Bad Guys Upstairs, Gore Down the Hall ‘The Raid: Redemption,’ Directed by Gareth Huw Evans

By MANOHLA DARGIS - Published: March 22, 2012 - If it’s not obvious from all the bashing, smashing and machete-ing in the frenetically violent “The Raid: Redemption” where the redemptive part kicks in, there’s a reason. As it happens, the title of this Indonesian action flick was changed because “The Raid” alone wasn’t available in the United States. That’s too bad because the apartment complex teeming with villainy in which much of the story takes place — and into which some dozen and a half Special Forces officers storm — turns out to be a massive roach motel. Characters check in, but they don’t check out. It’s no wonder that so many of the dead, who pile up quickly, register as a queasy, macabre joke.


There’s no question that the Welsh director Gareth Huw Evans has his genre fundamentals down and, to judge from some scenes and setups in “The Raid,” he’s watched his share of movies by masters like Johnnie To and cult figures like Park Chan-wook. Mr. Evans doesn’t approach the imaginative and technical levels of those better-known directors, but he seems to have an ace up his sleeve with pencak silat, the explosive Indonesian martial art that’s the main draw here. Yet while pencak silat may be unfamiliar to some Western viewers, the way that Mr. Evans visually exploits it in combination with the unimaginative rest — the mousetrap setup and tight fight spaces, the bad blood and cruel deaths — soon makes the movie grindingly monotonous, a blur of thudding body blows.

The story nominally centers on one of the tactical team rookies, Rama (the fast, fluid Iko Uwais), who, despite his face-and-fist screen time proves as largely incidental to the choreographed mayhem as the rest of the characters. And turmoil there is, from the moment the team breaches the building, where it’s set upon by hordes of criminals heeding the call of a murderous mastermind, Tama (Ray Sahetapy). On and on the evil floods in, springing out of apartments and doorways with firing guns, flashing blades, hammering hands and eruptions of thrusting, jabbing right-angled elbows. The standout is the suitably named Mad Dog (Yayan Ruhian, one of the movie’s fight choreographers), a commanding physical presence whose hair hangs in front of his face like a shredded curtain.

“The Raid: Redemption” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). The film provides a veritable cornucopia of death, complete with impaled, riddled, battered, broken bodies and one near-decapitation.

The Raid

Redemption

Opens on Friday in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Washington.

Written, directed and edited by Gareth Huw Evans; directors of photography, Matt Flannery and Dimas Imam Subhono; music by Mike Shinoda and Joseph Trapanese; art director, Moti D. Setyanto; action choreography by Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian and Mr. Evans; produced by Ario Sagantoro; released by Sony Pictures Classics. In Indonesian, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes.

WITH: Iko Uwais (Rama), Joe Taslim (Jaka), Doni Alamsyah (Andi), Yayan Ruhian (Mad Dog), Pierre Gruno (Wahyu), Ray Sahetapy (Tama), Tegar Satrya (Bowo), Iang Darmawan (Gofar), Eka Rahmadia (Dagu) and Verdi Solaiman (Budi).

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source : The New York Times

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