

The snapped bones, shattered skulls and spraying blood walked up to the line of good taste and ripped it apart with the back of a hammer. The violence in this unrated cut is so relentless, so absolutely brutal, that I just couldn’t take anymore. You might even interpret my reaction as a mark of success for director Gareth Evans and his team of choreographers and makeup artists. Yet there might be a limit to the quantity of bloodshed some viewers can take:
#The raid 2 berandal movie
It's natural, then, to expect Evans to bring the same graphic, red-streaked sensibility to The Raid 2: Berandal (particularly if we keep his contribution to horror omnibus VHS 2, "Safe Haven", in mind).īut what if that violence goes over the line? Trailers show off a lot of potential ways in which a human can be maimed, crippled, or otherwise injured, and if Evans wants to top his work with each new movie he makes, then that means outdoing himself in terms of brutality. The Raid: Redemption isn't a bloodless picture by any stretch of the means - throats get cut, arteries get stabbed, heads get shot, and bodies get bludgeoned from top to bottom. In one specific case, it's not the plot that's too much: it's the level of violence. The fight scenes are so good, in fact, that you really feel the film slow down when it tries to inch its way through a somewhat convoluted plot.

#The raid 2 berandal full
From beautifully shot fights in a prison yard full of mud to one of the craziest car-chase sequences in recent memory, this film delivers the sort of action that no one else is doing right now. Naturally this almost three-hour action movie is stacked with fight sequences, each growing more extreme. Yes, “The Raid 2” brings the noise, but length, repetition and too much space also make it a slightly reduced echo of its predecessor. And yet, again, better fights can’t make up for a too-familiar and over-long script that lacks the snap, pop and purpose of the first film and skimps on character relationships and plotting so that it might better present a death-and-dismemberment toll comprised of hundreds of faceless minions. With its long takes, clear camera work, sublime set design and how-did-the-stuntmen-live? action-scene insanity, “The Raid 2” makes most American action films look like the over-edited stunt-doubled CGI-laden child’s play that they are. If The Raid 2: Berandal's international trailer and teaser haven't both ratcheted up fan excitement enough, then advance reactions to it should do the trick. Put simply, the early word on The Raid 2 : Berandal is good - very, very good, in fact, to the point where even the reviews that fall short of hailing Evan's new action opus as an instant genre masterpiece still can't avoid praising the incredibly talented filmmaker's prowess behind the camera.

Two and a half hours and a couple of days later, those lucky enough to be in attendance for the hotly anticipated sequel to 2012's The Raid: Redemption have begun rolling out their reviews for the rest of us to peruse in envy and longing.Īs if expectations for the film weren't already high enough. One, the propulsive, kinetic US trailer for Gareth Evans' The Raid 2: Berandalwas posted online for general viewing two, the film itself enjoyed its world premiere in Park City during day six of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
