The Raid 2

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.

This sequel is better in every conceivable way.

The action might take up a little less screen time percentage wise, but is more brutal (way more), even better choreographed, varied and memorable. I think this movie has the greatest overall collection of fight scenes in the history of action cinema, and a fantastic car chase too. Obviously I haven't seen every movie in existence, but I have never seen anything with such a collection of incredibly well done and brutal fights.

Characters have depth to them, even if on a comic book level, and are well cast and well played. Story is fairly intelligent, and more than services the action.

Everything else; filming, editing, sound design, stunts, special effects are stellar. There are quite a few "how the hell did they do that?!?" moments.

The Raid: Redemption was such a success and regarded by many people as one of the best action movies of 2012, and the sequel is likely to end the year 2014 as the best action movie of the year. It's pretty much different than the first movie, in this one there was actually a story. This movie is a great combination of a gangster flick with a very well coordinated martial arts.

The director Gareth Evans is masterful at filming incredible action sequences, probably better than ANY Hollywood directors working right now. It is inspiring how he managed to make such unbelievable fight scenes, and car chase in a such limited budget. The cast were good in delivering the good, the dialogue was fairly good, the choreography were Spectacular! Not to mention the unforgettable cinematography that was brilliantly managed by people who knows what they're doing.The only downside is perhaps the running time which could have been shortened 15-20 minutes, but you will still always be entertained while watching this movie.

Overall, The Raid 2 is arguably one of the best sequels ever, and even one of the best martial arts movies ever. It's superior to its predecessor in terms of story telling, considering the running time, and the choreography was also quite a bit improved from the already unforgettable moves in the first one. It had more action and violence than the previous one, although less action percentage-wise. It will keep you on the edge of your seat. It has everything a perfect martial arts movie has to have, and it deserves to be regarded as one of the best in its genre. I hope that the director Gareth Evans would make more films with a higher budget to showcase to the world his true potential as a director, and it'd be great to have it featuring Iko Uwais, that could be an icon for years to come.

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!

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!