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View Full Version : The Raid (Gareth Evans)



Boner M
02-13-2012, 08:57 AM
IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1899353/)

http://www.flicksandbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/the-raid-poster.jpg

Boner M
02-13-2012, 08:59 AM
It rules.

Pop Trash
02-13-2012, 06:21 PM
This is Aussie?

number8
02-13-2012, 06:23 PM
It's Indonesian.

Pop Trash
02-13-2012, 06:25 PM
It's Indonesian.

Hmm. But where is Evans from originally?

EDIT: Nevermind. He's Welsh apparently.

D_Davis
02-13-2012, 06:40 PM
My friend saw it at Sundance, and said it was the best thing he saw there.

number8
02-13-2012, 06:42 PM
My friend saw it at Sundance, and said it was the best thing he saw there.

It was the talk of Toronto last year. If the US distributor is smart, this could do very, very well here.

Stay Puft
02-13-2012, 06:47 PM
Yeah, this is the best action movie I've seen in a while. I gave it the same rating as Boner.

My immediate reaction from Toronto last year:



I saw Merantau a few weeks ago with absolutely no knowledge of it (only heard about it because of reading about The Raid in the TIFF program book), and was mighty surprised. Iko Uwais was born to punch and kick people on camera, the guy was amazing (not just his silat skill, his comfort and confidence in front of a camera, everything).

So yeah, I immediately got a ticket for The Raid and this film does not disappoint. Best action movie I've seen all year. It's not too similar to Merantau stylistically, it favors less long takes and has more of a tightly framed, claustrophobic feel, but it still maintains clarity and coherence of movement and space. Iko and another guy in the film apparently did all of the fight choreography as well, and for the most part it's great. Not sure if any one fight is better than the elevator scene in Merantau, but the film's success is more in how it's able to maintain an incredible intensity for almost the entire runtime (only lagging near the end). And the best scene in the film, even by the audience's reaction, was not an action scene at all, but a great bit of suspense when Iko and one of his injured comrades are hiding behind a wall.

Boner M
02-13-2012, 08:48 PM
I wish I saw this with the Midnight Madness crowd. It really makes bone-crunching violence such a wonderful, communal experience.

number8
03-21-2012, 12:26 PM
Fucking spectacular.

Acapelli
03-21-2012, 04:18 PM
where did you see this 8? was it a press screening? saw it was opening at the regal at union square on friday

number8
03-21-2012, 04:30 PM
Yeah, press screening inside the Sony Building last night. I am fucking seeing it again this weekend with a crowd. This movie got even these older critics hooting and hollering. I can't wait to see what it'll be like with a general audience.

number8
03-21-2012, 04:32 PM
BTW, it is really distracting watching a movie in a language you know subtitled with another language you know.

Dead & Messed Up
03-21-2012, 05:22 PM
Fucking spectacular.

Nice. Was the new score awkward, or did it work well?

Morris Schæffer
03-21-2012, 06:04 PM
I doubt this will ever play here in Belgium and that fucking hurts.

Pop Trash
03-21-2012, 10:30 PM
This is surprisingly opening on quite a few screens this weekend. Of course it'll get steamrolled by The Hunger Games, but I smell a sleeper.

Boner M
03-22-2012, 08:11 AM
LOL Ebert. (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20120321%2FREVI EWS%2F120329993)

number8
03-22-2012, 01:10 PM
Whoa, Ebert has a bad habit of spoiling twists in his reviews lately.

Boner M
03-22-2012, 01:29 PM
Not to mention a habit of writing really shitty reviews.

Acapelli
03-22-2012, 02:49 PM
watching this tomorrow night

super pumped

Pop Trash
03-22-2012, 03:55 PM
Not to mention a habit of writing really shitty reviews.

It's a fair review.

