The Raid 2: Retaliation / Berandal (2014) Movie Review
Hi guys. I wanna be a productive blogger, so I am writing a review again. If you are a true Indonesian movie buff, you would likely be more familiar with this movie.
I did not write a review for the first movie, and I am not gonna write it now either because I have forgotten about 50% of the movie... Oh wait, come to think of it, there is nothing that I have to remember. The plot is way too basic. If you have watched Dredd, I think it is similar (I didn't watch the movie though; that's what people said). The Raid: Redemption (Serbuan Maut) (2011) can be described as a movie which focuses on a group of cops raiding a building owned by some notorious mafia boss / crime lord. The rest is action and blood. It is practically boring for me.
The Raid 2 has caused too much hype in Indonesian cinema scene. Wonder why. Tempo magazine published a 3-page full article for its review, whilst normally they only publish 1 page (max. 2 pages) even for Oscar-worthy international movies. There are also lots of positive reviews from everywhere, which I cannot enclose one by one. This movie seriously has too much hype written all over it.
Out of curiosity, finally I decided to watch the movie with my boyfriend. I was about to watch it with my best friend Kenny but she is busy working overtime. I won't complain about spending around Rp100,000 for movie tickets, but...
Let's be blunt and observe it objectively. There are improvements. Just like Painted Skin 2 (that Chinese half-lesbian movie), The Raid 2 has improved. More characters, more plot, more twist. Here we are given not just one, but three mafia landlords. They are Bangun, Goto, and Bejo. I wouldn't go into details in here because I will post their official images of character description.
We meet Rama (now Yuda) (played by Iko Uwais) again. He played it cool. He gotta learn from Jason Statham to look way cooler tho. There are also recurring actors who we have seen in "Killers", they are Oka Antara, Kazuki Kitamura, and Epy Kusnandar. These guys seem to be dominating the scene at the moment. I am glad Oka Antara looks way better in here compared to Killers. He looked so messy back then.
The character names, especially the Indonesian ones, sounds very "Indonesian", if not too ndeso. Bangun, Uco, Eka, Bejo, Prakoso... Still, we gotta respect that. It makes the movie full of Indonesian vibe. I mean, if you try too hard to incorporate English names... "Baseball Bat Man" and "Hammer Girl". It just sounded pretty ridiculous to me.
There is no denying that Gareth Evans wanted to make a movie that resembles Kill Bill. There are so many aspects that shouts Quentin Tarantino's style here. For example, Julie Estelle as "Hammer Girl" who probably reminded you of Chiaki Kuriyama as "Gogo Yubari". Nothing beats Chiaki tough. Sorry, Julie. Even though you are blind and wearing those big sexy aviators.
The dialogs are pretty cheesy at times, but I am relieved that the Nihonjin use Japanese. It looks way cooler and more original, unlike 47 Ronin which uses English despite the nostalgic Japan setting which probably hasn't even recognized the existence of English language.
Soundtrack are just fine. OK. Not too good, not too bad. I think classical music is not meant to be for fighting/action scene, except if it has gone too awry and all participants are dead. Need more amplifier, especially in the car chasing scene which reminds me of The Matrix Reloaded. Nothing beats The Matrix too. Sorry.
The most umpak-umpakan (messy) scene is the mud fight prison scene. It was so full of mud that I cannot even fathom who are the prisoners and the cops and who on whose sides. It was a true rampage. The point is, this scene makes Rama as Uco's official bodyguard. After two years later. How classic.
Some scenes are kinda incoherent. For instance, when Prakoso meets his wife (?) in a chic restaurant in order to give her money. She said he is not allowed to meet his daughter. Now, this could be an interesting character development, but probably due to tight duration, we can only see a glimpse of his internal family problem before he is finally killed. Speaking about wife, I'd love to see more females here, particularly the wives of the mafia bosses. It would be slightly more interesting if somehow they are included. The only real wife that seems to exist is only Rama's wife.
The most out-of-the-place scene is the snow scene, in which Prakoso meets his end, accompanied by the appearance of a gerobak (cart) in the background. I read the Tempo review and Gareth said the city setting is not in Jakarta, it's somewhere else in the fantasy world... Hello, what about the taxi and the highway that just screams so "Jakarta" to me?
The ending was a total blowout. All bad guys dead, except Rama/Yuda (and the Japanese mafia). He is The Bride, just like Uma Thurman. It totally indicates there will be another sequel, which is The Raid 3. Let's just wait and see in another 2-3 years.
The Raid 2 is pure action, and it is intended to be like that. If you care about the plot / storyline, you will be disappointed. So just sit back and relax and enjoy the action. It might not be the best, but it is an improvement compared to other Indonesian movies. I am telling you.
Oh, if you wanna watch it in the cinema, please keep in mind that they only allow adults (18+). I was preparing my KTP/ID card when I was about to buy tickets, but it turns out they didn't check it. Well, just make sure you look convincing and old enough ;)
Official character description (these are the "official trading cards", respectively):
This is the image that caused so much parody:
Despite the parody, that opponent of Rama is a very tough guy (even tougher than Yayan Ruhiyan, I guess). He is very good at short-distance combat and knives, and he seemed to have 9 lives. Thankfully Rama can kill him just in time.
More parody:
I feel bad for this movie already.
Image sources:
Facebook & Tumblr & Path
Geeks of Doom
Bonus article / discussion:
CINEMAGS Facebook Page / The Raid 2 News
*please do check it out if you understand Indonesian. The comment section is very jam-packed with a war between pros and con (a person started the war, who is "Kausa Prima").
