The Raid: Redemption

I watched The Raid: Redemption when I was on my crazy action trip yesterday. I had it explained by filmdrunk.com as an excellent action/kung-fu movie (paraphrasing here). The story jumps in watching a cop "work-out" in his house and features the most impressive bag work I've ever seen. He kisses his pregnant wife goodbye, and simply says to an old man that "he'll bring him home" (paraphrasing again). Then you are immediately taken inside an armored van with 20 Asian looking guys for a quick speech about the building and the crime lord inside they are trying to take down, and then it's just on. It's a great sustained entrance sequence with a lot of long takes that I really enjoyed. It's 20 "highly" trained cops versus a slumville apartment (I'm really thinking Dredd stole their idea from this picture CLEARLY). Inevitably (SPOILER) the crime lord finds out they're in his crib and INSANITY ensues. It's just awesome for sustained stretches as the apartments violently oppose this Inquisitional force. There is an actual plot that takes some nice turns so it's not just crazy action, which actually isn't a bad thing. There is too much "kung-fu" fighting, even though it's fucking awesome, because you can't possibly believe the surviving cops wouldn't be picking up the weapons of the people they are running through. LITERALLY the "hero" character walks past two knives and a baton HE JUST USED TO KICK THE SHIT OUT OF EIGHT DUDES WITH and rolls unarmed. That pissed me off, but the fighting is just awesome. I'm not going to get the actors names because it doesn't matter, but they are just great at fighting at lightning speeds. The early gunfights are really good as well. It's just frenetic and you are uneasy for the most part. I love the premise and the execution is excellent. Bottom Line: 8.6 out of 10. I really enjoyed the insanity of this film. The action is awesome and really the acting isn't a liability. See this over Dredd FOR SURE if you're looking for an action film. The directing/style is excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I honestly think this is the highest score I could give an action movie and I'll probably end up buying this one.