Boner M
03-23-2012, 12:53 AM
It's a fair review.
You haven't seen the film. He completely shortchanges the virtuosity involved that sets it apart from other films of it's ilk, conveniently reduces the whole film to its generic shape and content, all while showing smug condescension for the 'fanboys'. Not that I'd expect more from the dude who considered The Happening "too thoughtful" for multiplex audiences.

number8
03-23-2012, 03:48 PM
Review! (http://www.justpressplay.net/reviews/9240-the-raid-redemption.html)

Pop Trash
03-23-2012, 09:02 PM
Not that I'd expect more from the dude who considered The Happening "too thoughtful" for multiplex audiences.

Strawman. Besides, he only gave The Happening three stars, so it's not like he loved it or anything. Also, I know what it's like to be the lone dissenter of a film everyone else is totally in the bag for (cf. Attack the Block).

But you are correct, I have not seen this film, and I still want to despite what Ebert thinks. After all, Ebert hates my favorite film of the 80s.

Irish
03-23-2012, 09:08 PM
So, is this an Oldboy level of violence or more of a Kick Ass level of violence?

Acapelli
03-24-2012, 05:17 AM
even in a half full theater, the audience reaction was huge

loved this. i already want to see it again

Morris Schæffer
03-24-2012, 09:49 AM
imagine what a competent filmmaker, a John McTiernan or a Peter Hyams, say, could have accomplished with this material

uhm, lol? I don't even detest Peter Hyams, but this statement made me lol. As for McTiernan, god bless him. I doubt I'll find The Raid more satisfying than Die Hard, but perhaps it's time to admit McTiernan is a has been.

Raiders
03-24-2012, 02:24 PM
As for McTiernan, god bless him. I doubt I'll find The Raid more satisfying than Die Hard, but perhaps it's time to admit McTiernan is a has been.

That's only because he has been in legal trouble for years. He ended on a couple down notes, but I believe he could still be a relevant action director if he can ever manage to work again. After all, The 13th Warrior is a damn good film that gets no love; it may be his best overall directing job in my eyes. Some great images and sequences.

Fezzik
03-24-2012, 02:40 PM
So, I'm confused. Is this the same film that's being shown now as The Raid: Redemption?

When I first saw the title, I thought "they made a sequel already? The original never got to theaters here!"

If it is the same film, why the re-title?

number8
03-24-2012, 03:50 PM
Copyright reason. Sony couldn't secure the clearance to use The Raid. They're not exactly pleased about it either.

Saya
03-24-2012, 04:22 PM
Just came back from watching this in Jakarta, Indonesia. It just premiered here yesterday. The cast made a surprise visit to the cinema just before the show and took time to take pictures with fans. Really fun. I met Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian and congratulated them for being an awesome action movie stars. Didn't really know what else to say.

As for the movie, I absolutely loved. It's just a thrillride and the audience was so into it as well. Really one of my best theatre experiences ever. Strangely, I think it was uncensored too (quite rare for movies in Indonesia). Quite surprised about that since it was quite violent in some scenes, but then again violence is not as censored as much as nudity here.

Pop Trash
03-24-2012, 08:42 PM
McTiernan gets a lifetime pass for giving birth to Predator & Die Hard.

fvr
03-24-2012, 08:46 PM
also let's not forget 13th Warrior please :)

Pop Trash
03-24-2012, 08:56 PM
also let's not forget 13th Warrior please :)

Haven't seen it, but those two should be 'lifetime pass' sufficient.

Morris Schæffer
03-24-2012, 10:18 PM
McTiernan gets a lifetime pass for giving birth to Predator & Die Hard.

Oh I wholeheartedly agree with you and Raiders (to some extend).

D_Davis
03-24-2012, 10:20 PM
They should have called it The Raid: The Raid

Derek
03-25-2012, 06:46 AM
They should have called it The Raid: The Raid

The Raid: Raid Harder!

fvr
03-25-2012, 07:02 AM
They should have called it The Raid: The Raid

rofl : lmao
:lol:

number8
03-25-2012, 12:09 PM
They wanted to call it Raid: Dawn Chong, but they forgot about its existence.

