Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
The Raid (2011)
278 Plays3 years ago
In this episode, Fraser (Satsunami) and Adam take on the iconic film The Raid. From it's fantastic choreography to the way it changed the genre of action films, does this classic of 2011 still hold up today?
For more Satsunami content, please click here!
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/chatsunami/message
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and New Format
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to Chatsunami.
00:00:17
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Chat Tsunami. I'm Sat Tsunami and joining the raid with me today is my very good friend Adam. Adam, welcome back. Hi there, it's nice to be back. I feel in a nice comfortable space.
00:00:35
Speaker
It was always good to slip back into her chat tsunami. Yes, especially in this very different format today. I know. I know. Who would have thought I could have looked so glorious? I know, in complete sandwich form, which will not make sense to anyone listening to us on Anchor, Spotify or any of the other distributors.
Introducing 'The Raid'
00:00:55
Speaker
But for those of you watching this on YouTube in the future, you'll know what we're on about. You'll definitely know. So yeah, as you can see by the screen today, we are going to be talking about, let's face it, one of the greatest action films of all time. And I feel as if I can say that with confidence. Yeah, you can say that with all the confidence in the world.
00:01:15
Speaker
I mean, I remember I was telling people that we were going to do an episode about this and the majority of people were just like, oh my goodness, you're doing the raid. Oh, the raid is so cool. And you know, all of this. And it was like, yeah.
00:01:32
Speaker
it's like there was no one who was like the raid everybody was positive and no wonder because I re-watched the trailer for this and well the like American trailer the English trailer for this and it does that thing but it's a stereotype of the greatest action film you will ever see in your life and you're like yeah sure sure sure
00:01:57
Speaker
And then you actually watch this film and you go, this is the greatest action film I've ever watched in my life. It's like a link back to our hype. Like hype episodes from last time round where it's like, yep, hype, hype achieved. Hype well deserved.
Action Film Comparisons
00:02:15
Speaker
Oh yeah, no, I totally felt the same. Because it's quite weird, it's like this film came out, and correct me if I'm wrong, but did this film not come out at around the same time as Dread, was it? It was the exact same year, very unfortunately for Dread.
00:02:32
Speaker
Yeah that is a shame. So yeah, the basic premise of both films is two protagonists are trying to scale a high rise flat to basically take out the drug lord at the top. There's obviously like setting differences and things but at the core a lot of people like compared the two films as to like how similar they were and it's quite weird because a lot of people after watching this film I think there was rumors that there was going to be an American version of this
00:02:58
Speaker
Really? Or an American remake, which I don't know how they would do. Like a genie. Yeah. It just would not work at all. But I mean, I think having dread is probably the closest we're ever gonna get.
00:03:12
Speaker
It's as close as it should be as well. Oh yeah. I honestly can't imagine a raid remake before we bash remakes in their entirety.
Plot and Action Focus
00:03:22
Speaker
Adam, do you want to explain to anyone who hasn't seen this masterpiece of action, do you want to explain what the film's about? Okay, yep. So the raid centres around an elite unit of Indonesian police, basically like I guess Indonesia's version of SWAT.
00:03:40
Speaker
And basically they're tasked with, as you said, when you're storming this high-rise apartment building and taking down the drug lord, crime boss, who rules the building. And basically, so they get inside, things are going well to start with, and then, you know, a switch gets flipped and everything goes to all hell. And basically they're like outgunned, outnumbered, surrounded, and they have to battle their way out and try and survive.
00:04:09
Speaker
Yeah, things go south so quickly and that's how I wonder. They really do. Because it is, it's like, initially, so as you said, it begins with them reading the building and everything, and it's so uniform, isn't it?
00:04:24
Speaker
like what they do, they sweep through the buildings, they sweep through the rooms, they like silence everybody that's you know that's in the way or could pose a threat and then all of a sudden they turn a corner and there's just this one sassy child sitting there and he's just like yeah no I've got to get out of here and he runs um
00:04:43
Speaker
and subsequently. Sorry, before I go on, I'm just gonna say that this, basically this retrospective, as it were, is gonna contain spoilers. So, yeah, just be wary of that, just in case. Because, I mean, I think the core of it is the action, isn't it?
Character and Vision
00:05:00
Speaker
Yeah. Like, I mean, don't get me wrong, the story's there, but I think the highlight of the film, like, people aren't watching the radio really for the story, I have to say. The action is the story itself, I think, in so many ways. Oh, totally. Like, one of the interesting things that I kind of picked up on in this film, I don't know if you picked up on this as well, but it's the way that there are kind of characters in this film, and I know that sounds weird to say, like, well, obviously, because it's a, you know, a film, but
00:05:28
Speaker
You know, it's usually like action films you get where you get the actor more than you get the actual character coming through. You know, like Arnold Schwarzenegger or John Claude Van Damme, or Stephen Seagal, God forbid. You know, if you're digging down, you know. God.
00:05:48
Speaker
And you think what is the best, or not what's the best film, but like who did they play in each of those films? Like some of them you can remember, some of them you're just like I have no idea. Like for instance in Die Hard, John McLean, you know, you can remember that but in some of the other ones it's like
00:06:05
Speaker
this is just meaty man number one or meaty man number two you know it's like they're no real character but one of the things I thought was interesting was and this is kind of a bit of trivia but apparently the director wanted this to be more of like a prison drama
00:06:21
Speaker
but he didn't actually get a chance for it because he didn't have the budget. So instead they set it in this high-rise flat and it's quite interesting because that's what happened in the second film because the raid was so popular it ended up generating so much buzz that they got the money for the sequel and I think he got the film that he always wanted to do rather than the first raid film.
