The "Great" Plotless Wonder

The Raid: Redemption, directed by Welshman Gareth Evans, is a shamelessly pure, unadulterated action film from Indonesia. The reviews have been spectacular, some have even claimed it to be the finest all-out action movie in over a decade. At Rotten Tomatoes the film sports an 86% on the Tomatometer (out of ninety-two reviews, seventy-nine are positive) and a 7.6 out of 10 average review score. These are pretty hot numbers folks, numbers that scream, “Get out there and see this movie!”

I was looking forward to The Raid as I enjoy action set pieces in films that get it right. Unfortunately, not many do, and some of the worst action scenes are found in those bloated, massively budgeted Hollywood productions that make millions of dollars. As a teenager, I remember being enraptured when I first came across the films John Woo made in Hong Kong (A Better Tomorrow II, The Killer, Bullet in the Head, Hard-Boiled, etc.). His action sequences were like nothing I had seen in a Hollywood film since Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969). People referred to his pictures as “bullet ballets” due to that certain beauty and elegance found in his masterfully choreographed carnage. Unfortunately, even some of Woo's best movies are difficult to watch now since they tend to slip into extreme melodrama and cheese, for lack of a better word. In short, Woo's action scenes were better than his films ever were.

This is often the case in similar pictures, like those of Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Tony Jaa, etc. All are graceful physical specimens; it's a joy to watch the poetry of their bodies in motion. Still, great films must give us more than exceptional athleticism. Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Burt Lancaster, and others have proven that thrilling stunts need not be exclusive to average movies. Keaton is actually Jackie Chan's hero, and from the 1980's to the present day, Chan is probably the closest thing we've had to Keaton in the cinema. He's funny and he performs insane stunts; the problem is that his movies just aren't as good.

I can enjoy all four Police Story films as much as the next guy, there's a certain goofy charm to the Project A and Armor of God movies, and Drunken Master II (1994) has its moments. These aren't exceptional pieces of filmmaking though, not by a long shot. My favorite Jet Li pictures are Fist of Legend (1994) and Hero (2002), and while the latter is quite wonderful, it's an 8 for me, rather than a 9 or a 10. As for Jaa, does his Ong-Bak trilogy even begin to enter the “great movie” conversation? How about 2005's The Protector (despite that amazing tracking shot that lasts three minutes, forty-five seconds)?Hell no.

Now we have Iko Uwais, born in Jakarta and trained since the age of ten in Pencak Silat, Indonesia's homegrown martial art. In the process of making a documentary about this fighting style, Evans met Uwais, and the rest is history. They made a film called Merantau in 2009, but it's this one, their latest, that has all the fans of martial arts movies drooling on themselves. The Raid: Redemption delivers the goods in terms of action and mayhem, the hype is accurate on that front, but like the films of Woo, Chan, Li, and Jaa, it's a guilty pleasure, not a top tier piece of work.

The plot, so wafer-thin as to seem nonexistent, concerns Rama (Uwais), a rookie cop with a pregnant wife, who finds himself in a hell of day on the job. Basically, he and a group of cops under the command of Sergeant Jaka (Joe Taslim) must launch an attack on a run down apartment building filled with killers and drug addicts. The king of this domain is Tama (Ray Sahetapy), a crime lord who keeps an eye on things via monitors in his fifteenth floor control center. He has two trusted lieutenants, the wild fighting god, Mad Dog (Yayan Ruhian), and the brainy Andi (Doni Alamsyah). Our group of heroes tries to pull off a covert operation, subduing the tenants floor-by-floor, but their half-assed plan is thwarted around the sixth.

Why didn't they come up with a better idea? Like, say, landing on the roof and knocking on the door of Tama's office? Well, for the same reason that there will be no reinforcements apparently; the raid was not approved by the police department. This was a private job, planned by Lieutenant Wahyu (Pierre Gruno). So the cops find themselves trapped in the building as Tama speaks over the intercom. He offers rent free living to all his tenants if they wipe out the intruders. A bloodbath ensues.

