I actually saw this awhile ago, but didn't review it. I don't know why. When I did The Protector 2, I was like 'Oh yeah, I forgot something...'
After delivering big action and thrills a la Ong Bak, The Raid wowed audiences. Will its Sequel be less polarizing than Ong Bak's Prequel Films were? Let's see...
After a death close to him, our hero agrees to go work deep undercover to root out Police Corruption in the City. Does this sound familiar yet?
While working for a Mobster, he gets embroiled in a Gang War instigated by people trying to take charge in the midst of the chaos. Much fighting ensues.
The problem is that for all of the great, real-looking fights is alot of intrusive, not so interesting plot that stretches the Run Time to over two hours (as opposed to the 101 minute Run Time of the Original).
So yeah, I get it. I will Gareth Evans credit for not just copying and pasting The Raid as a cash-in. Besides, Dredd already did that. Boom- movie slam! Unfortunately, his answer to making a new story was making an old story-Infernal Affairs. Wait- didn't America already do that with The Departed? Apparently, Japan did this too in 2012, just before this film was made. Getting past that, the Story is almost too intrusive. If it was more interesting, I could probably accept it. As it is, you get long, slow gaps between the really good stuff. It is not wrong to pace out the fight scenes- since they are so intense- but you need to pace them better. You know what film got that right? The Raid! Having said all that, the fight scenes are still great. You get a big (somewhat murky) brawl in a Prison Yard, some great Cop vs Hitmen scenes and the great Car Chase bit. It isn't like Gareth Evans didn't have *some* good ideas to add to the series. The stand-outs are easily the old, crazy Hitman (see above) and the brother-sister Hitman duo. You won't look at a hammer the same way again. If Evans goes further with this series (which the Ending does not make clear), he needs to get the balance back Until then, we will just continue to debate it...
A really good film somewhat buried under a complex, not-so-interesting Story.
After delivering big action and thrills a la Ong Bak, The Raid wowed audiences. Will its Sequel be less polarizing than Ong Bak's Prequel Films were? Let's see...
The problem is that for all of the great, real-looking fights is alot of intrusive, not so interesting plot that stretches the Run Time to over two hours (as opposed to the 101 minute Run Time of the Original).
I saw this in the cinema and loved it. Sure, the plot is confusing, but with action like this who cares? "The Raid" (which I don't find all that similar to "Ong Bak") offered a simple story with good action, but "The Raid 2" pushes it to the limit. The martial arts fight during a car chase is incredible. My problem (in the cinema) was that in some fights it wasn't obvious which gang was fighting, but I hope this will be cleared up when I buy the Blu-ray.
ReplyDeletePretty much the same that I thought about it. Great action, but meh storyline, awkwardly paced and ultimately rather boring. So far, one of this year's biggest disappointments.
ReplyDelete