Action-Adventure The Raid 2: Berandal

[Golgo-13]

I'm in the U.S. Guess i have to wait for the dvd as i did number 1….

 

[Drz]

It's coming to US in April. It's only some areas that receive it for March 28th, then it expands to other states/cities/countries, etc.

New York and some other city got it on March 28th, London and some other places like Scotland apparently got it too early. I'll see it on April 9th.

 

[L.A.]

Oh no wonder why I only see it in L.A

 

[CapedCrusader14]

It came out here in Australia on the 28th as well.

 

[Ajendo]

I saw this last night and unfortunately I had one if the worst cinema experiences of my life.

The film started 10minutes late then as soon as the first words were spoken, the subtitles were cropped off so we could barely see the top parts of the lettering and after about 5mins of this despite a few audience members rushing immediately to inform staff of the foul up, the movie was stopped and we had to wait another 10mins to get the problem sorted. Once sorted, we watched the movie from the beginning this time with visible subtitles to which the whole audience cheered and then the movie played on. As we got to a pivotal point between a son and his father and the action set to begin with Rama's undercover agent showing up, the film freezes and again we're waiting ages for the problem to be sorted out. Once the film starts playing again, a new problem arises, there are NO subtitles altogether, which was only softened by the dialogue scene between the Jaoanese family not being too long and was immediately followed up by the insane car chase. However, once the chase cane to an end and the dialogue started again, we were reminded that there were no subtitles and the problem had been mentioned to staff before the action set piece. The subtitles were finally sorted and the film rewound to the scene with the Japanese talking about going to war and then from then on the film suffered no more interruptions but the damage had already been done really. The only reason why I and most if the audience stayed was because it was an exclusive showing, the film doesn't come out here for another 2 to 3 weeks and because it's the ****ing RAID2!

All that being said, this movie is INSANE! I don't know who said it but I think it was someone here that did but the Raid 2 makes the first one look like a pillow fight. As others have said, this film is longer and conveys itself in a much wider scope and so has time to breathe and create enough exposition in telling a compelling story of respect, honour, trust, loyalty and betrayal. Whereas, in the first movie everything is taking place in such an enclosed environment with essentially a single objective which brings the action in hard and fast, making the I acing if the film a lot quicker. With the Raid 2, it's a good thing the pacing is slower because with the relentless and mercilessly brutal action taking place one needs a few moments to comprehend and recover from the poetic barbarism being witnessed.

From amazingly gritty beat downs in grubby toilets to prison fights in the mud, villains taking out other villains in the most spectacular fashion using baseball bats to a pair of hammers, point blank range gunshots to the face, necks being slit open, punches being thrown at lightening speed to pummel people, strap on *****s, crashing through everything, honestly, being a gangster is more trouble than it's worth.

This film really has it all, suspense, gore, beautiful bone crunching action and plenty of cheer out loud moments. The last fight pretty much got a standing ovation. The RAID 2 is an excellent action film and it may well be the very best action movie ever. I need to see it again without interruptions to really underpin that claim but if one is a fan of action, a good story, brutal fight scenes and isn't afraid of extreme gory violence then this is the movie to watch that should be at the top of one's list. This is another perfect example of how to do a brilliant sequel to an excellent first instalment. Rama has cemented himself as a unique and genuine action icon imo. A truly phenomenal character bit just because if his physical capabilities but because he's a character that's unsuspecting, humble and what's nothing but to bring a real justice to his city and to protect his family but he knows what he has to do in order to make the slightest bit of difference and in his quest to do so, Rama doesn't play about, pain and death is the order of the day and it's being hand delivered and served swiftly and beautifully.

Any questions, I'll be happy to answer.

 

[addison81]

Great review. Sorry about the issues at your screening but at least you saw the film. I see some people saying the violence was too much for them and kept them from enjoying the film, and apparently these are people who usually don't mind violence. Did you get a feeling it was too much for people at your screening?

 

[Ajendo]

Thanks.

