Review of The Raid 2 (2014) by James S — 30 May 2015

Following on from the original, ground-breaking martial arts flick 'The Raid' was always going to be a tough task. Its unique take on martial arts left viewers stunned. Fight scenes went beyond the norm, combining state of the art martial arts sequences, with some of the most interesting environments and creativeness imaginable.

'The Raid 2' looks to follow this by venturing beyond the solo building that hosted the original. At first this appears to make the directors job easier, although I actually think it made it more of a challenge. Part of what made the first movie unique was its confined setting, where tension was easily built. Its storyline was also so linear, yet easy to follow, meaning all of their efforts could be put into producing the best action scenes imaginable. As many others on here have said, the first half of the movie definitely shows signs that the directors had more of an expansive story to focus on. Various characters were clumsily introduced, meaning that I found the first hour quite difficult to follow. There's no denying the action sequences were still good, although they seemed to occur randomly, and failed to live up to my expectations.

The second half however is something else. The final hour and twenty minutes or so will fly by faster than the highlights of a stoke v sunderland game. The story takes a drastic turn, which immediately clarifies how the rest of the movie will play out. The creative fight sequences that I loved from the first movie returned, and you are treated to some truly unbelievable action scenes. The final fight scene will likely leave you in awe, as it seems to go on and on and on, only increasing in intensity and drama.

The final half of the movie is what fully justifies its star rating, making the entire film well worth watching.