It’s long, humorless, takes forever to develop, and I couldn’t tell you the first thing about the true personality of undercover ass-kicker Rama (Iwo Uwais), but The Raid 2 is the best thing going on in the cinematic martial arts world right now. When did Indonesia take the reins? Are we all but done with Chuck Norris and Jackie Chan?
China, I know, still produces plenty of martial arts films, of course. But they don’t make them like this — Several distinct and colorful machines of destruction take on entire kung fu teams by themselves. There’s a real Kill Bill feel to the introduction of various skilled bloodletters. In a way, this is kind of what The Avengers should have been – show each member handling a large problem by him/herself before leaping into a team effort.
There isn’t much special to the plot — the underworld crime scene of Jakarta doesn’t seem all that different from any other major city. To tell the truth, I just wanted to say, “the underworld crime scene of Jakarta.” It just sounds right. Without given good reason to trust anybody, Rama goes undercover to infiltrate the syndicate of Bangun (Tio Pakusadewo) which is best accomplished by getting in good with li’l Bangun, Uco (Arifin Putra). Uco is currently in prison, so Rama has to do something illegal to make a connection. However, the easy month or two becomes years when Rama’s whipping boy pulls political favors. Oh, and Rama has a wife and toddler at home. I hate this stuff. The only way I can watch is by telling myself it’s a movie because I just can’t stand the thought of an honest family man cop sent up river for years for the sole purpose of taking down one crime boss.
If you want to set up a classic violent prison mud riot, however, that’s what you gotta do, huh? And violent is right. There’s more blood in this film than all three Expendables combined. There’s more blood in this film than, I believe, any individual Jason film. There’s throat-sitting and daggers and baseball bats and claw hammers and deft artisans behind every death. There’s also a complete lack of reverence – no artist is to
o skilled to end by most ungracious means. I wonder if that’s an Indonesian thing.
Relatively small and unassuming, Iko Uwais is neither a master of the prop, like Jackie Chan, nor of the big blow, like most American action heroes. He has the speed of Bruce Lee, but uses it sparingly. What he seems best at is tight-space fighting. The first battle is in a prison stall barely bigger than an outhouse. Iko lets the action come to him as the space doesn’t alow for more than a new combatant every few moments (instead of thirty at once). The use of the limited space and the subsequent piling of bodies and fighting on represents some very impressive fight choreography. His non-combative presence ain’t great, so I can’t see him commanding the screen in the long run, but for now, he’s found the right formula. The Kill Bill-like titan climax(es) to finish this one are well worth the two-hour investment to get there. Please forgive my Fast Five repeat: If hand-to-hand fighting is your thing, this is Christmas.
This humble cop has entered war
Something rarely seen before
He’s up for challenge rhyme for rhyme
Whether batter up or hammer time
Even if he stops shy of -dom, star
Beware this Indonesian avatar
Rated R, 150 Minutes
D: Gareth Evans
W: Gareth Evans
Genre: Indonesian ass-kicking
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Kung fools
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: “Blood? Ick.”
