles. While Hollywood actioners often seem like a bunch of old men hobbling around in search of their stunt doubles, the impressively balletic action in Asian films can seem so self contained and choreographed as to be like circus acts. Martial arts are such a ritualised and long winded way to go about administering a slap that they often sucks the credibility out of already creaky revenge plots. Here though the martial arts scenes flow seamlessly out of events.