00:06:45
Speaker
And one of the things I do like is the kind of small attention to detail that it has for some of the characters. Like, for example, at the beginning you see the main character Rama, is it? Yeah, Rama. Yeah, Rama played by Iko Uwe. Uwe's? Yeah, I apologise.
00:07:03
Speaker
Yeah but he plays Rama who is like this. I mean he's a rookie isn't he? He is a rookie to that squad yeah. Yeah and he basically like at the very beginning you can see him praying and apparently that was like part of the trivia that they said the director really wanted to kind of reflect on like Indonesian society and Indonesia is of course like predominantly Muslim so
00:07:28
Speaker
he gave him just that small character trait of just making him pray at the beginning and things, and it also reflects later on to the whole idea, maybe I'm looking too deep into the raid here, but it's that idea that he's trying to have faith because he's trying to bring his brother back. So that's the subplot.
00:07:50
Speaker
The main plot is they're trying to take down the drug lord from this high-rise plot. And then there's a subplot with the main character where he's trying to bring back his brother. And it is quite interesting, like, because throughout the film he is trying to be, like, I wouldn't say naive, but, you know, trying to say, oh, I'm come to rescue you. And the guy's like, nah, you're all right. He's like, yeah.
00:08:12
Speaker
Okay, fair enough. But that's the thing though, sorry, that was a long way to pretty much say that they could have easily just made him, you know, just a regular Joe, you know? Just... Yeah. Just a faceless guy. Like if you think of what the American remake could have been like...
00:08:29
Speaker
Where it would just be like John Cena, let's say. I can't think of any of them. I'm honestly trying to struggle to think who would play him in an American remake. I don't know The Rock. It would be John Cena, I'm pretty sure. It would definitely be someone who isn't fit for the role, maybe.
00:08:51
Speaker
I don't know, maybe it would be good, maybe it would be good, but... Let's not pretend though it wouldn't be. Yeah. I think though, I think though, like, just like to talk a little bit more about like the intro and stuff, I think the intro is actually like symptomatic of the whole film and that the intro is like really efficient at like, in a very, very short space of time, it tells you all the key details you need to know about
Cinematic Techniques and Impact
00:09:15
Speaker
Rama.
00:09:15
Speaker
So like we know we see we see that like for a start that he is like he's very he's very skilled because one of the first things he's doing is like hitting hitting a Punching bag at the fastest the fastest speed I've ever seen anybody move their hands So we can see skilled we can see that he's like very like fit very like buff and
00:09:35
Speaker
you know he's like doing sit-ups and like pull-ups and everything. We also see as well as you said like we don't obviously know it's like he's looking for his brother at the beginning but we see him talking to his dad being like you got to bring him back so we get some details that he's you know there's a personal stake involved and we also see as well that like you know he's a father-to-be and you know so we can see his wife's pregnant and so that gives him like motivation to fight through that he wants to survive to you know come back to his
00:10:02
Speaker
his wife and his unborn child so we get these kind of these key these three key pillars that kind of are what his character is built around and it only takes like two minutes something like that yeah maybe even less than that to be honest it's so and i think that gets the core of the raid the first raid is such a brutally efficient film like there is no wasted motion in this film at all like it does everything it needs to in like
00:10:25
Speaker
the shortest time possible and it's you know it for me i think it's the most the only other film that i can think is as efficient is like have you seen that Schwarzenegger film commando oh yeah i actually watched that recently as well and like that's the same kind of idea where it's just it's a really short film and it's just like here's the thing we just want to get to like the action we want to get to the important points we're not like wasting time doing things so they're i think they're the two most efficient
00:10:48
Speaker
films i've ever seen because yeah it's like they've not really got much time because usually with a lot of action films i mean they don't really focus on like a character study or anything because obviously like the main focus is the action of it so they're just like right here's your main character just get them out go go go go but
00:11:08
Speaker
at least for this one as you said it's just so efficient they just do it in such a okay here he is he's skilled he's you know a family man you know he's got personal estate like those three main things that lead you then towards all the other people that you know probably are gonna meet a not a nice fate yeah and as we said like at the very beginning things go really well for them and they just like
00:11:35
Speaker
They just basically blitz through the building led, of course, by... Is it bad to say that the guy who's the lieutenant looks like an Indonesian Clint Eastwood? Do you mean the guy in the polo shirt? Yeah, the one that stands out. He does, actually. Because I remember seeing that for the first time, or seeing the film for the first time and I thought, he looks an awful lot like an Indonesian.
00:12:02
Speaker
Clint Eastwood. And I remember the first time I saw this and the friends I was watching it with were like, is that Clint Eastwood? And it's like, no, it's not Clint Eastwood. But it could have been. How amazing would that be if Clint Eastwood had been to it in this film? Yeah, that would have been. But before we go any deeper into the film, how did you hear about this film, first of all? So I wasn't aware of any marketing for it beforehand. So the film came out in 2011. So I don't remember hearing anything about it beforehand. I think
00:12:32
Speaker
I remember hearing about it towards the end of 2011 when people were starting to talk about the best films of that year. Because it was a point in my life I used to be like quite, I was quite into films and you know I was always trying to hear like what were the ones to see and everything and I remember it appearing on a lot of people's like best of the year lists and it really caught my attention. I said no I'd been more actually interested in dread that year. I was like really interested in dread and everything and then I and then people I had people started to compare it and I was like well that sounds interesting I'll need to check this out and I remember seeing like
00:12:59
Speaker
a clip of it, and I was listening to the action, I was like, oh my god, I have to see this film now, I must see this film. So like, I think, do you know what, I think maybe Christmas 2012, because I had to wait for the DVD to come out, I think, so I think maybe Christmas 2012, I got the DVD the year after, and I watched it like Boxing Day, or maybe like a couple days after Christmas, and I just sat there like, wow, like, you know, like this is the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life, and that was it, I was hooked from there.
