Welcome to this week’s edition of the Nerd Review!  Every week the Nerds give you their take on a different movie from the Nerd-o-sphere. This week, Patrick flies solo to review Gareth Evans’ action filled hit The Raid: Redemption!

• The Flick:  The Raid: Redemption.
• What’s it About:  An elite S.W.A.T. team finds itself trapped in a tenement high rise controlled by cruel drug lord and his gang. The team must fight its way out of each floor in order to escape and survive.
• Metacritic Score: 73

The Nerds’ Take on The Raid: Redemption (2011):

Patrick:  I’m not sure how we got here. You see, during “Bandwagon Nerds we somehow got to talking about Gareth Evans’ action classic The Raid: Redemption. After the show, a couple of days later, the question of what film would be covered in the Nerd Review came up and we landed on The Raid, purely through that singular mention.  The only problem? I, noble reader, am the only member of the Bandwagon who has seen this movie. So, unfortunately that means a shorter edition of the Nerd Review as Dave and Rey both get the week off. Now, why was I so keen to talk about this movie? Simply stated, The Raid is a lightning bolt of adrenaline for two hours.  It has some of the best fight sequences you will find in any action movie in any time period. Writer/Director Gareth Evans takes you on an intense ride that never lets up from the opening credits until the screen goes dark. There is little plot to consider with The Raid, but you won’t care, because this movie is all about the action.

So what is this little plot?  In Jakarta’s slums, a highly trained S.W.A.T. team is sent to a rundown apartment building controlled by crime/druglord Tama Riyadi with the goal of bringing down Riyadi. Among the police force is rookie cop Rama and a team of twenty led by Sgt. Jaka and Lt. Wahyu. At first, the team skillfully makes its way up floor by floor to the seventh they are spotted by a child who sounds the alarm to Tama. Tama announces to the entire complex that he will grant sanctuary to anyone who kills a member of the S.W.A.T. team. It is also revealed that Lt. Wahyu moved forward with the raid despite being unsanctioned. This means there are no reinforcements to aid the SWAT team…they are alone and will have to fight their way out of the building to survive.

…And that’s it. That is really all you need to know, because The Raid isn’t really about the plot.  It’s about some of the best choreographed fight scenes I have ever witnessed in cinema. Evans made sure to cast the best of the best to carry the action led by the great Iko Uwais as Rama, Yayan Ruhian as Tama’s lead enforcer Mad Dog, and Joe Taslim as Jaka. These three men in particular are at the top of their game and kick all sorts of ass (literally and figuratively).  Most folks point to Uwais as the highlight of the film. Being the lead, he deserves the accolade, but for my money it Ruhain’s Mad Dog that steals the show in my opinion. Mad Dog’s battle with Jaka in particular really showcases Ruhian’s skill.  He is brutal, he is precise, and he takes joy in the kill.  Taslim and Ruhian bring it all.  Ruhian follows that up in his climactic battle with Uwais and Donny Alamsyah.  This two on one skirmish lasts merely five minutes of screen time, yet it ebbs and flows with momentum swings and brutality before coming to a satisfying conclusion.

But it isn’t just the intimate one on one confrontations that are well done. Evans shoots some amazing larger scale action sequences as well, In particular, there is the famous hallway fight between Uwais’ Rama and five machete wielding thugs.  Rama engages in this fight while also attempting to protect a wounded comrade. The fight is frenetic, yet Uwais is so precise in his movements (not surprising since he was also the fight choreographer) you can’t help see the beauty in the scene despite the brutality.  Then there’s the drug lab fight. Take my description of the last fight, add two more heroes and about ten more thugs and you have a dynamic piece of large-scale combat. Evans enhances everything by utilizing all kinds of camera techniques to capture and enhance the action. Evans expertly balances the use of a steady cam and a shaky cam. He often used the shaky cam for the larger scale battles to create a sense of disorientation and confusion, which gives the audience a sense of the chaos of the situation. In the more intimate battles, Evans switches to the steady cam allowing the audience to fully take in the work of the combatants. Evans made the ultimate action film and it should be studied by film students if for no other reason than to see how a great fight scene should be blocked and staged.

Currently, the only way I could find to stream The Raid: Redemption was to pay for a rental.  I’m telling you know it is worth the rent. While the story is nothing particularly ground breaking, the film’s action sequences more than enhance the quality of the film. It is a tour de force of how to build tension through action. As the number of combatants in the apartment complex dwindle, the battles only grow in intensity. Every time I watch The Raid I want to run through a wall I’m so pumped up.  I highly recommend checking this movie out.  Or, at the very least go to YouTube and check out some of the best fight sequences put to film.

Patrick’s Rating:  4.16/5.0

 Solo Nerds’ Rating on The Raid: Redemption: 4.16/5.0