Violent. Ferocious. Quite insane.
As you may have noticed from JOE’s latest round of Movies on TV picks, Friday night’s closing choice is quite the belter.
The Raid 2: Berandal is a film that took a contained original – itself magnificent – and opened up the world, hurling special forces officer Rama into a bigger maze of crime, intrigue, and brutal, endless scraps.
The fight choreography of the original Raid – as outlined by star Iko Uwais – was the movie’s chief selling point, presenting a genuinely incredible array of close quarter combat showdowns where people generally got rearranged in all sorts of horrible ways.
The Raid 2 is more of a deliberate epic, aiming to be spoken of in the same conversation as Heat, with a rake of new characters, a much longer running time, and a patient slow burn approach.
And, of course, further insane action.
It’s no exaggeration to suggest that every battle sequence in The Raid 2 is worth your attention, outdoing so many Hollywood productions before and after.
Still, the headline above suggests that we have indeed narrowed it down to one.
And this fight scene is, for our money, legitimately the single greatest of its kind across the last 10 years.
Stand aside closing emotional face off from Warrior, jog on Cap vs Bucky vs Iron Man from Civil War, go home Max vs Furiosa, say goodnight hallway smackdown from Atomic Blonde; the kitchen fight from The Raid 2 is king.
Some spoilers to follow, so let’s note that the movie is on Film 4 tonight – Friday 3 May – at 12.45am.
Now, that might be too late for some of us, what with it being two-and-a-half-hours long and all.
Still, it is worth it. Anyway, spoilers.
As the film draws to a close, Rama – somehow still alive and kicking – encounters a shady, dialogue-less character known only as The Assassin.
In a kitchen.
What follows is utterly bonkers, set to a mind-blowing piece of music:
Chills.
The fight is evenly matched for the most part, as both hero and villain try to figure each other’s styles out.
Both men have been shown to be vicious, ruthless, and highly skilled throughout the film – Rama is almost superhuman at times – and the inevitable one-on-one doesn’t disappoint.
By the end, it’s not just the winner that is left completely exhausted.
You can catch the entire thing below if that post-midnight call is too late for your blood, but honestly, coming at the end of such a patient build only adds to how cathartic and jaw-dropping this thing is.
Clip via Layar bioskop
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