Exemplary actioner from Welsh writer/director Gareth Evans (working in Indonesia) plays like one long Martial Arts set piece after a prologue identifying our baby-faced hero, Iko Uwais, former prodigy master-fighter, 5'6" in his late 20s, able to ‘sell’ the deadly moves he’ll need to survive his SWAT team’s misconceived raid on a gang of lowlifes in a dilapidated high-rise. Evans sets up his cunningly simple story, with just enough twists for interest, and enough breaks in the action to keep us from exhaustion, as Uwais & his uniformed unit storm a motley gang of criminal residents one floor at a time, working their way up to take down Mr. Big (evil drug lord/great villain Ray Sahetapy). At least, that’s the plan. Naturally, things don’t work out so smoothly when ‘spotters’ catch sight of the team on their way in, helped by a turncoat police officer. All moves clean as a whistle under Evans' deft kinetic touch, not only attacks & counterattacks, but in the logistics of parallel floor-to-floor combat. The building’s central staircase and open shaft perfectly suited for falls and floor hopping. Super stuff for the genre, with the grisliest gore front-loaded so you don’t have to cringe all the way thru the pic.
DOUBLE-BILL: Evans returned for more smashing in the even better received THE RAID 2 (not seen here) which, at nearly an hour longer, may be too much of a good thing.
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