Welcome to The Daily Cup a movie blog/writing project by Kyle B. Dekker, presented by Hot Chocolate Media. You can read series concept here. The basic rules, Kyle must watch 365 movies in 2018 and write about all of them. 292 of them have to be movies he's never seen before. Thanks for reading.
It is very easy to enjoy a film that is nearly devoid of plot or purpose but beautiful and well crafted. That sums up The Raid (2011) from writer/director Gareth Evans. It a delightful display of fight choreography, martial arts, and action sequences. It also is a bottle movie as in the entire film takes place inside one high rise building.
Rama (Iko Uwais) is a Indonesian SWAT officer set to be a father soon. He goes into a high rise apartment building on a mission with 19 other cops. There is a drug lord holed up in the building with an army of thugs between the bottom floor and his hideaway. We know the bad guy is bad, because he kills people on screen. Things go south for the SWAT team and they have to fight their way out of the building to survive.
I know several fight choreographers and actor/combatants in the local theater scene, I know it takes a ton of work and effort to make a fight scene look good. The fact that this film is packed with multiple high intensity, gorgeous looking fights is mind blowing. Every action sequence is a masterful piece of choreographer, cinematography (filming a fight isn’t easy), and conflict. YOu will never be bored in this film, the segments between the fights almost serve as a resting point for the audience. The fights are so intense you will need to catch your breath after each one.
My only real complaint is that the only character you really care about is the Rama, all of the other characters are just there because they need fighters for the action sequences. I would have loved to have felt more emotion as the cops get mowed down and killed by the bad guys, but at times it felt like you were just waiting for Rama to be the last man standing as he was set up to be the only character we gave a damn about. This is a minor nitpick to be honest, because I’m glad they had so many bodies to throw into the action sequences, they are that damn good,
If you like action, martial-arts, or men on a mission movies, this should be a must watch movie for you. Gareth Evan took a tiny budget and an incredibly talented cast and crew of stunt folks and made a beautiful looking, white-knuckled movie where you feel every bone break and tendon slash. This is a movie about badasses, being badasses, I loved it.
Tally
Movies new to me watched: 25/292
Other movies: 7/73
Total movies watched: 32/365
Have your own thoughts or opinions on this movie? Comment below or contact Kyle at kyle@hotchocolatemedia.net or on Twitter at @kbdekker.