00:13:28
Speaker
then I've tried to show it to anybody who stopped for two seconds in my vicinity. I mean that is an amazing film though but I think I was in the same boat as you probably. I ended up, I don't think I actually watched this until about 2015 maybe. It might have been that long ago because
00:13:49
Speaker
as I said I ended up watching Dread first in the cinema and I remember I saw it in 3D because one of my friends is like a massive Judge Dread fan so he was just like yeah let's go see this in 3D and I was like oh I don't know should we go should we go and see it and yeah it turned out it was amazing I absolutely love it like so much so that I've went out and bought the blu-ray I'll actually need to watch it after this
00:14:17
Speaker
That's how good it was. And everybody kept saying, oh, it's just like the raid, it's just like the raid. And I'm like, what is the raid? And they're like, oh, it's this Indonesian martial arts film. And it was like, okay, let's try and see. Yeah, I didn't watch it until I was in university.
00:14:34
Speaker
And when I ended up watching it, it was one of my friends actually that brought it up and was like, oh, do you want to watch this film called The Raid? And it was like, you know when that light bill, light bulb rather, clicks in your head and you go, oh, The Raid, oh, yeah, I've heard of that film.
00:14:52
Speaker
you're like okay okay so we watched it in our uni like flat back then and oh my god i was blown away honest to god i think that it has ruined action films for me i think like i cannot watch another action film without thinking it's not like the read
00:15:13
Speaker
I mean, I can see why in fairness, like it is like, it is a league of its own in so many ways. Yeah. Because it's like, I can't remember when it came out, but do you remember the taken films? Oh, God, it was 2008. Was that the first one?
00:15:30
Speaker
yeah like the first taken film was actually really i mean for me personally i thought it was like really good but yeah when two and three came out it was like this film is just i didn't even put it like it was just like going downhill so fast like i think someone described it as
00:15:48
Speaker
watching your dad try to fight bad guys or something like that or watching your granddad it was something like that and you thought and with all you know the cuts and the shaky cam and things like that was the kind of standard that was getting set for action films at the time and you kind of thought just
00:16:07
Speaker
it wasn't like hopeful and then of course you watch a film like this and it just like blows everything out of the water but like I'm gonna put the burden on you here for a second and say like what makes the action in this film so good?
00:16:24
Speaker
I think for me, I think there's two things that both make the action good, but also just make the film amazing. Number one is just the intensity of it. It's a relentless film. The pacing is just so... It's just bam, bam, bam, bam. Nothing stops. You barely get moments to breathe. And usually when you do get a moment to breathe, you're like... You should draw as much air as you can before everything starts up again.
00:16:48
Speaker
The action itself, I think what makes this, it feels so fresh, I remember watching it, I was like, I've never seen, I've seen action film before, I've seen a lot of action film. And you know what, the story is nothing new here. We've seen this premise before, this is Die Hard, this is Command, this is, you know, it's one man against insurmountable odds, that's like standard, you know, 101 action movie odds.
00:17:12
Speaker
nothing there but what it is is like it's the action itself like i've never seen anything like it like there was this this intensity to the fight scenes where like every single fight scene felt like this proper life and death struggle where people were just scratching and clawing you know just to stay alive for like a second longer and it just felt so true to like i when watching like obviously see a lot of action scenes and some of the lot of them a lot ones are hard hitting
00:17:38
Speaker
and you know you get the adrenaline pumping everything but this is the one that I've I think I've felt like on the edge of my seat being like god like I actually feel like these people are like scrapping to stay alive and I'd never seen the kind of like I'd seen martial arts before but I'd never seen this kind of this kind of one which is the it's majoritively oh god I'm gonna butcher this
00:17:56
Speaker
Pentax a lot. Don't say that, right? Thanks. So I always say a lot, but I don't know. You're wrong. No, I could be wrong. But yeah, I'd never. Yeah, I'd never really seen that style. It lends itself to it feels like a very kind of realistic. And if you see kind of a lot of martial arts films and like there's lots of other really good ones out there as well. A lot of them. And this is not I'm not trying to take a swipe at any kind of no.
00:18:18
Speaker
other martial arts films here, but you get a lot that feel kind of like showcase fighting. You know what I mean? It's it's almost like people trying to one up each other and it's almost like kind of like battle, like a kind of violent ballet or something like that. Well, this one, it was proper. Like, you know, we're using whatever we can to, like, you know, share machetes or bare hands to like scratch and claw my way through all this. So, yeah, like I think from that, I think just as well in the way that everything is like choreographed.
00:18:46
Speaker
like the fights and everything that there's all like you don't get any of that which became a trend which became a trend but also still a trend in a lot of action which is that kind of heavy editing you know where it's like quick shot quick shot quick shot and everything's like you know you know you can tell it's all been like shot and like different things and like spliced together basically well this like it felt like you were just watching like just things naturally progress and flow through and while the camera would shake and everything like that you could still keep up with it and it gave it this kind of brutal like
00:19:12
Speaker
relentless energy to it and just the way it flowed and everything as well so yeah like I think really just the intensity and just and just what like the way they did the fights everything as well I think is what made makes the action of the film so good and didn't turn makes the film so amazing as well because I mean that is the key word doesn't it that's just such a fluid film yeah when it comes to the action
00:19:34
Speaker
I don't know like other than like a couple of other you know martial art like if you look at martial art films where obviously again the focus is on the action like I was trying to think of another film that like holds up to the raid and I think the only one I could think of at the time was like Police Story which is like one of the old Jackie Chan ones which of course that's like a whole league of its own and everything but it's just like that idea of just being blown away
00:20:00
Speaker
by the action that's going on in front of it because as you said it's relentless it's it just keeps going on and on like there's basically a scene where the main character gets chased down to a dead end and to like yeah just basically a corridor and these guys have got like machetes and they've got pipes and things and they go to try and kill him and it's just the as you said the brutality of it him trying to like work his way through
00:20:27
Speaker
each person like punching one guy, punching the other and then of course because he's punched one guy you think oh that means he's you know usually in that like action film that means they're you know defeated which sounds stupid to say but it's like oh you know the extras lying on the ground like panting and I actually didn't remember that when I re-watched it
00:20:48
Speaker
because he beats the guy up and then he's in another room fighting another guy and then that guy from the corridor like just rams into him like two seconds later that's like wait a minute that's not the rules you should be down there it's like no what are you doing it's just so well done and you don't really get a taste for the action until as we said things go down south yeah or not down south but things go south and so do you want to explain what happens at that point
00:21:17
Speaker
Well, yeah, so they get a couple of...
