The Raid 2

If Gareth Evans controlled the characters and dialogues as skillfully as Andy Lau did in Infernal Affairs, The Raid 2 would have been the best action movie ever, even better than the best of John Woo in the fight scenes. But it’s too long, with too many characters and an overly complicated plot. For this to be a pureblood action movie, there are too many dialogue scenes that fill two-thirds of the film and try to build a mega-epic drama. Visually, however, it is perfect – especially the interiors are refined in the manner of Kubrick. A great aesthetic experience on the big screen at Karlovy Vary’s Thermal Hotel. (11/07/2014)

It tries to be more epic, visually polished, and technically lavish with better action scenes than the first film. The action is indeed slightly better, but I still have a feeling that the classic arcade mode was more attractive for this subgenre. The pace is ideal and very enjoyable, and each step up meant better and better villains until the finale. Plus, there’s no need to deal with these or those characters and their motivations. Here, there is a plethora of everything, although the essence is still the same, so in the same trivial story, there is only more chaos and confusion, which spoils the indescribably perfect action scenes. It has a bit of Michael Mann's neon lights, a bit of Michael Bay's cinematography and sound editing, and a touch of Ridley Scott's visual poetry, and Quentin Tarantino (especially the silent scenes with snow, hammers, etc.) – thumbs up for all of this, but I would only watch it again for the action. (22/06/2014)

The Raid 2 is for contact action movies what Heat is for he crime movies, what The Dark Knight is for comic book movies, what Once Upon a Time in the West is for westerns and what The Shining is for horror movies. Basically, a genre movie that breaks down the boundaries of this “ignoble" movie genre. It is the plot that’s the most surprising about part two. Yes, really, the plot, something that last time didn’t even figure as essential stuffing, simply because it chose to be nonexistent. This time we have a plot good enough to stand alone even without all that neat action stuff. This time it is a broad uncompromising dirty Hong Kong-style gangster movie that reminds you of Internal Affairs etc. and where the motivations and emotions make sense. In any case, most viewers will just be watching it for the action scenes anyway. And the pleasing thing about it is that even though the choreography was extremely ambitious (and very gory) offering incredible crowd scenes as well as extreme “face to face" fight scenes, it really hurts (the characters and the viewer; especially the final fight scene in the spotlessly white kitchen) and it’s made without any fancy stuff; no tough-guy lines or hyperbole, no shaking camera hand in hand with machinegun editing to cover imperfections and punches that missed, no wires and obvious CGI, but everything nice and clear using long (really long) takes. So, while the rather monotonous part one contained quite a few scenes that were worth watching more than once, here the whole two-and-a-half hour movie is worth your while to watch more than once. And with a movie where everybody’s hitting everybody else all the time, that is the best possible recommendation. (21/06/2014)

Gareth Evans is an incredible talent. His ability to compose shots in calm passages with pedantic precision reminded me of the first Kill Bill, where Tarantino also fondled every image. On the other hand, he always manages to spice up action scenes with some unexpected visual flourish and breathtaking vivacity, with choreography that is unrivalled today. Indonesian boys, hats off to you! It's a pity that the film as a whole is a mere wait for each excellent action sequence and the plot in between is nothing but necessary filler that fails to engage the viewer (at least in my case). Still, I applaud Evans and I can't imagine what this guy will throw at us in the future. Hell, he's not even thirty yet! It’s truly admirable how much skill he has despite his youth. (19/07/2014)

The first film, minus its only flaw (the absence of a plot), equals this. Admittedly, I hesitate to wonder if delivering the plot had to mean a two-and-a-half-hour epic, but overall it works great. The last hour is something that goes against everything I have experienced in cinema so far. The physicality of this spectacle goes beyond the horizons of the common imagination, and Evans has a notch in the form of the best subgenre spectacle. The several times that I involuntarily said "Holy crap!" sum up all the superlatives I can think of in connection with this. (25/07/2015)