Our take
A special forces team conducts a raid at a multi-story ghetto building where a criminal boss runs his business. Things quickly go wrong and chaos ensues. Full of pure action, with no overblown Hollywood-type CGI nonsense. It is made the way action movies should be made, full of realistic fight scenes. It is exciting, brutal and thrilling. The Raid: Redemption is definitely among the best action movies ever made.
What it won
Sundance
1 nom
The story
Deep in the heart of Jakarta's slums lies an impenetrable safe house for the world's most dangerous killers and gangsters. Until now, the run-down apartment block has been considered untouchable to even the bravest of police. Cloaked under the cover of pre-dawn darkness and silence, an elite swat team is tasked with raiding the safe house in order to take down the notorious drug lord that runs it. But when a chance encounter with a spotter blows their cover and news of their assault reaches the drug lord, the building's lights are cut and all the exits blocked. Stranded on the sixth floor with no way out, the unit must fight their way through the city's worst to survive their mission. Starring Indonesian martial arts sensation Iko Uwais.
Elsewhere
"The movie is a gory free-for-all, a horror film dressed up as an action film, and it's as pure a shot of adrenaline as any Tarantino fan could wish for."
— Bruce Diones
"Hollywood is particularly unsuited to producing sensation cinema these days."
— Grady Hendrix
You will be blown away by the suspense, the action and the rawness of this movie. And for those who might have experienced one or two rounds, you will realise very quickly that this movie is no joke.