The Raid 2 : Berandal (2014)

     If you haven't yet seen 2011's The Raid Redemption then drop whatever the hell your doing find somewhere to watch it, find some dude bros, find some snacks and set aside a day to watch it, discuss it, and watch it some more freaking times. It's the closest thing to a modern day martial arts movie mixed with a classic action movie gauntlet : A Swat team is tasked with infiltrating a tall building controlled by a drug lord (Yes it does sound a lot like Dredd) and when they get it they find it to be a trap and most of them The remain men try to to get to the top to avenge their friends and CRAY ACTION ENSUES. What separates this is that director Gareth Evans wanted to make the movies feel authentic so he traveled Indonesia and hired masters of it's native martial art Pencak Silat to help choreograph the action and star in the movie meaning that it's not in English and is all subtitled. That being said go watch this movie.

Seriously, watch this movie now. 

     The sequel (which didn't keep it's subtitle in the U.S.) focuses on the main character Rama following the aforementioned raid being tasked to get arrested in an effort to get in close with the son of a local crime boss and go into deep cover to find out some information about some stuff. Yeah... this movies biggest step back from the original is a distinct increase in story content. There is probably two or three times as much dialogue as the original and to be perfectly honest I enjoyed it on the first viewing but was kinda bored by it the second time around. I'm not trying to say that it's bad, in fact it almost plays out like the Godfather but interpreted in modern day Indonesia but you really feel the shift in pacing and sometimes it doesn't flow well. Luckily by the second half of the movie that goes away and makes way for whats most important ; The Action. 

     The real appeal of this movie and its predecessor comes from the action. Action , like love, transcends language and can be appreciated by anyone. Even if this movie didn't have subtitles you always understand when someone gets the side of hie face shoved into a table. To put it bluntly the action in this movie is brutally real, the hand to hand combat is sickeningly cool without being utter fantasy, even a couple characters that seem to have jumped out of a totally unrelated anime are used totally straight and make for terrifying on screen presences. The violence and gore is on a completely other level then any other movies right now, Evans refuses to pull any punches. To quote an internet personality "You have a normal action movie where a dude gets punched really hard in the head, he trips over a table or something and falls out of frame , in the Raid the dude gets kicked in the throat and falls on the corner of something concrete and painfully and very clearly dies". The movie isn't for the faint of heart but if it's your cup of tea this is the top tear of gritty action the money was all clearly put towards making the punches punchy and the gunshots go bang and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. 

      If it wasn't already clear this movie is a must watch in my book it's totally unique in a world with movies like Taken and the Expendables where even the violent action feels very subdued. I completely understand how people felt insulted about the Total Recall remake when someone remakes this (which I hear is already in the works) good or bad it will never recapture the magic and intensity that this provides. The setting, the cinematography, the seriousness of the plot, and the utter insanity of the action  - it's not just that they couldn't remake this it's that no half-assed bullshit committee of american "Film Executives" could create anything in any genre half as impressive as the Raid movies. I can't say everyone will enjoy this , but there is not another action movie that meets this level, so make the climb.