Movies: A New Martial Arts Classic

Question: What comes to mind when I say ‘Foreign Film’?  Some of you probably think of “The Seven Samurai” from Japan, “Pan’s Labyrinth” from Mexico, and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” from Italy.  

All of those are great films by great directors that are worthy of being watched and admired.  Now here’s another film that should be added to the list of greats, “The Raid: Redemption,” from Indonesia. 

This 2011 film tells the tale of an Indonesian SWAT team going into a tenement building that’s under the control of a gangster and his army of killers and henchmen.  What follows is a movie full of purebred amazing action. 

Let me just get this out of the way: yes, this movie has a very similar plot to the other awesome 2011 action film “Dredd.”  But there are enough differences between both films to keep each one fresh and worth a viewing.

What is it about “The Raid: Redemption” that makes it worth a viewing?  That’s a very easy answer—the fight scenes.  This film encompasses a lot of great hand to hand combat scenes involving an Indonesian matial arts style known as Pencak Silat.  

Each fight is elaborate and fastpaced and fits the scene it’s in.  Every one has its own personality in a way, and what I mean by that is that there’s not a simple boring fight that just happens to take place in a warehouse.  Each scene has its own twist. 

One scene will be a gun fight, and then the next scene will be our main hero (Iko Uwais) having an intense fight with a machete wielding gang.  None are the same. 

The fight choreography is worth mentioning.  It flows fluently, and it comes off as legimtimate fighting.  A lot of times in martial arts film, mainly the really cheap ones from the 1970s, it is obvious when the punches and kicks aren’t coming into contact with the other fighter, but in this film, the fight scenes are so well handled that I guarantee at several points you’ll be saying, “Ow! Oof! Agh!”

For the fight choreography, we have two people to thank: Iko Uwais, who portays the main hero named Rama, and Yayan Ruhian, who plays the main villain’s right hand man, named Mad Dog. 

While Uwais does a good job fulfilling the hero part, Ruhian shines as Mad Dog.  The 5’ 2,” 45-year-old steals every scene, and he intimidates you to no end, especially after his first big fight scene.  

Both Ruhian and Uwais deserve to be ranked up with the other martial arts greats like Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. 

In case you haven’t gotten the point, I’ll say it bluntly: go watch this movie!  And yes, you should check out the sequel, “The Raid 2.”