ethanleviedwards If you looking for the coolest fight scenes and action you have seen on a movie look no further then the raid. Sadly no Silat masters near me:) I will always be an advocate for raid 1 but raid 2 and the whole syndicate stuff was a bit over the top. Raid 1 didn't have a whole lot of story but you could bond with a swat officer going to do some bad stuff but in the end of the day just wanting to get home to his wife and kids and have reconciliation with his brother. Tremendous action baby. Second one took it up a notch for better and for worse. The fight scenes and stunts were all the more BA and creative but it sort of ended there for me. They just wanted to so out do the first one which I say they did, but they had to take like the cgi gore spatting in the camera from a good amount to like 300: rise of an empire level gore.. that coupled with the constant betrayals and deceit and treatment of women, and literal slitting of throats randomly was never ending without a break. Look I know that happens, but have a little better pacing like raid 1 or else it gets a bit depressing. In scenes I would go from wow oh dang to what is even going on right now this is a little psychotic. Also it make me think of some current things going on between west papa New Guinean s and East Indonesians which adds some dislike to the movie. Good movie. A bit much. Maybe stick with raid 1. I would wait for your kids to at least be in their late teens or early twenties or unless they are real mature.

sergelamarche Lots of action, fights, pursuits, shootings, a bit like Tarantino. The film has a decent story for the genre but really, I feel the pain and no exhiliration watching people getting beaten to a pulp.

Prashast Singh Movie: The Raid 2 (A): Action - Indonesian Positives:Without a second thought, it's the extremely well choreographed, jaw-dropping, fast paced and never-seen-before action which is the major highlight of the film. The kitchen fight is definitely the best I've seen in my life!Iko Uwais excels in the action sequences and even in the scenes requiring him to emote; He's really impressive. Rest of the cast also delivers extremely realistic performances. The story is very good; the way director Gareth Evans has blended highly impactful action into a story of this kind is commendable.Negatives:Undoubtedly, it's an out and out action movie meant to be watched more for the action than anything else and that's why the long duration, which is mostly due to the dramatic scenes might not go down well with everyone.But still the film is a complete entertainer!Repeat value: Definitely!THE RAID 2 is simply one of the best martial arts action films I've ever seen. Do yourself a favour; just grab some popcorn and enjoy this action-packed blockbuster! The killer action itself is worth the price of the ticket/DVD/BD!

IkhwanArif After the overwhelming success of Serbuan Maut (The Raid: Redemption) it's not surprising that Gareth Evans got the greenlight to make another one. Berandal (The Raid 2) continues where Serbuan Maut left, with an expectation to be... bigger. And it is big. Bigger budget, bigger ensemble, multiple locations, a car chase scene and clocking in at 150 minutes long, Berandal had the promised of be the sequel that we don't need but certainly the sequel that we deserve but it just fell short of living up to its lofty potential. Firstly the flaws; there were scenes and characters in the film that simply didn't belong and wholly unnecessary. The first is Yayan Ruhian as Prakoso; I don't fault Gareth Evans for wanting to include Yayan Ruhian again; hell, I would to but Yayan Ruhian is wasted as Prakoso, a character that could be played by anyone and certainly didn't need 3 scenes with 2 lackadaisical fight scenes. In one of the scenes, Perkoso ended up outside a club, during winter time, in tropical Jakarta; this is just pretentious nonsense; no one is South East Asia would ever believe that there is snow in the equator. Then there is also Batter and Hammer Girl; who are entirely necessary to the plot and their fight scenes were also lackluster. Julie Estelle as Hammer Girl especially, is really really weak; there was no acting, she can't fight, her choreography is crap. I think Gareth Evans was pressured into adding too much, and so, the film feels like it has a lot of 'bloatware.' All in all, you could at least cut off 30 minutes from the movie, which would've been a better outcome. More doesn't always mean more; less can be more. So, now the good. The movie has an excellent ensemble cast, even Yayan Ruhian shines as his role as Prakoso. Standout performances by Iko Uwais reprising his role as Rama, Ariffin Putra is fantastic as Uco (and he speaks excellent English), Tio Pakusadewo is credible as the mafia boss Bangun (and he speaks great Japanese), Ryuhei Matsuda and Keinichi Endo as the Goto family yakuza. The story had the potential to be really great a la Infernal Affairs or The Departed but due to the aforementioned 'bloatware' the story was reduced to gang rivalry, and a one man commando against the Indonesian Preman. I applaud Gareth Evans for depicting real criminal behavior along and this adds authenticity and believability to the film. Had, Evans cut out all the pretentious scenes out, he would have something really close to greatness. The best fight scene must be between Iko Uwais and Cecep Arif Rahman in the Kitchen fight with Karambit knives. This fight scene is as close to a real Silat fight as you can get and it was very well done. As it is, it's not bad. Berandal is not as good as Serbuan Maut, but it's still an entertaining affair.