The Raid 2 (Film Review)

2014 Sony Pictures Classics
Written and Directed (and Edited) by: Gareth Evans
Starring: Iko Uwais, Arifin Putra, Oka Antara, Tio Pakusadewo, Alex Abbad, Julie Estelle, Ryuhei Matsuda, Kenichi Endō, and Kazuki Kitamura
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 150 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 8/10

Rama has been through hell. As one of the only police survivors of a botched raid on a crime lord's tower, Rama's ready to get back to his regular life--but that's not going to happen. After just a short while back home, he finds that the only way he can protect his wife and unborn child is to go undercover with an elite crimefighting unit. This means he'll not only need to do time--years--in prison, but also work for and live among a prominent criminal family under an alias. Will Rama be able to find a way out, while also securing his family's safety? And also, just how many people is he going to have to punch, kick, and cut while trying?
The first Raid film is an exercise in brutal economy. Rama gets sent on the titular raid in the first five minutes. The raid goes wrong about five minutes later. The next 90 minutes are all incredible action fury. The Raid 2's raid, if you can call an operation where an officer placed undercover for three or four years a raid, takes place over...three or four years, and 150 minutes of screen time. The urgency of the first film is nowhere to be found here, but what's lost in immediacy is gained in depth. Rama's character development throughout his undercover journey, as well as the movie's twisted tale of criminal backstabbing and infighting aren't the best ever found in a crime-centric film, but when coupled with The Raid 2's incredible action sequences, these elements come together to create a formidable beast of a classic action film.
Again, this isn't wall to wall action from start to finish. There are long segments of backroom criminal dialogue, or Rama turning up the music in his fancy new crime syndicate appointed digs, so that he can call to check in on his wife at home. However, as a result, writer/director/editor Gareth Evans' action scenes are bigger and more varied, and stand out more now that they're more meticulously built up to. These include, among others, a huge prison fight in the mud, a brutal knife fight in a restaurant kitchen, a battle between Rama and sibling psychos carrying a baseball bat and a pair of hammers, respectively, and an insane car chase that had me screaming with excitement when the movie tips off what's about to happen. In a way, the Raid 2 is a perfect complement to its predecessor, quite different enough to justify its existence, with world-building and character development galore, essentially turning the first film into an incredibly badass fireball of a prelude to its more simmering majesty. As such, I can't pick a favorite between these two films. They're both awesome, and I am overjoyed that they exist. I can't wait to watch them again.