Winston*
03-27-2012, 06:23 AM
This was awesome. Wish I saw it in a theatre with more than 8 people in it though. Ong Bak in a packed cinema was a great experience.

EyesWideOpen
04-04-2012, 04:41 AM
Comes to Arizona on the 13th. Can't wait!

Pop Trash
04-04-2012, 05:42 AM
Comes to Arizona on the 13th. Can't wait!

Unfortunately it will be detained by Sheriff Joe Arpaio by the 14th for suspicion of illegal immigration.

fvr
04-04-2012, 07:05 AM
oh my god, you guys are lucky.
i have to wait 2 years here in romania :(

Sven
04-04-2012, 09:54 PM
This movie sure ups the ante on film violence. Can't say I was overly impressed with the fight choreography (there is no story in their movements--which is probably fine for a film with no story in the first place actually), and I eventually started rolling my eyes at the slew of labored "stillness before the storm" moments. Also I'm afraid to confront the morality of the movie, because I suspect it is nasty. But the bone-crunching, blood-splattering, abdomen-puncturing virtuosity of cinematic technique on display is practically unequaled. More convincing than Saving Private Ryan. My favorite moment was the movement from the guy's blown-off ear to the tank beneath the sink to the fridge to the door. Jaw-dropping.

Boner M
04-05-2012, 02:22 AM
I want a 'fail' gif of the guy getting thrown throat-down onto the jagged bottom of the broken door frame.

Henry Gale
04-06-2012, 12:54 AM
So it would appear this opens pretty wide tomorrow. Me and my friends went from planning to head down to the one theatre downtown showing it to being able to see it tomorrow at our closest multiplex. Can't wait.

eternity
04-06-2012, 08:18 AM
Comes to Arizona on the 13th. Can't wait!
They picked some really random theaters to show it at. Arrowhead 14? That place is a ghost town with ripped screens.

EyesWideOpen
04-06-2012, 01:10 PM
They picked some really random theaters to show it at. Arrowhead 14? That place is a ghost town with ripped screens.

It's playing at the six or seven theaters I usually go to and they're playing it at Santan Village which is 2 minutes from my house so I can't complain.

Henry Gale
04-08-2012, 08:16 AM
Well wow, this is completely fantastic.

There's not too much to really say other than to see it as soon as you can with as large of a crowd possible. It's the sort of thing where even if there are any flaws to be found in the mechanics of the film to deconstruct, the experience of watching it as it unfolded had me so consumed and completely in the moment with every propulsive beat to the action (and there's a lot of it) that there was little breathing room between scenes to get too in my head about it.

But at the same time I don't see how the success of something like its overall storytelling beyond the physicality and visuals of each scene would have made or broken it anyway. It's about that energy, the unrelenting pace of its rapid but messy action and the gorgeously gruesome atmosphere all of that builds, all staged just right within its one amazingly well drawn location. And built on just that sort of foundation, it's absolutely thrilling.

****

slqrick
04-10-2012, 12:53 AM
where did you see this 8? was it a press screening? saw it was opening at the regal at union square on friday

I saw this at Union Square, and it was positively bonkers. Really fun movie to watch with people that are into action flicks. We were all pretty much geeking out afterwards.

number8
04-10-2012, 04:12 AM
Nitehawk in Williamsburg is showing this, and this is on the special menu on their showings:

"Mad Dog's Broken Spare Ribs" :lol:

Watashi
04-10-2012, 04:19 AM
This was amazing.

Watashi
04-10-2012, 04:24 AM
I need to see this in a packed theater.

Fezzik
04-11-2012, 04:13 PM
This opens here Friday. I am going to do my best to see it some time this weekend

Kurosawa Fan
04-11-2012, 07:29 PM
Holy shit, this is playing at my local theater starting Friday. I'm going to try like hell to check it out.

Rowland
04-11-2012, 09:33 PM
Crap nuggets, mine too!

TGM
04-11-2012, 10:15 PM
This opens here Friday. I am going to do my best to see it some time this weekend

Ooh, nice!

