The Raid 2 (Indonesian: The Raid 2: Berandal — English: "Thug")[4] is a 2014 Indonesian martial arts action crime thriller film written and directed by Gareth Evans; it is the sequel to the 2011 film The Raid: Redemption. The film was released on 28 March 2014.[5][6][7] It follows SWAT member Rama, the protagonist of the first film, as he is sent undercover to take down both corrupt police officials and the gangs of the criminal underworld.
Iko Uwais reprises his role as Rama. The film also stars Arifin Putra, Julie Estelle, Alex Abbad, Tio Pakusadewo, Oka Antara, and Cecep A. Rahman. The film also features Japanese actors such as Ryuhei Matsuda, Kenichi Endo, and Kazuki Kitamura. The film is distributed by Sony Pictures Classics worldwide, Stage 6 Films in the United States, and Entertainment One in the United Kingdom.
Contents
Plot
Bejo, a self-made Jakarta gang lord executes Rama's brother Andi in the fields outside Jakarta.After the disastrous raid on Tama's apartment building, Rama meets with Bunawar, a police officer that was assured honest by Andi. After sending Rama's fellow survivor Bowo to receive medical attention and executing Wahyu, Bunawar invites Rama to join a clandestine anti-corruption task force which seeks to expose police commissioner Reza's backroom dealings with the Bangun and Goto gangs. While Rama initially declines, he agreed to join them after learning of his brother's murder by Bejo and the imminent threat to his family.
Rama assaults the son of a politician who opposed Bangun's criminal family, earning imprisonment alongside Bangun's son Uco. Rama, under the alias "Yuda", saves the mobster's life during a prison riot. Bangun subsequently hires "Yuda" when the latter's prison sentence ends two years later. As "Yuda", Rama proves his value to the organization and earns the family's trust while rifts grow between him and the unreliable Bunawar, who withholds information from him. Meanwhile, Uco grows increasingly discontented with his father's lack of faith in his abilities and placidity towards the Japanese, desiring to take on a larger role in the mob's operations.
Bejo invites Uco to dinner, sharing rumours of a Japanese plot to turn Reza against the Bangun family and allowing Uco to personally kill his prison assailants. Uco subsequently hatches a plot with Bejo to start a gang war that would destroy the Japanese, letting Uco prove himself to his father while Bejo profits from the chaos. The pair use Bejo's personal assassins to frame the Japanese for killing Bangun's loyal henchman Prakoso and falsify a harsh retaliation by Bangun. When the families meet to reconcile, Bangun takes an apologetic stance that causes Uco to lash out against his father. Meanwhile, Reza's corrupt cops attack "Yuda" in reprisal, leaving him incapacitated as Bangun harshly beats Uco for his disobedience.
Bangun's adviser Eka calls for "Yuda" to rescue Uco from Bangun's office. While "Yuda" is in transit, Bejo, the Assassin, and Bejo's henchmen appear in the office. Uco kills his father and shoots Eka in the leg. Before Uco can finish the enforcer off, "Yuda" arrives, stalling Bejo's men to cover Eka's escape. After the Assassin subdues "Yuda", Bejo commands his men to kill him offsite.
Goto, hearing of Bangun's death and Reza's betrayal which was organized by Bejo, declares war upon both Bejo's gang and Reza's corrupt policemen. After rescuing Rama in a highway chase scene, an injured Eka drives him to an abandoned slum, revealing that he knows of Rama's true identity and was also an undercover officer. Before leaving the vehicle to Rama, Eka directs him to "put them all down". Rama calls Bunawar, learning of the gang war's ignition. Frustrated by Bunawar's claims that Eka betrayed the police, Rama learns that Reza, his true target, is currently meeting with Bejo and Uco at the restaurant. After extracting a promise to keep his family safe, Rama breaches Bejo's restaurant warehouse and fights his way through dozens of Bejo's men.
While Uco and Bejo meet with Reza to discuss their terms, Uco discovers a bug Rama had previously planted in his wallet; he later notices that Bejo bears similar tattoos to the men who attacked him in prison. Upon realizing that Bejo originally tried to kill him to spark the war, Uco suspects Bejo and Reza of colluding against him. Meanwhile, Rama fights and defeats Bejo's personal retinue of killers - Hammer Girl, Baseball Bat Man, and the Assassin - before disrupting the meeting. Bejo throws a shotgun towards Reza and fires his own gun at Rama, but Uco instead kills Reza and mortally wounds Bejo. Uco drops the planted bug on Bejo before executing him with a point-blank shotgun blast, and turns his attention to shoot at Rama, who has taken cover.