Standout Action Scenes
00:21:19
Speaker
So they get into the... They take out the lookout outside the building, first of all, and they're all still stealthy. They manage to get their way into the building without raising any alarms or anything. And they manage to get up first five floors? It's a 15-story building. So they get up the first five floors, and they manage to subdue everybody, and they're all quiet. And I think as they get onto the sixth floor, as they're making their way down the corridor, this kid comes walking out who's in the toilet or something, and he's a lookout.
00:21:44
Speaker
and so like they're trying to like calm him down and they're like oh you know just come here and everything and then he just bolts and the kid goes and warns another kid who then like manages there's like a series of intercoms throughout the building and the other kid like slams the thing and goes police you know and then that's when alerting like the
00:22:01
Speaker
the the crime boss and that's when like he you know he then announces um he he killed all the lights in the building and then he announces to like oh first of all sorry he gets he gets like um his guys outside the building to take care of like the policemen who are like you know securing the outside of the building and the guys are still in the truck and everything so it's just basically the guy is now stuck in the inside the building who are left and then he announces on the loudspeaker he's like right okay um so if you if you go kill a policeman i'll let you like stay here rent free
00:22:29
Speaker
and obviously like the price the rent price in this building must be must be astronomical because about a million people come flooding out with machetes and ak47s and whatever they have to like murder themselves some some cops to get that sweet sweet rent free life oh yeah and then just everything descends from there and again it's a massive gun fight and then by the end of it i think only five of them are left alive i don't think it's even five um
00:22:54
Speaker
Because you've got Rama. You've got Rama. You've got... So I was going to say, in terms of the police, I think you've only got two. You've got Rama and the poor man's Clint Eastwood. But I think that's it. Oh, do you mean right at the end of the film? Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, sorry. Oh, before that. Or I meant right at the end of the initial gunfight. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. You've got Rama. You've got Boa, the guy who gets injured, who Rama looks after. You've got the Lieutenant, the Sergeant, and then another guy. Have you or something?
00:23:24
Speaker
yeah yeah you're right because that's an intense scene as well it's basically and this is a really cool thing like just the way it's all shot as well like as you said the buildings like put into complete darkness and they both can't see
00:23:39
Speaker
anything. The guys are like directly pointing their guns at them, the police, but they don't know because it's just it's in complete darkness. And then I think it's one of the, I can't remember who it is, but one of the policemen fires his gun because he gets like a bit twitchy and because his muzzle flare like lights up that section they all know that they're there so they just start firing into them. And it's just such a brutal scene because you can really tell like the helplessness and just this hail of bullets just coming down
00:24:08
Speaker
And there's no way that they're all gonna make it out after that mistake. So they all have to run and barricade themselves in this, well just basically someone's room. While they're trying to get down below, I mean that's a brutal scene as well when they're trying to dig, or not dig, but he's got an axe that they're trying to chop downwards and at the same time they're trying to barricade the door and it's like
00:24:34
Speaker
there. I think from that moment on the film kind of just goes completely off the rails in the best way possible. Yeah. Because you can see it slowly going bad. As you said, everyone outside gets killed and there's a horrible scene where they've got one guy zip tied up and
00:24:56
Speaker
because he's dealing with his friend who's just been shot. He doesn't see him pull out a machete and just hack him to death and things. It's really brutal. And then I think the turning... I can't remember if it's that scene or it's later on where... I mean it's a logical question for the audience as well when they say, oh it's fine, you know, we'll just call in for backup. It's all going to turn out relatively well. And then of course the police chief is just like, well...
00:25:24
Speaker
about that um yeah this isn't a sanctioned mission and it's like oh no oh and that's when you know shit really hits the fan and you think how are they gonna get out of this one really and like i'm just trying to remember see when they escape is that the fridge scene yeah so like like the last five of them are like holed up in that in that apartment as you've said they say that yeah they go into apartment they've gone down through the floors that they've hacked their way down
00:25:53
Speaker
and then the five of them are in that apartment and say Ramo gets the fridge out and also gets the gas canister for the oven and separate and puts it into the fridge and then they push it up to the door and he chucks a grenade into it. That blows that floor up and takes out the guys who are trying to bust into the
00:26:13
Speaker
into the room so it gives them a little bit of breathing space to kind of separate and scatter. Ironically enough I think after that scene where the fridge blows up it starts to calm down a little bit, or not calm down but it kind of meadows out. You get a moment to reprieve. Yeah exactly, you get a moment to kind of, I wouldn't say reflect, that's definitely the wrong word.
00:26:37
Speaker
but yeah just kind of catch your breath and go wow just all of that went on yeah and it's just like it's it's just insane and then eventually did they not get split off yeah so Rama right so one of the one of the remaining police officers has been like quite badly wounded they've been shot on so Rama takes him and they they go i think they go back up they go back up to the floor they were on originally yeah um because there's there's basically um when they've been trying to get into the building the police
00:27:03
Speaker
They'd met this, like, just as ordinary resident, like, I think the one person in this building who's not a gang affiliate. He's like a guy, like, just trying to get medicine to his sick wife. So he knows what flies, and so he goes, he takes the guy to, the wounded guy to there.