Sxottlan
04-12-2012, 01:28 AM
Yeah this is going wider Friday and opening here. I can't wait!

TGM
04-13-2012, 08:21 PM
Hot damn, this movie was pretty freaking spectacular!

EyesWideOpen
04-14-2012, 12:49 AM
This was a solid action flick but insanely over-hyped. I expected to be blown away and thought it was merely good. It isn't even the best action movie I've seen this year.

Acapelli
04-14-2012, 01:04 AM
This was a solid action flick but insanely over-hyped. I expected to be blown away and thought it was merely good. It isn't even the best action movie I've seen this year.
so what is the best action movie you've seen this year?

Watashi
04-14-2012, 01:08 AM
This was a solid action flick but insanely over-hyped. I expected to be blown away and thought it was merely good. It isn't even the best action movie I've seen this year.
The Raid might be the best action film I've ever seen.

EyesWideOpen
04-14-2012, 01:09 AM
so what is the best action movie you've seen this year?

Haywire.

Skitch
04-14-2012, 01:58 AM
I would say this was the best action movie I've seen in years, easily. The muy tai was outstanding.

number8
04-14-2012, 12:13 PM
The muy tai was outstanding.

ಠ_ಠ

Skitch
04-14-2012, 12:16 PM
What? It sure looked like muy tai to me...am I wrong?

Winston*
04-14-2012, 02:16 PM
What? It sure looked like muy tai to me...am I wrong?

Muay Thai. This film is Indonesian.

Skitch
04-14-2012, 02:23 PM
My apologizes for so greatly offending the Indonesian people.

Acapelli
04-14-2012, 04:48 PM
8 is indonesian

Skitch
04-14-2012, 05:06 PM
8 is indonesian

Yes, and?

Watashi
04-14-2012, 05:31 PM
Yes, and?
He is offended by you.

Skitch
04-14-2012, 05:34 PM
He is offended by you.

Are you serious? He's seriously offended that I thought the fighting style in a movie was something else? I never known him to be that sensitive.

number8
04-15-2012, 12:44 PM
I'm going to murder your family. With muay thai.

Skitch
04-15-2012, 12:57 PM
The joke is on you. I'm from Canada.

Kurosawa Fan
04-15-2012, 11:08 PM
Yeah, this was pretty fantastic. It gets a bit repetitive, the story is the definition of uninspired, and the two-on-one fight, while amazingly choreographed (as is every fight), dragged on a bit too long, but the energy is insane and it's probably the most fun theater experience I've ever had. I went with my dad, brother, and brother-in-law, and we all loved it. My favorite moment:

The reverse jump through the shattered door while slamming a bad guy's neck down on said door shards.

The entire (admittedly small) audience was in a fit of awe/laughter after that happened.

Skitch
04-15-2012, 11:28 PM
My (meager) audience had the same reaction! That was so awesome.

Fezzik
04-17-2012, 02:51 AM
I saw this today (before going to see some friends in a performance of Doctor Faustus - how's that for a double bill?), and really, all I can do is echo what's been said.

Fantastic. I loved how the violence kept switching back and forth from oddly beautiful and elegant to downright brutal.

The plot was there simply to service the insanity and in a movie like this, I think thats ok.

The martial arts were some of the best I've seen in a film, and the action direction was spectacular.

I'd heard rumblings that with Brad Bird leaning away from returning to the Mission: Impossible franchise, the studio is looking at Gareth Evans for the next one, and now I know why.

This gets my full 4 Pritch rating:

:pritch::pritch::pritch::pritc h:

Fezzik
04-17-2012, 02:56 AM
The Raid might be the best action film I've ever seen.

I thought this might have been hyperbole, but after seeing it, I think I may agree.

Sven
04-17-2012, 04:14 PM
Does nobody else here feel even a tiny niggling discomfort at the film's highly dubious morality?