I got the general feeling that the violence wasn't an issue at all, if anything I and a few others were expecting it to be more violent. During one of the many unwanted breaks if the film, as things were being rectified, we were discussing how awesome everything was and how the violence was, pRticukarly the gore was so incredibly well done. Honestly, it sometimes felt like we were at a football/soccer match with the amount of cheering that was going on for every badass violent scene we got.

 

[Ajendo]

Glad u loved it Soze. I think you summarized it perfectly by saying that this film is an experience. It feels like a rollercoaster ride that leaves you exhilirated and exhausted but in good way. I remember right before the Rama fights Baseball Boy and Hammer Girl i had to take of my sweater and prepare myself physically for what I was about to witness. My body was NOT ready and i left the theater in sweat. Thats the sign of an amazing film right there.

Hahahahaha....I did the sane thing but with my jacket. When the mob boss told all his goons to go get Rama and baseball bat guy drags hammer girl away from the bar to get down to business and then before Rama turns that corner and the baseball flies at lightening speed into the walk just missing his face, the look Rama gives, oh snap! Buckets of the brown stuff was definitely going to hit a very large turbine.

 

[Daywalker89]

How has no oone mentioned the shakky cam that nearly ruined the film for me then it carmed down in the 3rd act.

 

[Ajendo]

Because we were too busy having a bloody good time with what we were seeing lol! Seriously, other than a few rough and tumble scenes, like that porn guy crashing through the window, I don't really recall any significant shakey cam.

 

[Keyser Soze]

I saw this last night and unfortunately I had one if the worst cinema experiences of my life.

The film started 10minutes late then as soon as the first words were spoken, the subtitles were cropped off so we could barely see the top parts of the lettering and after about 5mins of this despite a few audience members rushing immediately to inform staff of the foul up, the movie was stopped and we had to wait another 10mins to get the problem sorted. Once sorted, we watched the movie from the beginning this time with visible subtitles to which the whole audience cheered and then the movie played on. As we got to a pivotal point between a son and his father and the action set to begin with Rama's undercover agent showing up, the film freezes and again we're waiting ages for the problem to be sorted out. Once the film starts playing again, a new problem arises, there are NO subtitles altogether, which was only softened by the dialogue scene between the Jaoanese family not being too long and was immediately followed up by the insane car chase. However, once the chase cane to an end and the dialogue started again, we were reminded that there were no subtitles and the problem had been mentioned to staff before the action set piece. The subtitles were finally sorted and the film rewound to the scene with the Japanese talking about going to war and then from then on the film suffered no more interruptions but the damage had already been done really. The only reason why I and most if the audience stayed was because it was an exclusive showing, the film doesn't come out here for another 2 to 3 weeks and because it's the ****ing RAID2!

All that being said, this movie is INSANE! I don't know who said it but I think it was someone here that did but the Raid 2 makes the first one look like a pillow fight. As others have said, this film is longer and conveys itself in a much wider scope and so has time to breathe and create enough exposition in telling a compelling story of respect, honour, trust, loyalty and betrayal. Whereas, in the first movie everything is taking place in such an enclosed environment with essentially a single objective which brings the action in hard and fast, making the I acing if the film a lot quicker. With the Raid 2, it's a good thing the pacing is slower because with the relentless and mercilessly brutal action taking place one needs a few moments to comprehend and recover from the poetic barbarism being witnessed.

From amazingly gritty beat downs in grubby toilets to prison fights in the mud, villains taking out other villains in the most spectacular fashion using baseball bats to a pair of hammers, point blank range gunshots to the face, necks being slit open, punches being thrown at lightening speed to pummel people, strap on *****s, crashing through everything, honestly, being a gangster is more trouble than it's worth.

This film really has it all, suspense, gore, beautiful bone crunching action and plenty of cheer out loud moments. The last fight pretty much got a standing ovation. The RAID 2 is an excellent action film and it may well be the very best action movie ever. I need to see it again without interruptions to really underpin that claim but if one is a fan of action, a good story, brutal fight scenes and isn't afraid of extreme gory violence then this is the movie to watch that should be at the top of one's list. This is another perfect example of how to do a brilliant sequel to an excellent first instalment. Rama has cemented himself as a unique and genuine action icon imo. A truly phenomenal character bit just because if his physical capabilities but because he's a character that's unsuspecting, humble and what's nothing but to bring a real justice to his city and to protect his family but he knows what he has to do in order to make the slightest bit of difference and in his quest to do so, Rama doesn't play about, pain and death is the order of the day and it's being hand delivered and served swiftly and beautifully.

