THE RAID: REDEMPTION. (Gareth Huw Evans) For movie times and theatres, see Movie Listings. Rating: NNN
In Gareth Huw Evans’s non-stop actioner – retitled The Raid: Redemption for its North American release – a Jakarta tactical team’s assault on a crime lord’s apartment building turns into a frantic battle for survival.
I can’t remember a movie with more violence per frame – no wonder it won the Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award at last year’s Toronto Film Festival.
But the constant bone-shattering kung-fu smackdowns both define and undermine Evans’s film, since there is literally nothing else to it. By the 15th brutal confrontation, it gets a little monotonous.
Unlike, say, Flash Point or Attack The Block, which balanced their spectacular action sequences with well-drawn characters and clockwork pacing, The Raid lurches from one battle to the next like a blunt instrument. It’s effective, but not exactly distinguished.