Screen Addicts Anonymous

The Raid is an Indonesian action film and a rather good one at that (although I will admit now that before today the amount of Indonesian action films I had watched was 0, so maybe it was rather poor by their standards). Directed by Welshman Gareth Evans and starring Iko Uwais as Rama, the films sees Rama and his police colleagues infiltrate a building controlled by a vicious drug kingpin. Their mission very quickly goes awry and they find themselves trapped in the building and hunted by dozens of machete and gun-wielding nutters.

I enjoyed the film because it has a real, gritty, down-and-dirty feel to the action and praise should be reserved for the actors and action choreographers who present the martial art of Pencak Silat as fast paced and unrelenting. There is nothing clean about the violence in The Raid (and there is a lot of violence) and whilst some of the fights do feel quite repetitive after a while there is much to enjoy along the way. Certainly this is not a film for those of a gentle disposition (only a few minutes of the film passes before someone is brutally murdered) but the action is well presented, shot clearly and cleverly, allowing you to fully take in the skills on show.

Rating: B+