The Raid

 Admittedly I haven’t seen many films that would be classed as ‘action’; Jason Statham and Bruce Willis just seem to pass me by and it’s probably due to the endless fight scenes and lack of coherent plot that make these films so uninteresting. Even the martial arts films of Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan hold little appeal. There’s an Indonesian film out this week however, that stands far above what has come before – The Raid, by Welsh director Gareth Evans, which features some of the most ‘entertaining’ violence I’ve ever seen.

 A SWAT team is sent into a derelict block of apartments that houses some of the country’s most dangerous criminals. Their mission is to take down the owner of the tower block: a drug lord named Tama, and to kill everyone they meet on the way up. Simple premise, simple script – The Raid seems like an average action movie to begin with, but as soon as the team enter the building, you realise exactly what everyone’s been so excited about.

 The fight sequences are phenomenally good. As the team moves quickly from floor to floor picking off anyone that gets in their way, bullets start to run out and a few of them get split up from the main group. The amazingly choreographed, martial arts inspired violence, coupled with the constant dubstep pumping in the background makes this film not only fast moving, but also a pleasure to watch. Evans has a history of directing martial arts movies and The Raid seems to be his finest achievement yet, for the camera work is equally as impressive, flicking incessantly from one action sequence to the next, while managing to capture the claustrophobic atmosphere of the apartment block simultaneously. An extraordinary film.