00:27:16
Speaker
And then the sergeant, the lieutenant and the last other soldier, like other policemen, sorry, like go off in a group themselves to try and find a way, regroup and find a way out. I think as well, just like just say that that fridge scene as well. What's what's good, what's interesting about that as well is so before that the action has been like not not quite a distance, but it's been it's been really gun heavy.
00:27:38
Speaker
You know, so they're all like, the policemen are all armed with weapons and rifles, and so are most of the assailants as well. For the part where there's been a bit of distance, but then after that, it's basically, I think, the action all takes place at close quarters because then, like, the guys show up with their machetes. The policemen are basically, I think, used up all their ammo by that point, so they're down to, like, you know, knives and maybe some pistols, but, like, knives and hands, basically. So the action becomes a lot more intimate and maybe even more brutal.
00:28:06
Speaker
Yeah, no, I would definitely say that. Considering, as we said, they're holding machetes and just basically very brutal ways to go. Because I can't remember, is it not one of them gets their ear chopped off? I think he gets shot. I think he gets shot out of his ear. If I remember rightly, I think.
00:28:27
Speaker
yeah and then the main character of course has to like keep him safe really because he can it is i mean it's like a kind of actual air of danger there that he's trying to keep his you know he's trying to keep his colleagues safe but at the same time he has to remember that he has to love himself so it's like he's trying to defend him but i think that's the scene when they are trying to escape and as we said like get
00:28:51
Speaker
to that guy's apartment, they try to just basically fight their way through and the action really shows there. Another thing, like I know we'll kind of touch on it later but another thing I really love about this film is just the fact that they use their environment because that is like quite a sin for a lot of action films where they have an amazing set piece but they just have two guys fighting like as if it's like a Mortal Kombat game or something. It's like they can't move like in three dimensions, they can only move
00:29:20
Speaker
into and you're like I mean you've got that thing there you've got this thing there it's like why don't you use it whereas in The Raids they use like everything like you see guys getting slammed into the walls you see you know pipes getting yanked off the walls you see boxes getting thrown at people you know it's just can I get impaled on a door like the bottle god yeah well we talk about that scene because I think this is a scene that like solidified my love of it of this film
00:29:48
Speaker
I've never seen anything like that in my life. Yeah, I'll let you explain then because it's such a... Oh yeah, so basically after Rama has got like his injured comrade to the... I'll say quote-unquote the good residence flat and they've had to hide away and basically he then goes off to try and find the others and try and like you know find it also
00:30:11
Speaker
for his brother as well a bit more and basically he runs into this like hunting party of these like what four guys kind of four or five guys who are like wielding machetes and we're looking for him and he runs into them and then basically a brawl in shoes and he tries to get away at first like he tries to boy but he gets as you said he gets cornered in this corridor so then this he you know i think he's taking one of them out oh yeah he's taking one of them out he throws one out and the guy breaks his back on the on the what you call that
00:30:38
Speaker
I was going to say the Bannister, but it's not the Bannister, whatever you call it. Yeah, the balcony. Yeah, yeah, the balcony. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, so he starts the fight with the remaining guys. And then at one point he kicks a guy through a door as the door shatters, but they're still like the bottom of the kind of thing. The bottom of the door. Yeah.
00:30:57
Speaker
and it's like bits of splintered wood and everything and then at one point he gets he's fighting this guy and he grabs hold of his head and he jumps back and pulls the guy's head forward and just slams the guy's neck
00:31:12
Speaker
through those jagged bits of wood on the bottom and the guy's body is just convulsing and he's like looking straight into his eyes and it's just and the action just stops for about three seconds maybe like a couple of seconds as you're like oh my as you take a breath in and be like my god like just like process what you see before it then starts up again because there's still like three guys he needs to to take out but yeah as you say that bit is very memorable
00:31:36
Speaker
That is quite the interesting thing because when the action stops it does give you time to kind of breathe but at the same time when the action is going you don't get a moment. It's basically putting you almost in the like shoes of the main character because drama just has to keep going on and on and as I said like even though he's like punched people down and they are looking like bloodied and beaten you know they'll still get up again until they're like
00:32:02
Speaker
completely put down it's just as brutal as well because that's another example of course of them using the scenery because after he uses the door he starts slamming like the other assailants into like the television and to the pots and pans you know like throwing tables like everything goes flying and you're just like oh my god this is just
00:32:26
Speaker
insane yeah and then of course it cuts away in fact even before that another interesting scene is when they're trying to hide away through like this hole it's quite a brutal one but they've tried to hide through like this hole piece of like wall so ram is there with his injured colleague and he's like holding him to make sure he's not gonna yell
00:32:46
Speaker
and one of the people who's looking for him comes in and he just starts stabbing this wall just randomly to make sure there's nobody in it and it ends up like he stabs him or he stabs through and he gets Rama's cheek but when he pulls it away Rama manages to like wipe off the blood when he's like taking out the
00:33:07
Speaker
machete which i thought was quite clever and then of course those are the same people that he ends up fighting in that room and putting through the door and everything like how to put it is like going from zero to 100 to 50 to 20 it's like it's never like in fact it never goes to zero i would say like after it starts i don't think it ever goes back to zero until the credits start rolling and even then you've made your heart rate yeah
00:33:35
Speaker
What's funny about the film is for a film that is so breathless, as we said, the one that you really struggle to catch your breath at points, it's so relentless.
Villains and Climax
00:33:42
Speaker
There are some incredible moments of tension, like that being one as well, like the minute that machete like goes through the wall and it's so quick and it goes straight into his, straight through his cheek, like, you know, like, you're like, you don't want to breathe because you know, at the same time, he's trying not to like react to this, like, which must be it.
