The greatest action film of all time has a sequel!
“The Raid 2: Berandal”
Yes, “The Raid: Redemption” is the best action film ever, and now, the sequel is about to explode!
Only a short time after the first raid, Rama goes undercover with the thugs of Jakarta and plans to bring down the syndicate and uncover the corruption within his police force – here is the trailer:
And here is the first, red band trailer – I found it on youtube in case you have to sign in to watch, but it is a more action-packed teaser for the movie:
Here’s a great piece of trivia, courtesy of IMDB: “Originally, Berandal was written before The Raid: Redemption. When funding fell through for Berandal, Gareth Evans (director) decided to do a film that required a lower budget that would eventually become the first movie.”
Now, if you still haven’t seen “The Raid: Redemption”, here is what you are missing!
Blu-ray and DVD fans, it is time to kick some serious BUTT!
“The Raid: Redemption” is out on DVD and blu-ray and is the greatest action film since DIE HARD!
So it’s time to celebrate both!
The Raid: Redemption
Behold the best action movie in decades! In fact, minute-by-minute, punch-for-punch, this is one of the best action movies ever made!
Watch this trailer – it’s all you need to know about “The Raid: Redemption”:
This is just an amazing action thriller! “The Raid: Redemption” is a 2011 Indonesian action film written and directed by Gareth Evans and starring Iko Uwais. The film showcases the traditional Indonesian martial art known as “Pencak Silat.”
This cast is phenomenal, starting with the newest Asian action hero Iko Uwais, who turns in a stellar performance as a young SWAT team member who must leave his pregnant wife for a secret mission.
In the Jakarta slums, a derelict apartment building has become a no-go area – even the police are unwilling to enter. It has become a safe-house for the most dangerous killers and gangsters. A SWAT team infiltrate the building, under the cover of darkness, to remove its owner – a notorious drug lord named Tama – and boy, as you saw in the trailer, Tama is a BAD BAD GUY.
Once the SWAT team enters, Tama shuts the building down and announces to his tenants – all of whom are drug dealers and killers:
“Now go to work. And please, enjoy yourself.”
From there, it’s ALL ACTION. Literally. NON-STOP MAYHEM. And it is brilliant.
Wait until you meet Mad Dog, who is, literally that – a psycho killer who has been let loose in the building:
Mad Dog: “Pulling a trigger is like ordering a takeout.”
Yayan Ruhian, who played the Mad Dog character, had once trained Pencak Silat for Pasukan Pengamanan Presiden (the Indonesian Presidential Security Forces- equivalent to US Secret Service) in 1989 and for the Indonesian Military Police Corps in the early 1990s.
From Truck Driver To Action Star!
Uwais hold his own as the police try to fight their way out of the building….interestingly, before becoming an actor, Iko Uwais worked as a truck driver!
I don’t want to give too much away – in fact, I don’t want to give ANYTHING more away, but know that the fastest way to safety ISN’T the traditional route in this movie – not by a long shot!
THE RAID: REDEMPTION ON BLU-RAY!
Now you can own these action masterpiece, and look what it’s loaded up with! Extras include the following:
Video Blog 1: Bootcamp
Video Blog 2: Set Location, Camera & Lighting, Make up & Special Effects
Video Blog 3: Courtyard, Hole Drop
Video Blog 4: Drugs Lab, Tama’s Office
Video Blog 5: Machete Gang & Corridor, Jaka vs. Mad Dog
Video Blog 6: Post Production
An Evening with Gareth Evans, Mike Shinoda & Joe Trapanese
Behind the Music
An Anatomy of a Scene
In Conversation with Gareth Evans and Mike Shinoda Hard Shoot
Score featurette
Stunts featurette
Themes featurette
Inside the Score featurette
Claycat’s The Raid Short
THE RAID TV show ad (circa 1994)
Commentary with Writer/Director Gareth Evans
You have to check this film out – yes, it is violent and bloody, but it ROCKS! And speaking of classic action, time to return to the next greatest action film ever made:
BOW DOWN AND “DIE HARD”!
Time to celebrate the “Citizen Kane” of action movies!
New York City Detective John McClane has just arrived in Los Angeles to spend Christmas with his wife. Unfortunately, it is not going to be a Merry Christmas for everyone. A group of terrorists, led by Hans Gruber, is holding everyone in the Nakatomi Plaza building hostage. With no way of anyone getting in or out, it’s up to McClane to stop them all.
That’s the simple setup to this action masterpiece…I mean, let’s look at some of the classic moments, starting with the iconic Nakatomi Plaza!
This iconic office building on the Fox lot in West Los Angeles is visible for miles and is called “Nakatomi” by everyone!
