Seriously dying to see this movie.

I love the premise. It's like "Hey, this is NOT a story movie. This is a balls to the wall action movie." They don't even try to hide it. And yet, reviewers turn around and say things like "It is like watching shit explode and people get killed for 2 hours. Skip it."

... That's what it's supposed to be. When will people just learn that, despite how utterly bad they can be, a majority of the movie going population ENJOY watching people kick the crap out of each other. Just like we enjoy a good drama, or comedy. It's another legit type of movie, that is, for all purposes, NOT supposed to be too heavy on themes or the story.

Now, yes, there are action movies with a brain. Ones that do have a good story and characters, but generally, they are two different kind of action movies. Like American Pie and Monty Python. Two different kinds of humor.

/rant.

Anyway, yeah, I would like an answer as well.

I saw the trailer for this in the theater and lost my shit! I am so pumped to see this movie.

Too bad its only in limited release

I saw the movie last night.

This little Indonesian movie is how the 'action' in U.S. action movies should be done and it's how martial arts action should be filmed. It has some nice moments of suspense blended in with gun-play, knife fights, machete fights and brutal hand-to-hand action. I'm certain that producers will be studying The Raid and lament on how much money has been wasted over the years with nauseating shaky cam and overdone special effects when practical effects (real and cgi) and great camera work made this movie enjoyable. Sure, The Expendables was a guilty pleasure that put a smile on my face. Yeah, it was great seeing the action stars I grew up watching in a fun little action flick (That should have been made a decade earlier -_- ) shooting and blowing up stuff. I went home satisfied for it being what it was and I'm sure the sequel will do the same for me. However, The Raid: Redemption gave me something more: It was an experience that I really didn't want to end with it's visceral action, pumping score and fantastic camera work. I sort of remembered why it's great watching a movie that's actually good with a large crowd of people engaged in it as you are. Though, The Avengers is right around the corner.

I'm also sure that filmmakers in Hong Kong that make action films will feel that they'll have to step their game up too. But, that's not to say that they don't do good work with their action films already. But they'll be studying this film for sure.

The martial arts choreography is done really well showcasing Silat. There's a few flaws with the choreography that I'll get into in detail if anyone wants to discuss it, but it doesn't ruin the overall presentation. And appropriately enough, since most of us are MK fans, there are several deaths that can be considered 'Fatalities' of sorts. The final fight was truly brutally thrilling and it's end was greeted with a loud applause from everyone in the theater. I'll just say that I've never seen or given an applause for both the hero and the bad guy, who's character is fittingly named "Mad dog". "General Fujita" from Fist of Legend would not want to fight this guy.

The subtitles were large enough to read the dialogue. There are some parts where lines disappear a little too quickly, so I would recommend a little more focus on them when there are moments of dialogue, but it won't interfere with watching the movie. The story isn't perfect, but is straight forward enough to follow and there are a few twists that make it interesting. The movie is about 100 minutes long, but it moved at such a brisk pace that I would have been happy if it was 110-115 min if it allowed for a bit more story and a little bit more character development. However, it's a streamlined story and it works for what the movie is. There will be a sequel made and a couple interesting plot points from this move will lead to something larger in it, based on what the director has said. So, I'm hoping for story and character development to be a bit better. And sadly, a U.S. remake is in the works.

I'm going to do what others who've seen the movie have done in recent weeks and that's to spread the word about The Raid:Redemption. It was something I haven't experienced from action movies in years. It's exceptionally made and does live up to the hype imo.



It got a wider release this weekend, so check out Fandango to see where the movie is playing near you.

I might check it out, GhostDragon.