REEL DEAL: The Raid Redemption REVIEW

Really don't judge a book (film) by its cover. This has been proven when I saw the screening of the Indonesian Action Film, The Raid: Redemption (Serbuan Muat in Indonesia). The film is under the direction of G.H. Evans and stars the rising Indonesian actor, Iko Uwais. The Raid is the 2nd film of G.H. Evans and Iko Uwais together. Their first film is Merantau, released in 2009, and is considered one of the best martial art films. Like Merantau, The Raid also features the pencak silat, an indigenous fighting style created in Indonesia. Aside from pencak silat, The Raid incorporates different fighting styles. The cast is actually composed of professional martial artists from different disciplines.

The film is presented by METANTAU FILMS and XTZ FILMS in association with Celluloid Nightmare. The film is about an elite team of cops tasked to raid a rundown 15-storey apartment and remove its owner, a notorious drug lord called Tama. The apartment has never been touched by the police before and is now a sanctuary of infamous gangsters. The team infiltrates the apartment but a chance encounter with a spotter blows their cover. Tama orders the lockdown on the building. While the team has been stranded on one of the building’s floors, Tama solicits the aid of notorious criminals to defeat the special unit.

Iko Uwais stars as Rama, one of the members of a special team lead by Jaka, played by Joe Taslim, a professional Judo athlete. Ray Sahetapy, winner of The Best Actor award in the Film Festival Indonesia in 1989 and was nominated several times for the same award, plays the infamous drug lord. The cast includes Yayan Ruhian and Donny Alamsyah. The former plays Mad Dog, the right hand man of the criminal boss. The latter plays Andi, Tama’s second right hand man.

The Raid is exclusive shown in SM Cinemas.Showing in theaters September 5, 2012

Deliberation time kids! 

Show summary in 3 lines: Non Stop Silat !

Technical Effects: 4 out of 5 stars (There is blood, there is gore and there is a lot of action!)

Plot: 3 out of 5 stars (Though I loved the revelations, there are still elements in the story that seems shallow)

Acting and Actors: 4 out of 5 stars (No long dialogues here, but when they speak its more of words of wisdom, and the others a whole lot of swearing and screaming, best goes to Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian)

DVD worthiness: 5 out of 5 stars  (I hope it comes with silat instructional)

Music and Soundtracks:  5 out for 5 stars  (when I saw that the soundtrack for the US release was made my mike shinoda, I quickly said 5!)

Pros: Martial Arts (Pencak Silat), effects, 

Cons: dubbing, cuts, you might also compare their faces to local actors too which is kinda distracting

Overall Rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars (For an Asian film, it has proven that it is not just the Chinese who have martial arts too)