A new writing segment, "Ten Items or Less" is an attempt to consciously cutback and restrict how much I write. I get ten sentences or less to discuss a movie. That's it. Let's see if some genius comes out of working around my self-made obstacle.
Cinema is a vehicle for spectacle and pleasure in a way few other mediums are, and when its executed as well as The Raid, it leaves you with your tongue down to the floor drooling with brain-addled delight. The film is essentially an hour and a half of really great, relentless, visceral action, but that ignores how well choreographed and planned out that action is. This a intelligently filmed movie that makes great use of space and camera placement. In its best shot moments, the movement of the camera follows along with the characters to make us feel as if we are there. In more than one virtuoso piece of kung fu meets 80's action movie sequence, there is a fantastic sense of showmanship. The film corners itself into tricky and difficult moments of intense action and finds clever and exciting ways to extricate itself from its SWAT team takes on drug kingpin story (That is action-wise but not necessarily story-wise whose minimalism would make minimalist films laugh). There is no shaky cams or rapid-cut editing as there is too frequently in American action films these days; the film lingers on moments to really show the physicality and brutality of the action taking place as well as to allow us to appreciate how exceptionally difficult many of the stunts are. The Raid is a thrilling movie but it also has an appreciation for the expertise behind the fighting it's displaying, like a Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee martial arts film.
Grade: ★★★
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