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The first movie 'The Raid: Redemption' set the bar for action movies. With its fast paced action and believable fight scene choreography whilst not being over the top with an aim for realism that would diminish the combat's entertainment factor.

With 'The Raid 2: Berandal', we are brought back into the gritty world of the first movie directly following where the story left off. The viewers are introduced to an entirely new perspective on the world where the first movie is set. In the first movie we are locked in the one perspective of Rama and his battle through the building, whilst in the sequel we learn that this all takes place as part of a much larger setting. We find out that realism is not the aim of the series and instead its a world of gangsters, villains and corruption.

Evans is able to introduce new characters like the 'Hammer Girl' and the 'Baseball Bat' guy without making them seem totally over the top and ridiculous. We also get to watch them fight and are able to enjoy their unique styles rather than the usual, 'this character is a bad guy' scenes to barely introduce them.

The fight scenes are excellently choreographed and the way they are shot is spectacular, a lot of imagination and ingenuity is used to really throw the viewer directly into the action. The gore and violence level reflect far more realistic outcomes considering the brutality of both the scenarios and the weapons.

When I try to compare this to the usual Hollywood blockbuster action movies reduced to PG13 to get more people in to watch it, its impossible. The movie delivers far more in the way of action and fight sequences whilst maintaining a sensible and cohesive plot.

If you are expecting(for some bizarre reason) to see an amazing plot to compare to The Godfather or The Departed you probably are expecting the wrong things. If you are expecting to see a amazing fighting / martial arts movie with a believable plot you wont be disappointed. The movie reminded me a little of a Tarantino film with its characters, something like Kill Bill. But instead with way way way better fight scenes and frankly, a better plot as well.

Overall considering where this movie is from and the cast involved etc any negative rating is totally undeserved. Whilst not everyone's cup of tea as far as martial arts / action movies go this movie will be impossible to top in 2014, and frankly its probably the best action movie I have seen in the last decade, it will be on the top of my list for a while.

Okay so where do I begin I saw the first one and It blew me away. I watch so many movies no matter the genre. So while I was watching this sequel my heart was beating very fast and the adrenaline was pumping. It takes place 2 hours after where the first one ended. Swear to god every time there was a fight on I felt it and I kept shaking. The scene that had me pumped was the train scene and the prison fight. There is a lot of martial artist involved in this film which makes me love it even more because they use real stunt men and this movie just requires skill. This is by far the best action movie sequel ever produced and I hope it gets noticed by everyone around the world. Best one on one showdown in the end. If you love action movies and would love to turn your brain off for a moment then this is your candy. My favorite action movie ever, sorry Bruce Lee. 10/10 MUST SEE!

((From: http://thinmanmoviereviews.wordpress.com/)) In 2011, Welsh director Gareth Evans gave us "The Raid: Redemption" – one of the best pure action films of the last decade – and hinted at his potential to be a new and exciting presence in the writer/director realm. The action was hard-hitting, lightning fast, supporting a simple, contained story of one man fighting against an entire tower of enemies in a way that was reminiscent of classics like "Die Hard". Well, if "The Raid" was one of the best action films of the last ten years, Evans' follow-up film "The Raid 2″ has now set the standard for the next twenty. In fact, I'm going to make a bold statement that you can feel free to quote me on:

"The Raid 2″ is the best action movie ever made.

Where sequels are concerned, this film does absolutely everything right. It takes the frenetic energy of the original, contained within the twenty-story drug den in which it took place, and lets it loose across the urban sprawl of an entire city teeming with warring crime syndicates, corrupt police officers, and the civilians often caught in the crossfire. No longer contained to just one address, the fight scenes in "Raid 2″ cover car chases, cramped subway trains, muddy prison yards, night clubs, and city streets, and every action set piece hits all the right notes. Every punch thrown and bullet fired is made even more effective by the fact that all of the action is done practically. In an era where so much of the action that we see on screen is dominated by the CGI-centric explosion extravaganzas of Michael Bay and the like it's incredibly refreshing to see highly trained stunt professionals being pushed to their limits to deliver a collection of the best action scenes in modern memory. Much of this work is shouldered by the film's lead, Indonesian-born Iko Uwais, the returning star of the first "Raid". Uwais is reminiscent of a younger Jet Li or – dare I say it – Bruce Lee; moving with such self-assured speed and practiced precision that every move deserves multiple looks to take in all the details. The comparison to Lee is bolstered by "The Raid 2″'s finale, which plays out like the final gatecrashing act of "Game of Death", in which our hero has to slug his way through opponents of increasing lethality. Unlike "Game of Death", "The Raid 2″ lets us see our villains in action almost as often as our hero, and it's a credit to Evans as writer/director that each of these characters is absolutely dripping with charisma and cool. There are no wasted characters here; we love every hero and love to hate every villain.

The script is, with few exceptions, always on-point. What could have simply been a straight-forward action flick with minimal plot to carry us from one action set-piece to another is instead a mad whirlwind of conspiracy, murder, and double and triple-crosses, steadily ratcheting up the tension to the film's explosive conclusion. From a technical standpoint, the impressive cinematography matches the action stride-for- stride and, looking back, there are a dizzying number of wildly choreographed long-takes that put every nuance of the environment, characters, and action on display. Combine this with a pulse-pounding soundtrack and some absolutely superb practical makeup effects accompanying every injury, no matter how small, and "The Raid 2″ is the complete package. With a third film already in the works, making this a trilogy, Hollywood has been put on notice: Gareth Evans has arrived; he's just dramatically changed the landscape of action films and shows no signs of pulling any punches. [10/10]

I was lucky enough to attend a special screening of 'The Raid 2' in Sydney last night, it was a big crowd for a small event with everyone excited for the film to begin. I can honestly say that myself, my friend who tagged along and the audience were very very entertained!

The plot continues 2 hours after the events of the first film, it places our hero into another intense mission to stop the baddies by going undercover for a special unit and blending in with the mob who's on the verge of war with their rivals. All I can say that follows is a orgy of brutal, bloody and intense arm-breaking, leg-snapping, hammer stomping, bat swinging, blade slashing, head blowing, bullet-loaded and arse kicking violence in a dash of Tarantino and Scorsese story-telling in its plot. The choreographed fights are all intense and realistic with the climatic showdown towards the last half hour of the film being the best sequences filmed on camera.

Overall, its a bloody amazing film to be released in 2014 and its a definite return for the genre too! I'm definitely keen to see this again when its out officially later this week!

It is hard to believe but this movie is bigger AND better than the first one. I will say it has ambition in opening up this world into a mafia drama rather than another claustrophobic thrill-ride. The mob aspect of the plot might be generic and cliched at times but overall that part was surprisingly more engaging than some American movies of that kind. But we watch this for the action and it was insanely savage! We are talking level-11 sh-t here; high-speed pacing, masterful choreography and brutal as hell. Fight sequences that put most action movies to shame!! ...................................... THE RAID 2 QUOTES You Apologize to them in their languages, in our land. Where is your honor!