The worst is when the main guy stows the injured jerk cop in the guy's apartment and says, in a moment aiming for gravitas, something like "He really is a good person inside," to the apartment owner. Then main guy proceeds to unblinkingly slice and shoot and impale and maim and otherwise murder a barrage of men. It's hard to get over retarded stuff like that.

number8, I'd think that your perspective on the righteousness of police action would affect your viewing somewhat...

number8
04-17-2012, 04:35 PM
Oh, I recognized it. I even mentioned it in my review, though I admit I conveniently glossed over the moral implications in order to point out how it keeps in the old school John Woo tradition, where Inspector Tequila murdered like 400 people in a shootout and barely had to write paperwork, let alone get reprimanded.

Sven
04-17-2012, 04:38 PM
Yeah, the old school John Woo tradition is morally diseased as well. Poorly weighted stabs at nobility (pun quite intended) at the cost of making any damn sense.

Dead & Messed Up
05-03-2012, 12:41 AM
Sven comes closest to predicting my feelings on this film. Just saw it, and I generally liked it for its visceral approach to the violence and how the handheld camera-work and fast-cutting never resulted in incoherence. Evans keeps his lines of action very clear and tosses in just enough impressive stunts to stave off exhaustion. There are many sequences in the film that offer invention and tension in equal measure.

Even so, the film gets a little too comic book for my taste, with the heroes full of inexhaustible energy and unphased even after getting their heads repeatedly smashed into concrete. The final fight with Mad Dog goes on waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long. And it's especially awkward to see the hero praying and kissing his wife before going off to murder countless young adults who are clearly in over their collectively thick head. To say nothing of the thin-as-tissue "relationship" with his brother.

I think it's a good film, and certainly it's an impressive action picture slash calling card for Gareth Evans. I wish it offered a bit more character and a little less action.

Watashi
05-11-2012, 05:43 PM
y_z3EBalwI4

Rowland
06-10-2012, 10:38 AM
Exceeded my expectations. So, so awesome.

Morris Schæffer
07-20-2012, 06:09 PM
Yay for me. Its energy is inexhaustible, the action direction/choreography, despite action that is total pandemonium, was remarkable, resulting in set pieces that seem spatially utterly logical. Every kick, jab and whatnot connecting exactly where you expect it to. The few attempts at depth, such as a henchman being more than he seems, I could have done without and some of the fights lasted well beyond all reasonable punishment a human can take. I had the feeling Evans was, at one point, just showing off, but I gotta say he makes 'showing off' look very cool. I wouldn't mind revisting this on blu-ray on my big TV in Surround as my copy was a tad murky.

eternity
07-22-2012, 01:50 AM
I enjoy a good mai tai now and then.

D_Davis
08-23-2012, 03:46 PM
I'm giving this a nay.

It is way too (overly, and traditionally) choreographed for a film that was supposed to set the new standard for action. Nothing new here at all. And while there doesn't need to be anything new, the stuff that is here isn't all that spectacular or well executed. I've seen better in many places.

The best sequence in the whole film was when they were busting holes in the floor. That was great.

The rest was very typical - good guy walks in a room or down a hall, and a group of guys take turns running up to him to get a punch or kick in before being dispatched, repeat.

Nothing ever felt chaotic or dangerous - it was all so totally scripted; every hit was completely telegraphed. Maybe it's because I've seen like a thousand martial arts films, but I basically knew exactly what was going to happen in every fight, from what kind of fist was going to be thrown, to foot kicked, to everything. It was all very by the numbers. There were no surprises like there are in the best films from people like Tsui Hark, Sammo Hung, Wo Ping, The Lau Family, etc.

I was pretty much yawning during the whole second half, and the fight with the little long hair dude and the two brothers was total dullsville.

The extended action sequence in like Born to Fight is way better.

The Raid being "the best action film ever," is laughable at best. The Killer and Hard Boiled are still better, as are countless other HK action films.

So yeah - major disappointment.

transmogrifier
08-23-2012, 04:10 PM
I liked it overall, but didn't like the battle between the two brothers and the head henchman, for the simple fact that I don't like having the good guys out-number the bad guys. Seems like cheating somehow.