00:33:57
Speaker
I can only imagine the incredible pain that must be from a machete slicing your face. He's not trying to react. It's the exact same going back to that scene where they're just before the shooting starts. They talk about when the police are all hunkered down and you can tell they're getting surrounded and everything. And then the guy fires and you're like, no! Because it lights up and you see all these guys with their AKs ready.
00:34:22
Speaker
It's able to create some amazing moments of tension with them. And I mean, even just before the machete scene, so as we said before, they get split off from their, I suppose, their boss. He's not a very good boss, I would say. He's just there to fill out for the leader role, I suppose.
00:34:43
Speaker
Because the three of them end up getting split off from the other two and the three of them nearly get caught as well. I don't know if it's by the same people. It is nearly by the same people. Yeah because you can hear like the guy who dragged in his machete along like the walls and everything and they are standing in I think it's a bathroom or something like that. I can't remember.
00:35:03
Speaker
but they're just like standing there waiting for them to like come out and then they get lucky because they have to like go back and he's like the main guy who led them into this situation just wanting to leave completely whereas the captain of the group wants to stay and
00:35:19
Speaker
You know that says a lot about the characters as well. That this captain even though like 90% probably if not more of his men are dead and it's like he still wants to make sure that these other guys are okay. Even though his boss is saying no they're all dead let's just get up and go. Yeah it eventually leads to them coming across probably one of the highlight villains of this because we haven't really touched on the villains have we?
00:35:46
Speaker
I'll let you discuss this because where do we even start with the villains in this one? Yeah. Well, it's funny. I'll say there's three main villains. You get a couple of stuff like the guy who leads the machete group.
00:36:01
Speaker
guess as a villain, but he's not in it for that long, so I won't count him. But you get the three main villains, so you have the crime boss who's called... Oh god, is it Tama? Is that his name? I think it's Tama, yeah. So we don't like... He doesn't really get developed much beyond like, you know, he's a ruthless crime boss who like doesn't give a crap about like, you know, human life, which is like brutal and just asserts his dominance like by being incredibly brutal. And that's sort of... And he's also very paranoid as well, that's the kind of two traits he has.
00:36:30
Speaker
You've then got his like one of his he's got then got to Like the tenants and so you've got one who's called Andy and do you want me to go into like the pot boy of Andy? Or do you want me to keep it general? No, yes, you make a circle and just delve into it So Andy Andy is Rama's brother, which we don't find out until like they meet So basically it becomes a thing of Rama's looking for Andy when he goes into the building originally And then what Andy realizes that Rama's in the building
00:36:56
Speaker
He then goes out to try and make sure he can try and save him. And basically they're estranged brothers and he's basically kind of almost like the brains behind the thing. He's a good fighter as well, but he's like, he's always thinking about, you know, like the ways to keep the business running and like with the least amount of problems and everything. So he's very against like basically the massacre in these, these cops, even before he realizes his brother's there. And then finally you've got, I think he's just called Mad Dog. I don't think he's just called Mad Dog, isn't he? He's just called Mad Dog who's, who's Tamla's like other lieutenant.
00:37:25
Speaker
And this guy is just a psychopath. His whole thing is just crazy. He loves the thrill of close combat and fighting. He doesn't like to use guns and stuff as he says at one point. He likes to beat people to death.
00:37:42
Speaker
like whatever like feel like you know like being right there as their as their life drains away so he's just he's almost like you're just classic like kind of psychopath like that you see in a lot of these kind of films but there is something there is something to him like that i'm trying to put my finger on what it is that makes him like such a like i say appealing is the wrong word but such like a character just like god like you know you're kind of fascinated by um and i think as well it's just he's such a tenacious fighter as well like his fight scenes are
00:38:07
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Oh, absolutely. He is... See, this is the thing about his fight scenes. You can tell that the actors get visibly tired.
00:38:28
Speaker
when they fight him because it is it's like he's prolonging this fight and he's just like dragging them into this like really hit a bit like just this really long drawing out or not even drawing out but just a really long fight that is too brutal to kind of maintain for long periods of time because he's just as you said he's clawing he's scratching I mean in a kind of weird sense like he's honorable in the sense that even when he's losing he doesn't like reach for the gun or anything yeah
00:38:56
Speaker
he always like keeps it hand to hand and everything and I think that's really interesting whereas his boss is I don't know like they're all the kind of own level of psychopath I guess. Like I mean as we were saying like Mad Dog is just like lusting for that kind of fight and that
00:39:18
Speaker
you know it's just he just wants to beat people up essentially and just ruin them whereas his boss is more kind of cruel and cold and calculating. I would say more of a smart villain but at the same time it's like so going back to what you were saying about Rama and his character development where you said like you know in those like scenes we can see what character he is because they do the same at the start for the main like
00:39:43
Speaker
crime lord where he's got all these like I'm assuming they never really explain but I'm just assuming they're like rival like gangs or something yeah something like that and but yeah they've caught them and they've tied them up and he shoots
00:39:58
Speaker
four out of five of them and then he runs out of bullets by the end so he has to go to his drawer to like get more but then he sees a hammer in his drawer and you really feel sorry for that guy because he got the short end of the straw with that one because the rest of them get shot and that's it just instant death whereas this guy just gets bloodied to death with this like huge hammer and you're just like like that sets the tone
00:40:21
Speaker
get me wrong that sets the tone of the whole film but throughout it as he said like he's just using everyone in the building to his own gain as he said like oh yeah the rent will be free and you know oh try and find him and of course he's asking andy and mad dog you know what have you got to show for it there's kind of a funny scene where going back to that fight with
00:40:43
Speaker
Mad Dog and the captain. Like he ends up beating the captain up like to a bloody pulp and choking him out and then he drags him like up to the main office and Andy turns around to him and says you do know that's not the guy that we're supposed to bring up he's just like I don't care I'm just
00:40:59
Speaker
I just want to bring somebody up and of course the main boss. It's like a proper dog isn't it just bringing someone in. Yeah he just throws it down or throws a guy down and he's just like that's not, who is that? He's just like that's not the guy we're looking for. And then Andy's like oh see I told you. And then of course that leads to the twist that he knows, or the criminal court of course knows that he is
00:41:23
Speaker
I would say betraying them, well kind of betraying them, but that Andy is Rama's brother and Ebby's been working with him so he ends up dragging him away and kind of beating him. You don't really see him until the end of the film after that because it cuts back to Rama meeting up with the other survivors and at that point there's only four of them.
