Review of The Raid 2 (2014) by John Eric D — 31 May 2015

Decent plot undermined by incredibly silly action sequences.

I had low expectations for The Raid 2, having previously seen The Raid. The Raid was disappointing. Started well: solid setup and background and the plot development seemed to be going well: devious, efficient criminals, cops in a predicament. Looked like we had a decent, gritty, realistic cop-drama on our hands.

Then it all fell apart. First the plot started developing holes. Things started to seem contrived and implausible, and I kept thinking "But surely they should do (that)" and "How is that possible?".

Worst of all, it suddenly became a martial arts movie. You know, the silly, over-the-top, very unrealistic, impossible-moves, impeccably-choreographed stuff. It started with one cop vs about 10 bad guys (and the cop winning of course), and then seemed to happen every chance the director got. It got to be so excessive, I was laughing (hey, maybe it was meant to be a comedy...).

Not only were the fight scenes gratuitously plentiful, silly and contrived, each scene went on and on and on - they seemed interminable. I started fast forwarding through them after a while.

By now the plot had left town, as the fight scenes were there to carry the movie, leaving the movie an empty shell.

The Raid 2 is better than the first one, but not by too much. Plot is better, and stays decent until almost the end. Much grittier and more plausible than the first one. Almost Scorsese-esque in its grittiness and twistiness - reminded me of The Departed and Goodfellas.

Plot wasn't perfect though - a bit jumbled in the beginning and there are moments towards the end where things don't totally add up, but the plot-holes weren't major.

So, just when you're hoping this is is going to be a serious crime-drama, unlike The Raid with its comical fight scenes, the laughable fight scenes start up again. Sporadically at first, then gathering in frequency until the last few scenes of the movie just lurch from one outrageous fight scene to the next. As in The Raid, each fight seems to go on forever, and the best thing one can do is fast-forward through them.

So, while for about the first half of the movie it looked like it was going to be more serious than The Raid, it ends pretty much the same as it. It's due to being grittier for longer that The Raid 2 is better than The Raid.