The setup вЂ“ one cop, scores of criminals in a tower block вЂ“ was its selling point. The Raid was distinctive because of its limitations. The locations have been opened up, the plot вЂ“ as it is вЂ“ has been expanded to fill the space. Instead, the film suffers from too much potential. The Raid 2's faults are not in Evans's technique вЂ“ he's unusually adept at capturing the art of violence. The sound design вЂ“ particularly later in the film when a baseball-bat swinging assassin boings his way through an army of human pinatas вЂ“ is viciously good too. He's drawn to block colour and sets that are simple, but distinctive, like Kubrick if he'd abandoned story for putting heads through walls. His locations are pulled from the parts of Jakarta that linger in the middle ground between opulence and depravity. There's a fluidity in the athleticism of the actors (and the camera operators) that appears superhuman.ДЄnd there's a lot going on around the punching and parrying.

The camera circles the confrontations, cutting in on the best moves, occasionally diving to the floor with a bested opponent. Uwais is the same methodical blur of bone-snapping brutality, but his director has become more comfortable in his choreography and much more confident in his editing. The fight scenes are reprehensible вЂ“ a man has his face fried on a hot plate, a woman uses a pair of household hammers to gouge chunks out of her adversaries вЂ“ but you'll thrill at the spectacle, despite yourself. Be prepared to idle through a flabby 45 minutes of rote political drama, before Evans sets Uwais off to punch the film back into shape. All you need know is that once war kicks off, Rama is pure and everyone else is expendable. Unlike The Raid, the sequel has a plot, but it's a big fat frippery, barely worth your time. Hero cop Officer Rama (Iko Uwais) has just dispatched a tower block of goons with the Indonesian martial art pencak silat, but already his boss wants him back on the streets, following in the shadow of Ucok (Arifin Putra), a primped prince of the underworld planning war between his father's gang and the rival Japanese Goto family. Steel yourself MPAA вЂ“ it's only going to get grislier from here. For the first 45 seconds, it's hard to see what would stir the rating body. 'You guys get to see this before the Motion Picture Association of America have a heart attack,' he says. After fighting his way through an apartment building populated by an army of dangerous criminals and escaping with his life, SWAT team member Rama goes undercover, joining a powerful Indonesian crime syndicate to protect his family and uncover corrupt members of his own force.

The wow factor is off the charts.G areth Evans takes to the stage ahead of the screening of his disgusting new film. With the precision of dance and the punch of a KO champion, Evans keeps the action coming like nobodyвЂ™s business. If this sounds like the Hong Kong classic Infernal Affairs (Americanized by Martin Scorsese as The Departed), well, whoвЂ™s complaining? The Raid 2 lets its warriors rip for two and a half thrilling hours. After release, Rama is cautiously welcomed into UcoвЂ™s thug life. Rama gets himself thrown into prison to buddy up with fellow inmate Uco (Arifin Putra), the studly, sadistic son of Bangun. HereвЂ™s a taste of the plot: Pencak silat master Iko Uwais is back as police officer Rama, now going undercover to infiltrate a Jakarta crime family run by boss Bangun (Tio Pakusadewo). I mean, people, the visceral fighting heat that Welsh-born, Jakarta-based director Gareth Evans packs into these films singes the screen. Of course, if you donвЂ™t get jazzed by The Raid and its sequel, The Raid 2, we are no longer talking. It is possible that you saw 2012вЂ™s The Raid: Redemption and were left feeling meh by this Indonesian explosion of martial-arts mayhem.

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