“THE RAID: REDEMPTION” MOVIE REVIEW. Relentless Gunfire, Butcherous Mayhem and Bone Crunching Action to astound you.

“THE RAID: REDEMPTION” PRESS PREVIEW

Go watch this one.

I may not be a firm follower of Welsh film director GARETH EVANS’s body of work, but he is in his right element here.

“THE RAID: REDEMPTION” is his third Indonesian feature extolling and undressing the gory beauty of the Silat Martial Arts choreography and he spared no pains in delivering a classic action thriller that will have you spellbound.

Step aboard this explosive, no-mercy thrill ride where the predator ultimately becomes the prey and vice-versa.

You will relish this ultra-violent Indonesian fight movie with a lethal dosage of non-stop blood and gore.

And witness a breathtaking amount of butcherous mayhem where bullets fly, knives, hammers, clubs, machetes are weaponry used to plunder, hideous sprays of blood splattering helter and skelter, highlighting scenes of relentless violence and gore.

“THE RAID: REDEMPTION” is a belated Indonesian Martial Arts movie that has finally arrived at our shores.

It’s a boggling eye-opener, a “beast” of a cinematic gem that is at its tough-as-nails best.

Hail it as one of the best action films of the year as it takes a bold and memorable step forward in the fierce action genre.

The excessive violence will have you gasping and glued to your seat.

Surely, with “THE RAID: REDEMPTION” director GARETH EVANS has pulled off a triumph.

The Plot’s rundown:

20 elite cops devise a functional attack (or so they think) on an apparent desolate apartment complex.

It is run by a ruthless drug lord, who guises his pathetic “harlem” as a facade for his drug activities.

But the surprise is on the unsuspecting operatives.

Words leak and the evil drug lord gets wind of the upcoming raid.

In vengeful retaliation, he pits his ugly gang and the spineless tenants, against the out-numbered cops. 

The apartment complex is a perfect hideaway for some of the city’s notorious criminals.

At the top-most floor, crime king pin Tama (RAY SAHETAPY) operates a drug lab.

He is protected by thirty floors of sadistic psychopaths.

On this fateful morning, a 20-man SWAT team, including rookie Rama (IKO UWAIS) initiates a dawn raid, scaling and trudging from floor-to-floor, with the single aim of eliminating Tama and crushing his crime empire.

 Towards the end, the cops are heavily out-numbered and must fight back in self-defense, cowering in fear and fleeing for dear life out of the building if they are able to make it.

But not before encountering their opponents and tearing them apart with each passing floor.

Nothing is what it seems when all hell breaks loose.

FOOTNOTES:

In all honesty, there’s nothing new in terms of action in “THE RAID: REDEMPTION”.

You should have seen it all in the Hong Kong, Korean and Thai cinema.

Yet it is certainly  a much more arresting production than its predecessor “MERANTAU WARRIOR”.

With the right amount of the international media coverage, it might prove to be Indonesian actor IKO UWAIS’s breakout role, as what the 2003 Muay Thai blockbuster ONG BAK had done for TONY JAA from Thailand.

But in “THE RAID”, it is rogue character Mad Dog played by YAHAN RUHIAN who stands out and steals the thunder from the leads.

He may be a tad pint-sized but he has clearly shown that he is a dynamic force to be reckoned with.

The Press version had the dialogue dubbed in Indian-accentuated English which provides an absolute clue as to where the post production of this movie was done.

In ASIA, most of the renowned action stars are receding as they face mid life crisis or old age.

So watch out for this bright shining action star IKO UWAIS in the years to come.

“THE RAID: REDEMPTION” is commendable good stuff , specially for those who relish non-stop pulsating action.

It is a terrific tour de force that breaks new ground.

You can bet on it.

 

MERANTAU WARRIOR the Movie. BREAKING NEW GROUNDS, HOPEFULLY

PRESS PREVIEW

MERANTAU WARRIOR.

It’s being touted as the “Biggest Indonesian Action Movie of the Year”.

Not Wushu, not Muay Thai but the
Silat martial arts.

Does it live up to this claim?

Way back in 2005, in Bangkok, I attended the preview of the MUAY THAIblockbuster TOM YUM GOONG starring TONY JAA.

I vividly recalled this scene where a dishevelled KHUN JAA rushed into a building in Australia and screamed frenziedly “Where the hell is my elephant? Where is my elephant?”

The audience broke into absolute hysterics and some even shouted “Boo!”

That’s the name of the game.

Yeah, we all that TONY JAA can fight, but act he can’t.

Home-bred blockbuster or not, TOM YUM GOONG’s Thai box office takings may be phenomenal, given a generous film budget allocation of over 200 million Thai bahts, but it also earned scathing reviews.

TOM YUM GOONG has a lame plot. It’s focuses on a stolen elephant and for that reason,TONY JAA goes all the way to Sydney to rescue his pet. And in doing so, he must face his opponents one by one, back-to-back and takes them all to task.

Now, years later MERANTAU WARRIOR a martial arts venture from INDONESIA,dogged closely on the footstep of TOM YUM KUNG, but tailing at a much lesser pace, in terms of context, budget and experience.

Duplication or pure coincidence?

The hero is IKO UWAIS who bears an uncanny resemblance to TONY JAA, but this Indonesian actor has a fresher face, better complexion, and an a more amiable persona.

MERANTAU WARRIOR is helmed by director GARETH EVANS and it’s his second feature so far and his first venturing into the foray of martial arts genre.

It’s a commendable effort but not without flaws.

GARETH EVANS’s attention to details is admirable, but don’t you think that when every single piece of attire worn by the actors seems to be so meticulously pressed and clean in very fight scene or otherwise – this becomes unreal?

That when the rural settings are so darn neat and painstakingly arranged, the film reeks more like an elongated television commercial instead?

MERANTAU refers to a century old rite-of-passage where every young man leaves the comfort of his village and trudges to the city to “make good” as our leading man IKO UWAIS does here.

Endless problems ensue when he attempts to save a damsel-in-distress from being a pawn in human trafficking.

Thereafter there’s plenty of running, jumping, kicking and acrobatics in dark alleyways and congested side streets ….

Mind you, the plot is paper thin as the bone-crunching action triumphs over story and character development.

The acting in some parts is laughable with a banal script, and the delivery is a tad off putting, to put it mildly.

Yeah, there are some impressive fight scenes more like a watered down version ofTOM YUM GOONG where the hero faces a multi-tier layer of obstacles to confront his opponents, with a dash of caucasian rogues thrown in for good measure.

You either love or loathe MERANTAU WARRIOR.

For me, I have mixed feelings.

It’s often easy to “dress” a film down, bludgeon it to death, but when you are behind that camera, it is a totally different story.

We have to look at the film told through the director’s eyes.

Like everything else, MERANTAU WARRIOR deserves a second chance.

There has always been a deluge of kung fu, chinese wushu and muay thai films that has been done to death.

A subject on the SILAT martial arts can break new grounds.

Therefore, please go and check MERANTAU WARRIOR out.

This Review is specially written for www.bookmarqc.com