In the film, when Deputy Chief Robinson says that John McClane (Bruce Willis) “could be a fucking bartender for all we know” (because of McClane’s claim to be able to “spot a phony ID”), it’s a bit of an inside joke. Before he became a TV and film star, Willis was a bartender.
Supervisor: [as McClane tries to call up police] Attention, whoever you are, this channel is reserved for emergency calls only.
John McClane: No fucking shit, lady. Does it sound like I’m ordering a pizza?
Bruce Willis is perfect as the Cop who is fighting back against an army of Thieves…and it gets harder when the bad guy Gruber discovers he is on their walkie talkie…
Hans Gruber: [on the radio] Mr. Mystery Guest? Are you still there?
John McClane: Yeah, I’m still here. Unless you wanna open the front door for me.
Hans Gruber: Uh, no, I’m afraid not. But, you have me at a loss. You know my name but who are you? Just another American who saw too many movies as a child? Another orphan of a bankrupt culture who thinks he’s John Wayne? Rambo? Marshal Dillon?
John McClane: Was always kinda partial to Roy Rogers actually. I really like those sequined shirts.
Hans Gruber: Do you really think you have a chance against us, Mr. Cowboy?
John McClane: Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker.
The line “Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker!” is used in all Four Die Hard movies (this one, Die Hard 2, Die Hard: With a Vengeance), and Live Free or Die Hard, although a gunfire masks the ‘fucker’ part in the latest installment). It also translates in Urdu to “here eat this.” The line was voted as the #96 of “The 100 Greatest Movie Lines” by Premiere in 2007.
Another great moment occurs when Willis gives Gruber a gun, thinking he is also a victim…or does he?
Hans: [Hans uses McClane’s gun and says something in an uninterpreted German on his CB Radio] Put down the gun, and give me my detonators.
John McClane: Well, well, well… Hans.
Hans: Put it down now.
John McClane: That’s pretty tricky with that accent. You oughta be on fucking TV with that accent. But what do you want with the detonators, Hans? I already used all the explosives. Or did I?
Hans: I’m going to count to three…
John McClane: Yeah, like you did with Takagi?
John McClane: [Hans pulls trigger] Ooops.
[Hans pulls the trigger a few times more]
John McClane: No more bullets. What do you think, I’m fucking stupid, Hans?
Hans: [elevator opens] You were saying?
The scene in which Gruber and McClane meet was inserted into the script after Alan Rickman (Hans Gruber) was found to be proficient at mimicking American accents. The filmmakers had been looking for a way to have the two characters meet prior to the climax and capitalized on Rickman’s talent. It is one of the film’s highlights.
MEET FBI SPECIAL AGENTS JOHNSON AND JOHNSON!
FBI Special Agent Johnson: [on the phone] This is agent Johnson. No, the other one.
The joke, of course, is that one Johnson is black, the other white. But they are both bad ass.
During the FBI helicopter attack, Special Agent Johnson (Robert Davi) says, “Just like fuckin’ Saigon, eh, Slick?” Agent Johnson (Grand L. Bush) replies, “I was in junior high, dick-head.”
John McClane: [stealing Tony’s shoes] “Nine million terrorists in the world and I gotta kill one with feet smaller than my sister!”
This leads to the great scene where Willis has to go barefoot, and Gruber takes advantage of it:
Hans Gruber: “Karl, schieß dem Fenster!”
Karl gives Hans a puzzled look. Exasperated, Hans repeats it in English: “Shoot the glass!”
In the scenes where John McClane is required to run through a multitude of glass shards in his ‘bare’ feet after Hans has his men shoot out the glass partitions in the computer room, Bruce Willis is in fact wearing special ‘rubber’ shoes designed to look like his own bare feet. One can in fact see this if looking closely as his feet appear quite unnaturally large in some of these crucial ‘barefoot’ scenes.
And of course, there is the spectacular explosion – thanks to Willis!
When the bomb in the elevator shaft blows out the side of the building, the effect was accomplished by (a) collecting virtually every camera flashbulb of a particularly powerful type in the Los Angeles area and wiring them on the outside of the actual building to simulate the flash, and (b) by superimposing a shot of an actual explosive blowing a hole in the wall of an all-black miniature of the building at the appropriate location.
SO many reasons that “Die Hard” is a classic, and why this is my adrenalin double bill this weekend!
Categories: Action Films, Awards, Books / Media, Exploitation films, Extreme Asian Cinema, Foreign Films, Great Films, Independent Cinema, Movies, Revenge Movies, Talent/Celebrities, Travel, Uncategorized
johnrieber 
Leave a Reply