00:41:46
Speaker
Oh well, three at that point, yeah. Well, sorry, not Ann. No, you're right, sorry. No, I'm thinking more of the three of them that fight and the injured one. But I think the injured one is still in the flat. Oh, no. I completely forgot about the injured one. No, you're totally right. Yeah, because I was like, where is he? And it's like, oh yeah.
00:42:05
Speaker
He was missing that ear and he was completely short. He was Robocop'd. He deserved a rest. Eventually, I think they scale up, don't they? Yeah, they go through that drug lab. Which is fantastic. Can we talk about the drug lab? That is one of my favourites and it's so good. I feel like I'm explaining a lot of these, so if you want to go explain. No, go for it.
00:42:32
Speaker
So it's Rama, the other soldier who's not injured and it's the lieutenant who we know now is fully corrupt and is basically sanctioned this mission without any sort of official confirmation. So it's the three of them and they're going straight for Tama now because they realise that's the only way they can get out of this building. It's basically get hold of him and use him to bargain their way out. So they keep going up and they reach this drug lab which is very near the top of the building.
00:43:02
Speaker
and they kind of bust in and there's all these like gang members like cutting drugs you know doing all that and that sort of stuff and then the three of them come in and they just like unleash hell and what i love about it is so it's it's a it's a larger scale fight because the three of them kind of the three remaining like i say quote and quote heroes because obviously one of them is
00:43:18
Speaker
but they kind of spread out and they're all involved in their own sort of fight to make this kind of large-scale fight and it kind of cuts back and forth between the three of them and what I love is you've got the two salt you've got the two I keep calling them soldiers so you've got two policemen who are like the fighting is brutal and everything but it is again that kind of martial arts you can see it's that kind of like the training they've had you know this is like formal martial arts training
00:43:38
Speaker
that they've had in the Silat and they're sort of using that to their advantage, but then you get to the lieutenant who clearly hasn't had this training and is just this like street brawler and he is just like hitting people with chairs, like throwing filing cabinets at them. There's one point where he grabs one guy and he just slams his head into this like table with this mountain of cocaine.
00:43:58
Speaker
He's just batching his head into it and it's just I love the contrast because it keeps switching back and the two guys are like you know there's one bit where Rama's like runs down this table and like he has a fight with this guy on a table which is amazing and stuff and it just comes back to this lieutenant guy who's just like oh it's just great just swinging chairs at people and stuff and just throwing haymakers and it's just
00:44:17
Speaker
I love it so much. Yeah, it's just so well done. And again, like going back to what you were saying about Rama just like jumping over things and jumping like over the table, like he's, he just looks so, because it's weird, it's like if you saw any other action film you would kind of be like, I don't know, it's a bit unrealistic.
00:44:34
Speaker
But considering he probably was jumping over everything, I was like, oh my god! Because it does, it's all very practical, isn't it? And it's not shy in terms of cutting away from things, because that is quite a terrible sin of a lot of action films where it's before the punch is thrown and they cut away from it, and then they'll bring it back to another scene and it's like, eh, it's just ridiculous, but with this you see everything, and there's
00:45:01
Speaker
get me wrong there's still cuts but it's like it's not like one cut every second it's like they give it time to kind of suppose stew is the wrong word you know what I mean they give it they give it time to kind of mature and just basically let you see what's going on in the fight scene and
00:45:19
Speaker
yeah again this is an example of them using the environment around them and as you said the guy using the filing cabinet which i thought was hilarious like he has the guy on the floor and he just grabs this filing cabinet and just throws it on him and the guy he is not getting up after it i don't know what was in that filing cabinet but whatever was in it just yeah is going for good
00:45:41
Speaker
and then of course we get to like the climax of it where the boss and of course the other policemen go upstairs to confront the crime lord whereas the or Rama rather he ends up seeing his brother getting beat up and that leads to one of the highlights of the film of course being Rama and his brother Andy fighting off
00:46:04
Speaker
Mad Dog. Oh god, that is such a good scene. Because again, it goes back to this idea of Mad Dog being characterised as this, I suppose, psycho with owner. Because he has Andy strung up and chained up and he's beating him basically like a punching bag. But as soon as his brother comes in, he lets him go. Or he lets him. I can't remember if he lets him go or he lets Rama take him off. I think he lets him go and help him up properly for him.
00:46:34
Speaker
Yeah, and then he waits till they're ready before he like pummels into them and he nearly like takes them both out. Because you think like Rama has shown that he is very capable against like the Cobbins Street Thug and things like that. But when it comes to, you know, Mad Dog, it's like he really struggles and even with his brother's help, I think it's just torture that his brother's there.
00:46:55
Speaker
because his brother has one of those neon lights, or one of the shattered tubes that he just sticks the tube into his neck. And even then, my dog's still going. And I remember the first time I saw this film and I thought, oh my God!
