For the abundance of movies being released every month, a lot of which are good, there are still a few genres that remain under-served. In my personal opinion martial arts action films are one such genre that I wish were explored with as much care as is demonstrated in The Raid. From the opening scenes this movie puts on show the tension and masterfully executed action that sticks around throughout the course of this 100 minute delight.
The protagonist is not your stereo-typical Bruce Lee type, nor is he an immediately apparent Nathan Drake duplicate. In this film Iko Uwais plays a seemingly kind and undeniably badass individual by the name of Rama. Throughout the film we don't get a lot of back-story on Rama, but nor, I would argue, do we need to.
The Raid is set in Indonesia which I feel is an awesome reflection of where Gareth Evans' head was at when he both wrote and directed this incredible piece of entertainment. This is not a script that relies on stereotypes and clichés and as a result as the story progresses it only continues to please and surprise.
I need to clarify that I certainly do not believe this to be a story worthy of huge praise, but it serves the action beautifully and is more satisfying than it needed to be to make this a compelling film. I am not sure how the currently in-production The Raid 2 will turn out, but if it's close enough in quality to it's predecessor I will certainly be attending one of the first screenings.