Review of The Raid 2 (2014) by Kenmei — 22 Feb 2015

When I first heard about this movie, I was unsure whether or not it could have been better than the first one and it has definitely surpassed my expectations. Not only does the sequel have better fight scenes, it has more of them, and there's more to be involved in the fights here as the movie is not limited to one location.

Now, the story is terrible and the entire goal of the movie that is plainly spelled out for the main character, Rama, in the first 5 mins. However, as the movie goes on, the goal changes and at what point, I couldn't tell you and I don't think the main character could tell you either. The other thing I didn't like about this movie was the fact that they brought back the actor of the villain from the big fight scene in the first one to play another character here. While he doesn't play a huge role in this one, it's still very jarring to see a guy who was such an evil dude in the first one come back to play another character who serves as cannon fodder to the bad plot.

Even still, taking this purely by its action sequences alone, this is easily the best action/kung fu movie I've seen in over a decade. There's more to love here and the creativity alone with some of the fight scenes, especially the ones at the end of the movie, are some of the best I've ever seen. The music goes extremely well with it too and really gives this the extra power it needs to make each and every hit feel painful.

I would compare watching a movie like this to going out and getting fast food. You know what you expect and if you don't get what you expect, it won't be very good. Who cares about plot, or calories in the fast food example, when you are setting out, from the beginning, looking for one thing in particular? I personally love this movie and I can't recommend it enough to people looking for a stellar action/kung fu movie.