The rest of The Raid is chock full of gunfire, explosions, shattered glass, axe murders, broken bones, writhing bodies, stab wounds, hand-to-hand fighting, machete attacks, and enough sweating and grunting for a dozen porn films. When the ammunition runs low, the fists and blades come out. When a throat needs slicing but knives aren't available, a broken light bulb is used. One unlucky fellow is nearly decapitated by the shredded wood at the base of a door. Let me be even more clear; there are violent movies, and then there is The Raid. After this, The Passion of the Christ (2004) can be re-released under the Walt Disney banner.

I also recommend a bare minimum of thought while viewing this film, lest the fun be entirely spoiled. Don't ask me why all these low life druggies are exceptional athletes and fighters, able to scale walls to the next floor with ease. Don't ask me why the inexhaustible Mad Dog is three feet tall but able to annihilate any mortal human in his path. Don't ask me why Rama hides from four thugs, when he just got through killing twenty. Just try to enjoy the splendid action scenes, that's what you're here for after all.

In fact, it seems like defibrillators hit the projector every time a fight breaks out; the movie comes to life. The choreography by Uwais and Ruhian is energetic and imaginative, while Matt Flannery's camerawork does a fine job of framing each battle in dynamic, effective fashion. The current trend for action scenes in Hollywood is still the “shaky cam” with rapid fire editing combo, which has lasted far too long. It works for war movies like Saving Private Ryan (1998) because it portrays chaos and confusion, two things we can all do without when the goal is to understand and perhaps admire what is going on. The Raid, like many Asian features, really allows its audience to appreciate the athleticism and ability of the actors. Despite being in perpetual motion, the camera holds everything in medium shot as it dollies around the action with minimal cutting. It's this combination of fine cinematography and choreography that makes the action sequences work, one without the other would be a disaster.

However, the film slips up by giving us very little to root for. Oh sure, we are supposed to get behind Rama so that he'll make it home to his wife and unborn child. It's about survival, I suppose, but Rama just isn't a very compelling character. We don't get any particularly interesting villains either. Mad Dog is a tough, formidable presence in his fighting scenes, but other than that he's somewhat boring. Sahetapy, as Tama, seems to have responded to a casting call that said, “Look mean and act heartless.” Ninety-five percent of the cast is expendable, their corpses end up littering the hallways of the complex. More than once I was reminded of the Spanish film, REC 2 (2009), which also featured a team of heavily armed men assaulting a similar apartment complex.

The other obvious comparison is Die Hard (1988), a more effective version of the “one man army in a building” concept. John McClane (Bruce Willis) was fun and somewhat human, while Alan Rickman did a bang up job as Hans Gruber, a villain everyone loved to hate. It was still an action movie, no question, but with a touch more drama to hold our interest. I think it might be more fun to watch the fight scenes in The Raid as stand alone set pieces, rather than part of the film.

Having said all that, The Raid makes good on its promises if all you desire is crazy action, booming sound effects, and gore by the bucket load. It's more enjoyable than most silly kung fu/wuxia movies, though there are several made in the last twenty years that I would take over this, including Tsui Hark's Once Upon a Time in China II (1992), Gordon Chan's Fist of Legend (1994), Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), and Zhang Yimou's Hero (2002) and House of Flying Daggers (2004). I realize these films differ from The Raid in period, setting, and fighting style, but Evans has never made a secret of being inspired by “the Golden Age” of Hong Kong/Chinese cinema.

At any rate, those interested in a superior action movie made in the last year should look no further than Brad Bird's inventive and fun-filled Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011). Too bad it can no longer be seen on IMAX screens, the scaling of the Burj Khalifa won't be as effective in home theaters. Please understand, I'm not talking anyone out of seeing The Raid: Redemption, I'm simply recommending alternatives. The Raid is bloodier and more visceral than Ghost Protocol, so if that's how you like your entrées seasoned, then by all means get to the theater immediately.