The Raid: Redemption

Growing up in the video violence era of the 80´s, i remember how mad i was when Sweden cut movies almost 15 minutes shorter, because of video violence. To see the uncut vhs tape, you had to order from England or Usa, but cost a lot of money. Thankfully a videostore called Movieline in Gothenburgh sold uncut titles, this became my favourite movie store. One of my earlier memories was when i first watched John Woo´s classic The Killer. It was beautiful. 300 men becoming shot down with 4000 bullets, it was like watching a ballet performance, gone totally wrong, with so many emotional violence scenes, i just sat there smiling, like it was christmas eve. When i heard of The Raid: Redemption through The Totally Rad Show, i became very curious. There seemed to be a lot of violence, lots of weapons, lots of bullets, yes, everything you need. On the final result, does The Raid: Redemption give a steady kick in the nuts, or barely touch the surface?

A SWAT team led by Sergeant Jaka ( Joe Taslim ) and Lieutenant Wahyu, prepare themselves to make a raid, to take down the crime lord Tama Riyada ( Ray Sahetapy ), and his criminal network, in a big appartment building. Everything is going well, untill a young boy see the SWAT team, and sets the alarm. Now, hell has just begun, and the survivors of the SWAT team needs to find a way out, before everyone is executed.

Holy shit......now this is what i needed. The Raid: Redemption is Malou Von Siewers worst nightmare, this is pure action for a big screen, with so much violence, you jump of joy, just like you won a million dollars on a lottery ticket. And not only are the action scenes impressive, director Gareth Evans fills the scenes with really nice details, that give the simple story a lot to offer. It´s not often i watch Indosesian movies, maybe because not many of them are screened here in Sweden, or maybe i simply need to check more for new releases. Either way, i had a great time watching The Raid, took me straight back to the early John Woo movies, that you don´t see very often in these days. If you love full pumped up action, this is the one for you. I wonder if you can hire a SWAT team like this one to destroy every dvd of Something Borrowed...that would be a mission worth to follow.

Rating: DDDD