review by David Valkenet
The Raid: Redemption 2012
Watched Mar 19, 2012
David Valkenet’s review:
Let me start by conceding that there were a handful of good action set pieces and a scene or two of tension, when the cinematographer decided to turn the lights on and keep the camera still for long enough for me to make out what was happening.
However, the film is very serious and 'gritty' and purports to some semblance of naturalism (as opposed to something more goofy like Ong Bak). This turned me off to much of the violence, as it just felt nasty and nihilistic. I found it difficult to revel in the wanton destruction and waste of human life when it was presented in such a self-serious manner. I can see the point in films like Shindler's List, but in something like The Raid which is trying to be a fun martial arts film, I'd much prefer the film not to be as solemn.
The poster for The Raid boasts "1 minute of romance. 100 minutes of non-stop carnage." This may be all well and good from a marketing stand point (it got me interested) but in a film-making sense it poses some problems:
Mainly, if a film has but "1 minute of romance" the character development is going to be rushed to non-existent. Without characters to relate to (hell, even distinguish between) I, as a viewer, am not engaged in anything on screen.
So in summation: 1) it's too stupid to be taken seriously, and it's too serious to be fun, and 2) nothing matters and everything is boring.
*...mentioning I didn't like the brutal violence...
This film relentlessly goes close-up, then holds so you can behold the gory aftermath. Most films sylise as you suggest or imply the violence by showing it in long shot, or cutting away. On the one hand I think The Raid's honesty is kind of admirable - but its also cruel, hard to watch and more than a little evil!
Completely agree, but I don't think it's admirable. I don't see any reason for it to be as 'honest' as it is. What's the point?
I was thinking the point was to not trivialise violence. But actually, it trivialises violence in many other ways so I wouldn't describe it as admirable. Its effect is not documentary, it is violence porn. If that makes sense!
Yeah, the violence is at times so outlandish and invites the viewer to cheer (as many people in my audience did) that I don't think they were trying to not trivialise the violence. I can kind of see what you mean by the violence porn comment but personally I found it difficult to revel in the type of carnage presented.
The Raid is all it needed to be, it set up its minimal plot and did what it set out to do. Make some great fun to watch fight scenes. How you can say this is boring is crazy to me.
Aside from a couple of scenes (the wall scene specifically) I didn't engage with the film. I was alternately depressed and repulsed by the violence. I think the lack of distinguishable characters made it hard to care about anyone and anything that they did or that happened to them.
I think Apocalypto strikes a much better balance between character and action. The minimal set up at the start of that film added so much weight to the rest.
You're not the first person I've seen to take this stance, and I can respect even if I don't understand it. The action in this film made my jaw-drop, it was so brutal. But I enjoyed seeing the awesomely choreographed and intense fight scenes, even if they were pretty gruesome. I wasn't repulsed by it at all. The film was exactly what it needed to be for me. One of my favorites of the year so far, and now one of my favorite action movies.
I didn't think the butality of the action was off putting because it was so unrealistic. Scenes where people have been beaten to death several times over and then get up for more beatings, it's not brutal so much as not believable, like a cartoon, therefore it's a kind of like a tedious, repetitive joke. It was poor but it's due some merit.
I thought there were scenes of brutal realist violence, especially near the start which is when I was turned off. For instance, I remember gnag members unloading numerous clips on innocent civilians as well as the main bad guy killing a bunch of guys with a hammer(?). I feel like there were more but at this stage I have somewhat blocked the film from my memory. I wasn't so much horrified during the martial arts scenes, I was more bored - like you said, tedious and repetitive.