Review of Hummingbird (2013) by Calibmcbolts — 29 May 2016

'The Raid: Redemption'' is an indonesian made martial arts/action thriller that is all about violence. All violence. Wall-to-wall violence. Against many of those walls, heads are pounded again and again into a pulpy mass. If I estimated the film has 15 minutes of dialogue, I think I would be generous.

But then again, what does my opinion matter, it is highly rated on every movie critic site on the planet and it is hailed as a breakthrough for martial arts.

I dont mind violence at all, nor do I mind a movie that tells its story visually, but the director (Gareth Evans) doesnt take the effort to make it a well-made film, it's basically 100 minutes of non stop action, with no plot, no characters, barely any dialogue, and just constant hard-driving, butt-kicking, pulse-pounding, bone-crunching, skull-smashing, bloodcurdling and largely a hand-to-hand, fist-to-face, foot-to-groin battle, with a few machetes and guns tossed in for good measure. Which is a formula Evans clearly knows is a large audience for, hence the obviously high ratings, and movies like this just dont entertain me at all. It's basically you watching a well-made realistic martial arts mission-type video game.

Detailed criticism: Why does the movie establishes that the ''lead role'' is a muslim in the beginning of the film? They do nothing at all with it after the opening scene. It seems pointless, except as a cheap, failed attempt in some sort of character development. But it is pointless to even attempt at something like that, no one in the film has a personality, they are all relentless fighters with no brain in their heads.

Another cheap plot point that was extremely predictable: one of the gangsters that is helping the drug lord that is camping out in this massive squat, is Rama's brother (The ''leading man''). Thus it is ofcourse inevitable that they eventually will hold each other's lives in their hands and resolve deep childhood feelings to their satisfaction at the end of the film, and that they obviously both survive and go their ways in the end...

Like I said, ''The Raid: Redemption'' is basically a well-made video game: a ruthless fighter stands in a corridor and destroys an enemy. As the enemy falls, another jumps into position from around corner, ready to be destroyed in turn. Then another, and another. It's like they're being ejected by an automatic victim dispenser.

Another small detail: What the hell does "Redemption" mean in the title? Who, or what, is redeemed, and how? If you kill lots of people and are still alive, have you been redeemed? If you and your brother don't kill each other after almost everyone else does, is that redemption? Or is "redemption" just one of those title words like "reloaded" or "destiny" to help people tell movies apart? Seems a bit stupid in my humble opinion, but I think I read somewhere that Gareth Evans is making the third installment of the Raid trilogy (yay) and he said that the 3rd film will take place before the first ''Raid'', so probably something will happen in that film that needs redeeming..

Another thing, this movie is inconsistent and unrealistic as hell, not just because something ridiculous like this would NEVER happen, but also because most people they ''kill'' go down by just getting kicked in the stomach, or getting slammed into a wall, or getting dropped on a table, and then there is a final fight with ''Mad Dog'' where he continues to fight for at least 5 minutes whilst having a fluorecent tube stuck in his neck, and before that he's been kicked and punched to absolute pulp. But he just continues to fight.

It's inconsistent as hell.

The only reason I gave it a 2/5 instead of giving it lower, is simply because, I can't deny that the stunts and fight choreography isnt fantastic, and the way they killed (some) people was quite creative.

All in all, movies like this simply dont entertain me, no depth, no story, no characters and just constant neck-breaking action, but that's what it's meant to be. Something like this just doesnt quite suit me.

Can't dare expect the redemption from the sequel for what I found lacking here. Yet I guess I'll give it a go. (yay).

"The Raid: Redemption" will be most successful for people with A.D.D. or just generally short attention spans, but then again, that's what it's aimed at.