The Raid (2011)
Directed By: Gareth Evans
Starring: Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Yayan Ruhian
I thought people were understating the similarities between The Raid and Dredd, and that it would just be the basic premise that was the same. It does go slightly deeper than that, but they're clearly two very different films. While Gareth Evans did joke about needing to rush production of The Raid when the script for Dredd leaked online, I do believe that the resemblance is entirely coincidental, and largely a consequence of restricting action to a single enclosed location.
The Raid opts for a more gritty, realistic approach to its cinematography. Filming fast-paced action on a handheld camera without the assistance of a steadicam often leads to a shaky mess that's hard to watch. Luckily here it is just a stylistic choice, rather than something being used to intentionally hide stuntmen or poor choreography, so the action is still clearly framed, and it's easy to follow what's going on. It does border on being too hectic at times, but it works well overall.
The film really comes into its own when it drops the guns and switches to martial arts. This is when the physical abilities of its actors are on full display, with impressive hand-to-hand sequences that look and feel appropriately brutal. Dialogue is fairly minimal throughout, and with such a simple premise, it's refreshing that there isn't any unnecessary exposition. It does feel like the runtime could've been trimmed to a lean 90 minutes, but cutting any of the action would be a disgrace to the choreographers' excellent work.
The Raid opts for a more gritty, realistic approach to its cinematography. Filming fast-paced action on a handheld camera without the assistance of a steadicam often leads to a shaky mess that's hard to watch. Luckily here it is just a stylistic choice, rather than something being used to intentionally hide stuntmen or poor choreography, so the action is still clearly framed, and it's easy to follow what's going on. It does border on being too hectic at times, but it works well overall.
The film really comes into its own when it drops the guns and switches to martial arts. This is when the physical abilities of its actors are on full display, with impressive hand-to-hand sequences that look and feel appropriately brutal. Dialogue is fairly minimal throughout, and with such a simple premise, it's refreshing that there isn't any unnecessary exposition. It does feel like the runtime could've been trimmed to a lean 90 minutes, but cutting any of the action would be a disgrace to the choreographers' excellent work.
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