Upping the ante in every way possible, the Raid 2 is easily the best martial arts/action movie I have ever seen.

Picking up where the first installment left off, Rama (Iko Uwais) goes undercover in prison to get close to Uco (Arifin Putra),the son of Jakarta mob boss Bangun (Tio Pakusodewo) in order to root out police corruption led by Reza (Roy Marten). After saving Uco’s life in prison Rama goes to work for Bangun and finds himself embroiled in a brewing war between crime families and a new upstart named Bejo (Alex Abbad) who is trying to upset the delicate peace that has persisted for years.

If the first Raid film was martial arts porn where it just straight to the fucking, this is one of those classy porns with high production values but they do DVDA. No longer just a set up for non-stop action scenes, the story here goes much deeper as it delves into classic crime movie tropes and themes like trust, ambition, tradition and betrayal. While the story is not groundbreaking or something we haven’t seen before it does make for a nice breather between action set pieces and allows the audience to care about the characters more than the first film did. This keeps the action from becoming mind numbing as there is a context to it with people that you care about to whatever degree.  I didn’t really miss the story in the first movie but having it here sweetens the pot quite a bit.

When I saw the trailers for the Raid 2 I was a little worried that the addition of what looked like more traditional action like car chases and gun fights, as well as the more involved story, would dilute the martial arts and turn this into a more conventional film. My fears were quickly put to rest as the ratio of martial arts to other action is still very much in martial arts’s favor. That being said, the car chases here are pretty incredible because the choreography for them is set up much more like a fight than it is a simple chase. The drivers use the vehicles as weapons and do things I have never seen before, not even in car specific action films. This being the case, these chases were much more fun than the usual sequences action movies offer up and never detract from the action.

While I feel that this movie offers the best action I have ever seen with a wider variety of offering than I was expecting I can’t say that this is a movie for everyone. If you have a sensitivity to gore and extreme violence you are not likely to enjoy yourself much here. There is nothing tame about what goes on here and if you are used to PG-13 level martial arts action you may be fairly shocked by what you see. This is definitely not for the faint of heart. If, on the other hand, you are into graphic violence and gore then you should get to a theater showing this right away.

At this point it should go without saying that the quality of the martial arts choreography is of the highest caliber out there but it bears repeating. After the first Raid and Merantau it would be easy to imagine that fight choreographers Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian would start to repeat themselves or deliver substandard fights just based on the number of them between those two movies but that is not the case at all. The final fight of the film here is easily one of the best I have ever seen and the rest of the many fights that preceded it are all better than just about any other I’ve seen as well. These two guys have choreographed three movies of the best fights on film and the latest film is the strongest of the lot.

The performances in the movie are great across the board both in terms of the character moments and the stunts. Iko Uwais is incredible to watch and the effortlessness with which he appears to move is breath taking. Yayan Ruhian, who played Mad Dog in the first Raid, appears as Prakoso here and offers up two of the best sequences of the film and shows real acting chops in the story moments as well. Anfin Putra does a great job as Uco and manages to deliver ambition, arrogance and remorse in such a way that despite the fact that he is a criminal that does bad things it is hard not to care about him. Alex Abbad is another stand out as he brings an eccentric quirkiness to the character that allows him to be bizarre without being unintentionally funny or corny.

Conclusion [10 out of 10]

I really couldn’t ask for more out of this movie and I am really interested to see what they will do with the planned third installment. This is incredible from beginning to end and if you love martial arts movies and you love violent crime dramas then this is the film for you. If you are not a fan of martial arts and hard R level violence then you should probably avoid this as there is really nothing for you here. For me, this is right up my alley and as I was walking to my car I wanted to turn around and catch the next showing. It is the best martial arts movie I have ever seen.