The martial arts approach ballet, and the drama is not half bad, too.
The Raid 2: Berandal
Grade: B
Director: Gareth Evans (The Raid: Redemption)
Screenplay: Evans
Cast: Iko Uwais (Merantau), Yayan Ruhian (Merantau)
Rating: R
Runtime: 150 min.
by John DeSando
“You apologize! In their language, in our land! Where is your honor?” Ucock (Arifin Putra)
Yes, Raid 2 is hardcore gang-war stuff set in Jakarta with the omerta (code of silence) well in place and families combating enemy families as well as their own. Rama ( IkoUwais, from the original The Raid: Redemption) joins the hoodlums of Jakarta as an undercover cop with the goal of exposing the syndicate and police corruption.
It’s hard not to think of the Godfather series in the states and not difficult to discern the difference in the US’s emphasis on dialogue and character interaction. The calling card of this epic is the martial arts in glorious variation from the standard chop-socky fare. The set pieces are imaginative enough to make you forget the derivative nature of martial arts films, Jackie Chan’s humor notwithstanding.
For instance, the requisite car chase is imaginative for martial arts performed inside a speeding car with a grace and ingenuity that almost qualifies it as art. Ingenious but not high art is a man’s face cooked on a kitchen steamer, a shenanigan I hadn’t seen before. The girl with two hammers is slick enough to wipe out a subway car of martial artists, a not-so-rare-anymore instance of women in this genre kicking serious butt.
What sets Raid 2 off from The Raid: Redemption and other formulaic entries in this genre is director/writer Gareth Evans’ willingness to intersperse the warfare with dramatic situations involving the families’ warfare, patricide, and occasional soul-searching—not high drama, mind you, but at least a respite from the bone-crunching, blood-letting combat both forbidding and creative. Baseball Bat Man says, “Bring back the ball.” It’s not what you’ve usually seen with the bat motif.
For this non-fan of violence, Raid 2 is an enjoyable romp in a weak time of year for films, even hoodlum epics.
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.rr.com