Rama, however, overpowers Uco and stabs him with the Assassin's knife. Uco dies in Rama's hands and the heavily wounded and fatigued Rama leaves. Slowly returning to the exit of the warehouse, he encounters Goto's gang, led by Keiichi, Goto's son. A silent dialogue takes place between Keiichi and Rama, which is also overheard by Bunawar and he learns of the night's events. Keiichi gives Rama an approving smirk and is implied to make an offer to Rama to join the Japanese side, and the exchange between the two ends with Rama simply stating, "No...I'm done".
Cast
- Iko Uwais as Rama/Yuda, a rookie SWAT unit member turned undercover police officer.
- Arifin Putra as Uco, Bangun's only son.
- Tio Pakusadewo as Bangun, a feared mob boss who runs crime in Jakarta.
- Oka Antara as Eka, adviser and consigliere to the head of the biggest crime family in Jakarta.
- Alex Abbad as Bejo, a young, self-made gangster.
- Cecep Arif Rahman as "The Assassin", Bejo's top enforcer.
- Julie Estelle as Alicia a.k.a. "Hammer Girl", a ruthless hired assassin who is especially gifted with claw hammers.
- Very Tri Yulisman as "Baseball Bat Man", "Hammer Girl's" brother.
- Ryuhei Matsuda as Keiichi, Goto's son and successor.
- Kenichi Endo as Hideaki Goto, boss of the Goto family.
- Kazuki Kitamura as Ryuichi, Goto's translator and adviser.
- Yayan Ruhian as Prakoso, Bangun's most loyal and dedicated assassin.
- Cok Simbara as Bunawar, the chief of Jakarta's anti-corruption task force.
- Roy Marten as Reza, a corrupt police commissioner.
- Epy Kusnandar as Topan, a pornographer.
- Donny Alamsyah as Andi, Rama's brother.
- Tegar Satrya as Bowo, Rama's fellow SWAT member and survivor of the initial raid.
Production
Development
Following Merantau, director Gareth Evans and his producers began to work on a project called Berandal (which is Indonesian for "thugs"), a large-scale prison gang film intended to star not only Merantau actors Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian, and Donny Alamsyah, but also an additional pair of international fight stars. A teaser trailer was shot, but the project proved to be more complex and time consuming than they had anticipated.[8] After a year and a half, Evans and the producers found themselves with insufficient funds to produce Berandal, so they changed to a simpler, but different story with a smaller budget. They called the project Serbuan Maut (The Raid), which led to the creation of the first film.[9]While developing The Raid in script form, Evans considered the idea of creating a link between it and the initial project, Berandal. Following the release of The Raid, it was later confirmed that Berandal will serve as a sequel to The Raid.[10][11] Evans also said that he wanted to include car chases in the sequel, as well as a third Raid film being "a lot further down the line".[12]
With the title for the North American market announced as The Raid 2, the sequel has a "significantly larger" budget than its predecessor, and its production schedule will take approximately 100 days.[13] The pre-production was expected to begin in September 2012 with filming in January 2013.[14][15]
Casting
In December 2012, it was announced that Julie Estelle was cast as "Hammer Girl"; Evans also tweeted that internationally renowned silat practitioner Cecep Arif Rahman was also given a major part in the film.[16] Marsha Timothy, Mathias Muchus, Tio Pakusadewo, and Alex Abbad, who worked with Evans in Merantau, were also cast in the film.[16] Japanese actors Matsuda Ryuhei, Endo Kenichi, and Kitamura Kazuki also joined the cast.[17]Evans also revealed in his Twitter that Yayan Ruhian, who played Mad Dog in The Raid: Redemption, will return for the sequel as a new character called Prakoso,[18] who is the machete-wielding chief assassin of Bangun. He claimed that he wouldn't do a martial arts film without Ruhian being involved.[19] Ruhian, who is a choreographer of the film, also trained Estelle in Pencak Silat.[20]
Filming
In January 2013, PT Merantau Films and XYZ Films announced the start of production.[21][22][23][24] The filming process took about seven months and ended in July 2013.[25]The film's lead cinematographer Matt Flannery tweeted that at least three RED cameras were used in a test shoot of a chase scene.[26][27] Gareth Evans mentioned on his Twitter that they were using RED Scarlet for 95% of the shoot, Epic for slow mo, and Go Pro 3 for quick cuts during the car chase.[28]
Distribution