Watashi
08-23-2012, 04:26 PM
I'm giving this a nay.

It is way too (overly, and traditionally) choreographed for a film that was supposed to set the new standard for action. Nothing new here at all. And while there doesn't need to be anything new, the stuff that is here isn't all that spectacular or well executed. I've seen better in many places.

The best sequence in the whole film was when they were busting holes in the floor. That was great.

The rest was very typical - good guy walks in a room or down a hall, and a group of guys take turns running up to him to get a punch or kick in before being dispatched, repeat.

Nothing ever felt chaotic or dangerous - it was all so totally scripted; every hit was completely telegraphed. Maybe it's because I've seen like a thousand martial arts films, but I basically knew exactly what was going to happen in every fight, from what kind of fist was going to be thrown, to foot kicked, to everything. It was all very by the numbers. There were no surprises like there are in the best films from people like Tsui Hark, Sammo Hung, Wo Ping, The Lau Family, etc.

I was pretty much yawning during the whole second half, and the fight with the little long hair dude and the two brothers was total dullsville.

The extended action sequence in like Born to Fight is way better.

The Raid being "the best action film ever," is laughable at best. The Killer and Hard Boiled are still better, as are countless other HK action films.

So yeah - major disappointment.

http://zipmeme.com/uploads/generated/g1345739186456314078.jpg

Sven
08-23-2012, 04:29 PM
...and the fight with the little long hair dude and the two brothers was total dullsville.

Yes.

D_Davis
08-23-2012, 04:34 PM
The raid sequence on the apartment building in Tsui Hark's Time and Tide is a billion times more exciting and inventive than this entire film.

number8
08-23-2012, 04:35 PM
No.

D_Davis
08-23-2012, 04:38 PM
The setting was poorly used. There was barely any creative traversal, and no use of the outside of the building.

The best was when they were busting through the floor - they should have continued doing stuff like that.

In Time and Tide, Tsui uses the apartment building in creative ways. The fights move in and out, up and down, and through the building. We really get a sense of three dimensional space - something that is very important in action films. I was expecting that level of excellence in The Raid, so I guess being disappointed is my own fault.

I never felt that in The Raid. It was basically the same hall and room the entire time. It felt more like a video game, and less like a real place.

D_Davis
08-23-2012, 04:42 PM
No.

Yep.

Time and Tide >>>>>>>x10000>>>>>>> The Raid


Shoot, Tsui Hark's and Ching Siu Tung's The Raid >>>>>>>>>> The Raid

megladon8
01-07-2013, 06:41 PM
I was a little disappointed, which is not to say the film was bad, but I was left with a feeling of "what was the big deal?"

It had a few great fight scenes, that much I can't deny. The lead actor's physical ability is quite something.

I also liked how unapologetically brutal it was. The film pulls no punches in its displays of carnage.

But, similar to what D_Davis said, I found the location poorly used. I felt like I was seeing the same hallway and apartment re-dressed for each scene (which we probably were, but still), and so I never really felt any sense of progression through the building (up or down).

I also got the distinct feeling that the filmmakers themselves never had any real grasp on just where we were in the building at any given time. In one scene we are seeing a fight on the 7th floor, and the characters fly out of a window, falling a few stories and landing on a fire escape. When they emerge back into the building, they're on the 6th floor. Wait...what?

I also just found the movie incredibly dumb. And I don't mean that it had no real discernible plot, that didn't bother me at all. There were just too many "that could never happen" and "real police officers would never do that" moments right from the opening of the film. I know it wasn't striving for realism, but it seemed to have no discernible internal logic.

Anyways, a second viewing may help, but as is, it was OK.

megladon8
01-14-2013, 12:55 AM
Put this on again in hopes that my rating might raise, but if anything I'm feeling like my rating may go down.

I can't believe how many glaring flaws there are with continuity, and really amateur stuff.

One particularly bad one is near the beginning when we see the baddie executing the row of guys on their knees.

