Walking in, I had heard that The Raid: Redemption was one of the best action films in decades. I walked out agreeing wholeheartedly with the claim.
The plot is simple: a SWAT team sets out to arrest the city's most violent and controlling drug lord. During their raid, the team becomes trapped in a tenement run by a ruthless mobster and his army of killers and thugs. The team must fight their way up fifteen floors to capture their objective or a violent and relentless death is awaiting them.
Starring a group of actors you have likely never heard of, The Raid offers big time action sequences chock-full of bullets, knife fights, and enough hand-to-hand combat to rival any film in recent memory. From start to finish, the intensity is kicked into high gear as the death scenes are as creative as they are ruthless.
It's rare that I am able to use one word to describe a film, but for this one it is quite easy: WOW. Writer/director Garth Evans does an incredible job of letting loose, taking the audience on a ride that at times feels more like a video game than an actual motion picture. He refuses to turn the camera away at the usual time, basking in the violence and giving audiences an incredible experience that you just don't get anymore.
Quite simply put, The Raid: Redemption is one of the best action movies I have ever seen. When you get a chance to watch it, do yourself a favor and do. You won't regret it.