Sony Pictures Classics purchased the film for North American, Latin American, and Spanish markets; Alliance/Momentum for the United Kingdom and Canada; Koch Media for German-speaking territories; Korea Screen for the Korean market; and HGC for China. Deals for other major territories are currently under negotiation.[29][30][31][32]Marketing
A teaser trailer was released on Twitchfilm at 6 November 2013.[33] The Hollywood Reporter said, "the images unleashes more action than most Hollywood blockbusters."[34] Followed by a longer Indonesian trailer later in 31 December 2013.[35]The American trailer was released on 21 January 2014.[36][37][38][39]
Release
The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on 21 January 2014.[40] The film screened at South by Southwest on 10 March 2014[41] and ARTE Indonesia Arts Festival on 14 March 2014.[42]After a wide release on 11 April 2014, due to low returns the majority of theaters closed the film one week later. This was similar to what happened during the theatrical run of the first film.[43]
Censorship
The Raid 2 was banned in Malaysia.[44] The film was scheduled to hit Malaysian screens on 28 March, but as of 1 April, it had not been shown anywhere in the country. There has been no official statement from the Film Censorship Board of Malaysia on why the film had not been screened.[45]The US release was released with an R rating by the MPAA for "sequences of strong bloody violence throughout, sexuality and language",[46] cutting a few frames of graphic violence. Director Evans stated the cuts are very minimal and similar to his original cut.[47][48]
Critical reception
The Raid 2 has received positive reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 79% "Certified Fresh" rating, with an average score of 7.4/10, based on reviews from 153 critics. The site's consensus states: "Although its high-energy plot and over-the-top violence may play better with genre aficionados, The Raid 2 definitely delivers more of everything audiences loved about its predecessor".[49] The film has a score of 71/100 on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews", based on 33 critics.[50]Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly said, "The Raid 2 will make you feel like Christmas came nine months early. Some action sequels don't know when to say when. But here's one where too much is just the right amount."[51]
David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter gave a positive review of the film, remarking, "Evans gives the audience a knowing wink by having Rama endure repeated batterings that would leave mere mortals in traction, not to mention some nasty blade wounds. Yet he keeps coming back, finding the stamina to snap more limbs and crush more skulls. Taking place inside moving vehicles, a subway car, a noodle bar, warehouses, a porn factory, tight corridors and in the most electrifying mano-a-mano clash, a gleaming nightclub kitchen and wine cellar, the fights are dynamite."[52]
Rolling Stone journalist Peter Travers, wrote: "The Raid 2 lets its warriors rip for two and a half thrilling hours. With the precision of dance and the punch of a K.O. champion, Evans keeps the action coming like nobody's business."[53]
Many have praised the film for maintaining the action sequences that made the first film so great, as well as improving upon the plot and the dialogue which its predecessor was criticized for.
Amber Wilkinson of The Daily Telegraph commented, "Hyper-violent it may be but there is beauty in its brutality" and wrote, "A martial arts movie brings something fresh in terms of choreography may sound like fighting talk, but Gareth Evans's sequel to his 2011 film is endlessly inventive."[54]
Matt Risley of Total Film gave the film five stars called it a "sumptuously shot, perfectly paced and flat-out exhilarating, The Raid 2 cements Evans as the best action director working today and may not be the best action, gangster, or even martial-arts movie ever made. But as a combination of all three, it's unparalleled in recent memory and offers a tantalising glimpse into a post-Bayhem action-movie world. Brutal, beautiful and brilliant" and also wrote, "The sheer imagination on show, both in the cinematography and choreography, guarantees each brawl is instantly iconic. Immaculately edited, each traumatic, tensely tactile fight would blur into chaos if not for Evans's pinpoint pacing something that refreshes all the more in the face of modern blockbusting's tendency to start big and just keep getting bigger, until burnout."[55]
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