We clearly see a shot from behind as he kills the first guy, and there are a total of 5 guys in the row. He shoots 3 of them and then there's one left.

A bit of an addition problem there?

transmogrifier
01-14-2013, 03:44 AM
I think I overrated this, particularly watching Dredd (though I didn't like that better). I keep going back to the fight with the brothers and the right hand man that seemed to go on for bloody forever. I only remember the stuff with the fridge with any fondness now. Everything else is a blur.

Watashi
01-14-2013, 03:49 AM
I'll just chime in and say I love this movie after multiple views. One of the best pure kinetic action films of the last several years.

dreamdead
01-22-2013, 10:18 PM
I keep going back to the fight with the brothers and the right hand man that seemed to go on for bloody forever.

A very mild yay. And yeah, some of the early fight sequences had a real ingenuity to them, both for how unbridledly violent they were and how they sustained themselves. The fight trans identifies, though, careened past that line of reality and became tiresome, and the film never really recovers after that. Perhaps it's simply that the film cannot hide its script any longer, and that there's so little at stake thematically. And every single henchmen need not know kung-fu, guys. Just slip in a few single-blow enemies or justify why they're both drug-makers as well as awesome at kung-fu. It became monotonous when stretched out over the full film.

I need to see the Tsui Hark film. Sounds fascinating as a comparison.

Irish
07-11-2013, 08:04 AM
Surprised how much I enjoyed this, although I agree with most everyone's criticisms. Some of the fights in the latter half of the film go on far too long, and the choreography gets repetitive pretty quickly.

After so many mediocre American action films, though, this was breath of fresh air. Relentless pacing & just oh so nice to see wider shots, longer takes, and real athleticism in the fight scenes. Loved the setup and the inventiveness in the first act. The bits with the hole and the floor and the fridge were thrilling.

I think this fits in pretty well next to stuff like "Assault on Precinct 13," "Battle Royale," "Attack the Block," and "Dredd." Hyper-violent, faceless and ultimately nihilistic.

Davis' critiques are pretty much spot on, but I gotta chide him a little bit for making unfair comparisons. Complaining that "The Raid" isn't "Time and Tide" is like complaining that the burger at the corner joint isn't Chateaubriand. Yeah, it's not and it could never be, but I think that's okay. You can still get a good meal out of it.

D_Davis
07-11-2013, 12:54 PM
Davis' critiques are pretty much spot on, but I gotta chide him a little bit for making unfair comparisons. Complaining that "The Raid" isn't "Time and Tide" is like complaining that the burger at the corner joint isn't Chateaubriand. Yeah, it's not and it could never be, but I think that's okay. You can still get a good meal out of it.


:D

I only made such comparisons because of how so many people were saying that The Raid was some new bellwether for the genre. It clearly isn't, and that's OK. However, I didn't even think it was a decent example of the genre.

Irish
07-11-2013, 11:16 PM
:D

I only made such comparisons because of how so many people were saying that The Raid was some new bellwether for the genre. It clearly isn't, and that's OK. However, I didn't even think it was a decent example of the genre.

:D

Yeah, I gotta agree with you there again. It's not some kind of bellwether. I do think it's a pretty good throwback to the inventiveness of HK action films during their heyday (at least for the first half). And you're right that this movie is probably more enjoyable and eye-popping if you haven't been exposed to a lot of stuff from Hong Kong.

Thumbs up on the "Time and Tide" mention, btw. I haven't seen that for years and years and I just shoved it to the top of my Netflix queue. Can't wait for a re-watch.

D_Davis
07-12-2013, 03:09 AM
Thumbs up on the "Time and Tide" mention, btw. I haven't seen that for years and years and I just shoved it to the top of my Netflix queue. Can't wait for a re-watch.

I think it's one of the most kinetic and energetic movies ever. The whole thing is a love letter to motion and movement. One of Tsui's best, for sure.

Dukefrukem
02-20-2014, 10:47 PM
This is being remade. Staring Chris and Liam Hemsworth.

Patrick Hughes may direct.