Flash Movie Review: The Raid 2
The room had faded floral wallpaper with tired looking edges resembling sleepy eyelids. There was a brightly polished maple table in the middle of the room where a small woman with large glasses stood. She greeted us with a delicate smile. My friends and I arranged to visit her because we were told she had a unique gift. Each of us sat with her separately and when it was my turn I sat down across from her. She asked to see the palm of the hand that I use for writing. Looking at it she began telling me what type of personality I had, emphasizing I had strong teaching skills. Now it was funny, before sitting with her one of my friends whispered in my ear to remember the things that did not make sense. “Strong teaching capabilities” was more of a general statement, though she did not know I was an instructor. She peered closer at my palm and told me that in a former life I was a spy. I was able to go back and forth between opposing sides with no trouble. The reason I became a spy was due to my inner strength and ability to not reveal my true convictions. I evidently had a knack for quickly changing my mindset, able to avoid being captured by anyone. I had not thought about this for many years until I saw this action adventure film. The reason was the main character Rama, played by Iko Uwais (Merantau, The Raid franchise), had to do the very thing I supposedly did another lifetime ago. With the city being divided up into gang territories, police officer Rama agreed to go undercover to work his way into the criminal underground hierarchy. His plan involved getting close to Ucok, played by Arifin Putra (Macabre, Badai di Ujung Negeri), who was the son of a crime lord. This was one of those sequels where you did not have to see the previous film. It was a good thing because my review of the earlier one received only a rating of 1 3/4 stars. Where that one was a poorly done film, this one had more going for it. Iko Uwais’ martial arts skills were killer, pun intended. The fight scenes were the main attraction of this crime thriller and they were pretty amazing. I cannot say much about the acting but at least there was more of a story, a motive and fluidity to this picture. My guess would be this movie would only appeal to those who are fans of the genre. There was extreme violence and bloodshed throughout the film. If you are curious to see incredible fighting feel free to go incognito into the theater. The dialog was Indonesian and Japanese with English subtitles.
2 2/3 stars
Posted on April 9, 2014, in Foreign and tagged 2 2/3 stars, action, arifin putra, crime, foreign, iko uwais, julie estelle, martial arts, thriller, undercover. Bookmark the permalink. 8 Comments.
Amazing. I actually wish people did say Amazing as we do now, so I could say that that was an amazing clip.
Just saying, I felt that. thanks. Steve.
lol, thanks for your comments Steve.
I’m impressed that you went to see the sequel of a film that you had panned earlier. There’s dedication!
Oh, thank you so much. To tell you the truth I could not remember if I had seen the previous one until I looked it up in my reviews. lol
Have yet to see the first, but I know what I am getting into with these movies. I just want some impression action knowing I will get a bare bones story. And sometimes that is OK, depending on what you want.
Nice review!
Thanks for your comments, I appreciate it.
I badly want to see this movie because I was so impressed with the action scenes from Raid 1 but it’s not shown here in the Philippines =(… have to wait for dvd
I am surprised to hear the movie has not opened in the Philippines, bummer. When you get the chance I would enjoy hearing your take on it. Thanks for coming by to leave your comments.