The Raid: Redemption

Ratings: 7.2/10

Film Class: C+

Genre: Action

The Raid: Redemption is "over-raided". I expected non-stop mindless action but what I got was close to 40% storyline. It didn't deliver the punch I needed to keep me at the edge of my bed during a late Saturday night... 

I had wanted so much to catch this that I didn't even hesitate 2 seconds when it came out in DVD, even though the price was a whopping $24.90. On the other hand, I had also wanted to watch a Japanese movie, Kaiji 2 for so long... yet was able to resist the temptation of throwing the same price for it. I went back to my local video shop 5 times hoping for Kaiji 2's price to lower, but 2 seconds was all it took for me to grab this DVD. Man, I've really gotta repent and redeem myself... 

A rookie member of the special squad is thrown into a covert mission to extract the notoriously ruthless crime lord from a 15-story apartment block. Everything was going well until the 5th floor, where their presence was spotted and when the entire building was locked down. Groups of gangsters then start appearing from all over to hunt down the outnumbered special squad... 

Where's the redemption in this movie? There's a possibility that it refers to one important character (not the lead) but on 2nd thought, it wasn't redemption it was brrooothherrlly opps* *major spoilers ahead*, it was brotherly love instead. 

The crime lord is protected by 2 of his closest henchmen, 1's a smartie, the other a "mad dog". And 1 of them happens to be the brother of the rookie member. 15-story building... but does that mean 15 storeys of hardass action on each floor?  

Nope, after the 5th storey, I didn't even know which floor they were on most of the time. All I know is that the special squad was hunted down like little lambs. One by one they got wiped out... and at first I didn't quite recognise the lead. But it became obvious after his first one-man show on one of the floors. 

The crime lord was a disappointment, to be wiped out so quickly without a good fight... and the "mad dog" stole everyone's limelight, including the 2 leads'. There were guns, knives and bare knuckles, all in moderation. Nothing too explosive, nothing too cut-throat, nothing too hard-hitting. Whoever tells you this is one of the best action films in decades has not seen a true action-packed film yet...