The Raid 2 (2014) Review: From Siege to Gangland Epic

Is The Raid 2 worth watching?

Yes. The Raid 2 contains some of the most astonishing action sequences ever filmed, and it boldly swaps the lean siege of the first film for a sprawling Indonesian gangster epic. Iko Uwais is again a ferocious physical presence, and Gareth Evans’s staging of fights and chases is inventive, brutal and technically dazzling. The reservation is that the crime-saga ambitions stretch it to 150 minutes, and the plot between the fights is far less gripping than the fights themselves.

What is The Raid 2 about?

The Raid 2 begins shortly after the events of the first film. Rama (Iko Uwais), the young police officer who survived the tower-block raid, is recruited into a secret anti-corruption unit. To protect his wife and young son and expose corrupt officers in his own force, he agrees to go undercover.

His assignment takes him into prison, where he must earn the trust of Uco (Arifin Putra), the restless son of powerful Jakarta crime boss Bangun (Tio Pakusadewo). Once released, Rama is drawn deep into the family’s operations, where Uco’s ambition, the schemes of the upstart gangster Bejo (Alex Abbad) and pressure from rival syndicates threaten to ignite a gang war. Oka Antara plays Bangun’s trusted lieutenant, while Julie Estelle and Very Tri Yulisman appear as a pair of unforgettable assassins.

Evans wrote, directed and edited this Indonesian production. It is mostly in Indonesian, with some Japanese and English, and runs 150 minutes.

Fight choreography at its peak

The action is extraordinary. Uwais and his fellow fight choreographers use pencak silat, the Indonesian martial art, as the foundation for sequences of breathtaking speed and complexity. A mass brawl in a muddy prison yard, shot in long, fluid takes, is an early highlight; later, a car chase through city traffic combines stunt driving, gunfire and hand-to-hand combat inside moving vehicles with remarkable clarity.

Evans’s camera moves with the performers, swooping and spinning through each fight while keeping every blow legible. The brutality is extreme, but it serves a purpose: every strike carries weight, and the exhaustion of the fighters becomes part of the drama.

A gangster epic with ambition

Where the first film was a single, relentless siege, The Raid 2 aims for the scope of a crime saga. Evans draws on classic gangster cinema, with its father-and-son tensions, betrayals and rival factions, and the cast gives him strong support. Arifin Putra is particularly good as Uco, a spoiled heir desperate to escape his father’s shadow, while Tio Pakusadewo gives Bangun a weary authority.

The visual design is more varied too. Evans moves between prisons, restaurants, nightclubs and snowy streets, and Matt Flannery and Dimas Imam Subhono’s cinematography gives each setting its own mood.

Where the saga sprawls

The expanded story is also the film’s weakness. Keeping track of the factions and betrayals can be tiring, and Rama sometimes disappears from long stretches as the gangster plot takes over. Several characters, including the assassins, are more memorable for their fighting styles than their personalities. The long running time means the tension slackens between set pieces, and not every dramatic scene earns its length.

Who should watch The Raid 2?

It is essential for fans of martial arts and hard-edged action cinema, and anyone who enjoyed the first film should see it. The violence is extremely graphic, with bone-breaking fights, stabbings and bloody gunplay, so it is strictly for adults. Plan for a long evening and ideally watch The Raid first, although the story explains enough to follow on its own.

Related viewing:

• The Raid, the lean, relentless original, which remains the purer action experience.
• Merantau, Evans and Uwais’s first collaboration, an earlier showcase for pencak silat.
• The Night Comes for Us, Timo Tjahjanto’s even bloodier Indonesian gangland thriller.

The verdict

The Raid 2 is a bold, sprawling sequel whose action sequences rank among the finest ever staged. Its crime saga is overlong and occasionally confusing, but when Evans and Uwais let the fists fly, few films come close to its speed, invention and ferocity.

Rating: 4/5