The Raid: Redemption (2011)

Title:           Serbuan maut (Deadly Invasion) aka The Raid: Redemption (2011)
Country:     Indonesia
Director:     Gareth Evans
Writer:        Gareth Evans
Starring:

Iko Uwais as Rama
Joe Taslim as Jaka
Donny Alamsyah Andi as Doni Alamsyah
Yayan Ruhian as Mad Dog
Pierre Gruno as Wahyu
Ray Sahetapy as Tama
Tegar Satrya as Bowo
Iang Darmawan as Gofar
Eka 'Piranha' as Rahmadia Dagu

A SWAT team of 20 carries out a surprise raid on a 30 story derelict apartment block home to gangsters and killers. It is owned by crime lord Tama Riyadi, who also has his control center here. Things go awry when a spotter sounds a warning. Tama invites the occupants of his building to participate in a contest to get rid of the ‘infestation’. The SWAT team now has to worry more about breaking out rather than breaking in.

Joe Taslim as Jaka, leader of the SWAT team

Iko Uwais as Rama, the rookie of the group who expectedly ends up kicking ass… rookies always do

Ray Sahetapy as crime lord Tama… he knows why the SWAT is in his building, better than they do

Go to work and have a fun.

Badass himself, Yayan Ruhian as Mad Dog ~ prefers breaking necks with bare hands to shooting with guns

Pulling a trigger is like ordering a takeout.

First reaction…. not bad, not bad at all. Considering the fact that this is an Indonesian flick, that too low budget, I would say that it is in fact really good. The premise is original and instantly intriguing. The acting is good. The villain is charismatic. The production values are excellent. The apartment brought to mind the private prison building complex in of Park, Chan Wook’s ‘Old Boy’.

The action is really good, though personally the martial arts choreography did not really strike me with the awesomeness of Panna Rittikrai’s work in director Prachya Pinkaew’s Thai action flicks starring Tony Jaa (Ong-Bak, Tom-Yum-Goong) or Yanin "Jeeja" Vismistananda (Chocolate). But hey this movie was made at a fraction of those movie’s budgets. There are few scenes that did make me wince. Though personally I wanted it to be more gritty, more blood, have more faces-smashed-into-pulp makeup and more of how-the-hell-did-they-come-up-with-that kind of action sequences. 

With a pretty boy face and body, Iko Uwais would probably fit in well in an Indonesian version of a K-pop band, if it existed, but he is surprisingly good - both in his martial arts (Indonesian martial arts called Pencak Silat) and in his acting. Possibly the next Tony Jaa. 

All in all, a very Hollywood-like execution combined with explosive martial arts action.

On a side note, the director Gareth Evans is not Indonesian. He is, in fact, Welsh and moved to Indonesia and got involved in a documentary on Pencak Silat. This is his second Indonesian movie after Merantau also starring Iko Uwais.

...what happens next made me wince

Bonus… If I'm mad, I will enrage.