The Raid: Redemption Review

Over this past weekend, after all the fun and lunacy of filming I went out to the theaters to go see a movie I usually don't like to watch which is the genre of the action film. However I had heard some cool things about The Raid: Redemption so I went out to see it. Starting off for those of you who hate subtitled films don't see it because this is a foreign film and there are subtitles so just a fair heads up.

Anyway, this film is one of those rare gems that does not feel old or outdated like a lot of foreign films do, I say this because the process of getting a foreign film over to the states can take a while and by the time they do arrive they can feel stale. For Redemption I think it is slick and well shot, the director (Gareth Evans) definitely tries out some experimentation for the different angles and set ups of the camera. I love the fresh edge to a genre of movie that can feel somewhat cliche at times. The story itself is not something that will win an Oscar for writing but it keeps you a little bit on edge and has a few nice twists throughout. The harshest thing I can say about this film is the beginning which is drawn out a little too long and doesn't introduce enough characters to keep me surprised, for instance if we see one character at the beginning for more than a few seconds we are going to keep seeing them for a good chunk of the movie, and not just that but the few people we do spend some screen time on they disappear only to reappear later to do something good for our protagonist. The level of violence in this film is fairly high, I saw a mom take two kids into the theater who only appeared to be 10 or younger, don't do this to your kids, it is way too much for them. That being said I think that the interested ways people die are pretty sweet, they are clever and add the grimacing ouch reaction you want in a movie like this.

Overall the slow beginning and what would appear to be the lack of spellchecker on the subtitles really do hurt this film but in the end the action is what we came to see and it delivers on this on all cylinders. If you want to go see a well shot, scored, and choreographed film then this is the one to see. Fair warning the violence is high and subtitles are present but it all just feels so right. Go give this one a view, you won't be wasting your time.

Thanks for the support,
Daniel Hess