Rating: 7 / 10 (yes, I am lowering my standards)
I did not write a review for the first movie, and I am not gonna write it now either because I have forgotten about 50% of the movie... Oh wait, come to think of it, there is nothing that I have to remember. The plot is way too basic. If you have watched Dredd, I think it is similar (I didn't watch the movie though; that's what people said). The Raid: Redemption (Serbuan Maut) (2011) can be described as a movie which focuses on a group of cops raiding a building owned by some notorious mafia boss / crime lord. The rest is action and blood. It is practically boring for me.
The Raid 2 has caused too much hype in Indonesian cinema scene. Wonder why. Tempo magazine published a 3-page full article for its review, whilst normally they only publish 1 page (max. 2 pages) even for Oscar-worthy international movies. There are also lots of positive reviews from everywhere, which I cannot enclose one by one. This movie seriously has too much hype written all over it.
Out of curiosity, finally I decided to watch the movie with my boyfriend. I was about to watch it with my best friend Kenny but she is busy working overtime. I won't complain about spending around Rp100,000 for movie tickets, but...
Let's be blunt and observe it objectively. There are improvements. Just like Painted Skin 2 (that Chinese half-lesbian movie), The Raid 2 has improved. More characters, more plot, more twist. Here we are given not just one, but three mafia landlords. They are Bangun, Goto, and Bejo. I wouldn't go into details in here because I will post their official images of character description.
We meet Rama (now Yuda) (played by Iko Uwais) again. He played it cool. He gotta learn from Jason Statham to look way cooler tho. There are also recurring actors who we have seen in "Killers", they are Oka Antara, Kazuki Kitamura, and Epy Kusnandar. These guys seem to be dominating the scene at the moment. I am glad Oka Antara looks way better in here compared to Killers. He looked so messy back then.
The character names, especially the Indonesian ones, sounds very "Indonesian", if not too ndeso. Bangun, Uco, Eka, Bejo, Prakoso... Still, we gotta respect that. It makes the movie full of Indonesian vibe. I mean, if you try too hard to incorporate English names... "Baseball Bat Man" and "Hammer Girl". It just sounded pretty ridiculous to me.
There is no denying that Gareth Evans wanted to make a movie that resembles Kill Bill. There are so many aspects that shouts Quentin Tarantino's style here. For example, Julie Estelle as "Hammer Girl" who probably reminded you of Chiaki Kuriyama as "Gogo Yubari". Nothing beats Chiaki tough. Sorry, Julie. Even though you are blind and wearing those big sexy aviators.
The dialogs are pretty cheesy at times, but I am relieved that the Nihonjin use Japanese. It looks way cooler and more original, unlike 47 Ronin which uses English despite the nostalgic Japan setting which probably hasn't even recognized the existence of English language.
Soundtrack are just fine. OK. Not too good, not too bad. I think classical music is not meant to be for fighting/action scene, except if it has gone too awry and all participants are dead. Need more amplifier, especially in the car chasing scene which reminds me of The Matrix Reloaded. Nothing beats The Matrix too. Sorry.
The most umpak-umpakan (messy) scene is the mud fight prison scene. It was so full of mud that I cannot even fathom who are the prisoners and the cops and who on whose sides. It was a true rampage. The point is, this scene makes Rama as Uco's official bodyguard. After two years later. How classic.
Some scenes are kinda incoherent. For instance, when Prakoso meets his wife (?) in a chic restaurant in order to give her money. She said he is not allowed to meet his daughter. Now, this could be an interesting character development, but probably due to tight duration, we can only see a glimpse of his internal family problem before he is finally killed. Speaking about wife, I'd love to see more females here, particularly the wives of the mafia bosses. It would be slightly more interesting if somehow they are included. The only real wife that seems to exist is only Rama's wife.
The most out-of-the-place scene is the snow scene, in which Prakoso meets his end, accompanied by the appearance of a gerobak (cart) in the background. I read the Tempo review and Gareth said the city setting is not in Jakarta, it's somewhere else in the fantasy world... Hello, what about the taxi and the highway that just screams so "Jakarta" to me?
The ending was a total blowout. All bad guys dead, except Rama/Yuda (and the Japanese mafia). He is The Bride, just like Uma Thurman. It totally indicates there will be another sequel, which is The Raid 3. Let's just wait and see in another 2-3 years.
The Raid 2 is pure action, and it is intended to be like that. If you care about the plot / storyline, you will be disappointed. So just sit back and relax and enjoy the action. It might not be the best, but it is an improvement compared to other Indonesian movies. I am telling you.
Oh, if you wanna watch it in the cinema, please keep in mind that they only allow adults (18+). I was preparing my KTP/ID card when I was about to buy tickets, but it turns out they didn't check it. Well, just make sure you look convincing and old enough ;)
Official character description (these are the "official trading cards", respectively):
This is the image that caused so much parody:
Despite the parody, that opponent of Rama is a very tough guy (even tougher than Yayan Ruhiyan, I guess). He is very good at short-distance combat and knives, and he seemed to have 9 lives. Thankfully Rama can kill him just in time.
More parody:
I feel bad for this movie already.
Image sources:
Facebook & Tumblr & Path
Geeks of Doom
Bonus article / discussion:
CINEMAGS Facebook Page / The Raid 2 News
*please do check it out if you understand Indonesian. The comment section is very jam-packed with a war between pros and con (a person started the war, who is "Kausa Prima").
Rating: 7 / 10 (yes, I am lowering my standards)