

Then thrown into the chaos of this world is Rama, the character played by Uwais, coming directly from the events which took place at the end of the original. It’s a dark and violent world of weary family heads trying to keep a grip on the empire they’ve built, of blood thirsty offspring willing to do anything to tip the scales of power, of undercover cops so deep they’ve lost their identity, and assassins who will slice you up in an instant. The stripped down simplicity of the The Raid is replaced here by a layered story of a city, torn between rival gangsters and yakuza. By the end of the first hour you’ll realise just what a tiny drop in the ocean that building from the original really is.
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The Raid 2 had a budget almost four times that of the original, however the scope of the movie is closer to a hundred times larger in its scale. If Merentauwas a taster and The Raid was a mouthful, then let it be said that its sequel is an all you can eat buffet of epic proportions. Well, skip forward another couple of years and its March 2014, and that sequel is here, not only that, but I just got through watching it last night. So simple in fact, that when a sequel was announced people pondered what could possibly follow such a fantastic shot of adrenaline. The plot was simple – take 1 team of rookie cops, throw in a building which has a drug lord on the top floor, and every floor below crawling with junkies and low lives, and create a setup wherein the rookie team have to get from bottom to top without getting killed. While Merentau gave us a taste for how the Indonesian martial art of Silat could look onscreen, The Raid gave us a hearty mouthful, and then some. A stripped down 100 minute assault of martial arts chaos and violence, choreographed with a sense of immediacy and intensity that hadn’t been seen for a long time. Thankfully, the latter proved to be right, and a couple of years later The Raid hit the screens.

The cynical amongst us commented on how Uwais seemed like a blend of Tony Jaa and Jackie Chan, but not being on the same level as either, while the more positive minded noted that Merentau was a breath of fresh air, and just might be the start of something beautiful. Like almost any new martial arts based movie these days, fans approached it with a sense of trepidation. It was a movie which starred an unknown lead in the form of Iko Uwais, from an unknown Welsh director by the name of Gareth Evans, from a country which was barely known for any type of cinema, let alone of the action variety, in the form of Indonesia.

It’s hard to believe but 2009 is already five years ago, the year that saw the release of Merentau.

Cast: Iko Uwais, Arifin Putra, Oka Antara, Tio Pakusadewo, Alex Abbad, Julie Estelle, Ryuhei Matsuda, Kenichi Endo, Kazuki Kitamura, Cecep Arif Rahman, Cok Simbara, Yayan Ruhian, Very Tri Yulisman, Donny Alamsyah, Epy Kusnandar, Roy Marten, Zack Lee, Fikha Effendi, Deddy Sutomo