Any questions, I'll be happy to answer.

Weird, something similar happened in our screening. For the first five minutes or so of the film, half the subtitles were cropped off the bottom of the screen. They stopped the film, the staff apologised, and after taking about 5-10 minutes to fix it, they started from the beginning. We didn't have any problems after that, though.

I'm thinking it could be a problem with the cut of the film. Even when the projectionist shrunk the image slightly so it was all within the screen - leaving a small black border around the image - you could see that the subtitles were at the very bottom of the screen, so much so that the tails of some letters overlapped into the black dead space.

 

[Ajendo]

Had it been any other film I probably would have walked out but I was determined to see this through because after the awesome cinema experience I had with the first film and watching the movie a dozen times on DVD, expectations for this film looked to be enjoyably high and my expectations were going to be met cot dammit!

 

[kguillou]

What do you guys think happened at the end? Do you think [BLACKOUT]they captured Rama?[/BLACKOUT]

 

[Ajendo]

I got the impression they asked him wtf happened and that they probably

Spoiler

wanted to recruit him and he declined. Single handle sky taking out EVERYONE. That's a man you either don't hesitate to kill or you give him whatever he wants to come and work for you

 

[Daywalker89]

What do you guys think happened at the end? Do you think [BLACKOUT]they captured Rama?[/BLACKOUT]

Spoiler

Hell no, i think they asked if he wanted to join them, Rama was like " No, ive had enough ." I don't blame him either lol The gang went there for war and found there shining white knight. IMO there in his debt. I wouldn't know the plan behind capturing him, the guy was ready to keel over

 

[sapiontel]

'The Raid 2' takes place two hours after the first, 'The Raid 3' would start two hours before 'The Raid 2' ends," ~Gareth Evans

can't wait for the raid 3

 

[kickass]

'The Raid 2' takes place two hours after the first, 'The Raid 3' would start two hours before 'The Raid 2' ends," ~Gareth Evans

can't wait for the raid 3

What does that even mean?

 

[addison81]

I think there's a part of the story that branches off in The Raid 2 and part 3 would follow that path.

 

[kguillou]

I can't even imagine how they would top this movie. Rama would have to fight the Dragonball Z characters at this point.

 

[Keyser Soze]

What does that even mean?

I could see you making a whole parallel movie with the Japanese gang and what they were doing as they flitted in and out of the story, but I doubt it would be anywhere near as engaging as the A-story with Rama. Unless Rama's at the centre again, I wouldn't be interested in seeing The Raid 3. I'd rather have two perfect 5-star films than risk breaking that streak for the sake of the symmetry of a trilogy.

 

[Liam_H]

Yea I wouldn't be that excited for a Raid 3 if it didn't follow Rama. I mean was there an entire movie worth of plot we didn't see before Rama went in? If there was Rama wouldn't have really been involved with it.

 

[Hunter Rider]

I have a quick question, I wasn't a huge fan of the first as I thought it got repetitive as it went on and the final fight was flat out silly. Are the action sequences in this one better paced?

 

[Golgo-13]

I can't even imagine how they would top this movie. Rama would have to fight the Dragonball Z characters at this point.

I couldn't image how they'd top the first one..but from reading all the reviews it's at least equal to the first.

The real question is, how is the American version going to top the original..? The answer,i presume, is it isn't.

 

[dude stannis]

I have a quick question, I wasn't a huge fan of the first as I thought it got repetitive as it went on and the final fight was flat out silly. Are the action sequences in this one better paced?

This one is an actual movie with story and character. But the action still gets ridiculous.

 

[Ajendo]

Ridiculous is an understatement. It's straight up relentless carnage.