00:47:11
Speaker
It's like, this is brutal. He powers him up, though. That's what's so funny about it, as you say. He gets this whole wave of energy with this bloody fluorescent tube sticking out his neck. It's even more powered up than he was before, didn't he? Because one of the other things I did like, and I think this is a part of Sila martial art in the years, because apparently Mad Dog's actually trained in that in real life, supposedly. Oh, yeah. I did, actually. I think he's actually trained
00:47:38
Speaker
the Indonesian police. I can't remember, I've forgotten the name of what the Indonesian police group is. I don't want to call them SWAT because they're not, but that kind of elite police group, he has taught people like that, the actual police mad dog, that sort of that fighting style, so that's why he's so well versed in it. Kind of often, because I think, can you imagine being one of those trainees and then just watching this film and being like, oh my god,
00:48:06
Speaker
That's who trained us, oh my god. Yeah it's just such like a from start to finish because it goes on for a long time. Like they start the fight or the confrontation and then it cuts away to the police chief like running through the halls and I think they confront the boss or the crime lord and then the twist of course being that he just wanted to capture him but it's like there was no kind of
00:48:31
Speaker
there was no, like, honourable reason for it. I can't remember why, but there is, like, some corruption thing or something that he just wants to be. Yeah, I think he knows he's in, like, the lieutenant knows he's in, like, deep kind of shit and stuff. Because I think, as well, the sergeant, before he's killed, is like, I'm going to make sure that I see you go down, you know, for this and stuff. So I think he's trying to, like, he's playing his own game now of, like, trying to weed his way out of, you know, death and jail.
00:48:58
Speaker
Because I feel sorry for the other police officer that helps him arrest him and then he just turns around and shoots him because I forgot about that when I rewatched it. I was like, oh god. I was like, why did you do that? I was like, oh yeah, corruption. Yeah, whoops.
00:49:13
Speaker
and then of course it cuts back to the Mad Dog scene and yeah I don't normally want to spoil things for the second film but yeah do you think we should like say what happens to Mad Dog? I've looked up I've looked up they're not I don't think they're supposed to be the same character just say the same actor appears in both films but he's got a different name in the in the second film so I think he's meant to be a different character right okay so I think we can if you want to just say what happens to
00:49:41
Speaker
So basically at the end, even though as we said he's powered up by this like neon light, Rama manages to get a hold of it and like tear it across his throat. Then finally he stops moving and you're like oh thank god this fight's over because even I'm getting... I'm sitting down and even I'm getting palpitations. I'm like oh my god.
00:50:03
Speaker
and then of course yeah in the second film the same actor is in it like as i said like i don't know or i didn't know whether it was supposed to be the same character or not because i remember i watched the first one and then i think straight after we all watched the second film together and it was just so confusing seeing the same actor just being like yeah there's no way he is dead he is he is
00:50:26
Speaker
definitely did. There's no way he could have survived that but yeah it must be a different character but he definitely gets like thoroughly thrashed in that one and of course that leads to the confrontation where the police chief kind of realises that he's in deep you know law and tries to well first of all he offers the police the
00:50:45
Speaker
guy they were supposed to bring in. Which makes the whole thing kind of futile, doesn't it? It's like, it's kind of like, no, bittersweet is actually too optimistic. It's kind of gut-wrenching that all these guys died just because of this one corrupt guy here. Of course he tries to shoot himself after he shoots the crime boss and then they realise
00:51:07
Speaker
realises in like an ironic twist of fate that he'd run out of bullets, which of course then leads to him getting arrested and carted away and yeah then I think it really just ends on Rama trying to convince his brother who
00:51:23
Speaker
it basically makes a point of saying that they're kind of in two different worlds. Yeah. Yeah. And he says like how he's tried to protect him. Oh, sorry. He knows he can protect him in his world, but not vice versa. And it's like, yeah, that's, I mean, considering that corrupt guy, it's like, yeah, that's probably true. It probably institutes an observation.
00:51:42
Speaker
I mean, that's when it ends, like, when they finally get out, and it honestly is. It's just, like, how did you feel? See, once you've finished it, like, finished this film for the first time, like, how did you feel at the end of it?
00:51:56
Speaker
Well, I'll tell you what I did. I instantly went back and watched all the fight scenes again. I was like, I want to see this again. And that's why I think it's one of the greatest trends of this film is I think it's infinitely rewatchable. It's of a length. And the pacing is so fast that I don't think it gets boring. It doesn't really matter how many times I watch this. I always feel I'm just like, oh, I could just watch it again. It's so good. It's so good. So that was my reaction. I was like, oh.
00:52:25
Speaker
Rewind. I was probably the same in all honesty because it is one of those films where it ends and you're just like hyped up from it and you're just like oh my god this is this is the greatest thing ever and as I said like would you say this film ruined other action films for you after you watched it? To an extent yes I would say because like I think it is in a league of its own and I don't I've yet to see anything that matches it
00:52:51
Speaker
But at the same time, like, I think I've almost separated out. I'm almost like, well, that's just, you know, near perfection. So like, I'm almost like, it's almost unfair to compare it to anything else because I'm like, so I've, I've kind of separated it into tiers. So, you know, you've got like right at the top for me, I've got the raid and it's in its tier by itself until I, you know, if anything ever reaches it, then, you know, we'll see. But then below, I've got the rest of the kind of action films and I separate them. I can still, I can still happily watch other action films.
00:53:17
Speaker
nothing comes close to like, you know, what the raid, how the raid made me feel, I'll say that. And I mean, of course, I can't even remember when the raid two came out, was it a couple of years after? 2014, I think I remember rightly. That's not three years. Damn, that's actually not long at all. I know we'll kind of cover it in a separate chat tsunami, but like, would you say like, just kind of briefly, because honestly, we could spend like a whole like, another two hour,
Film Comparisons and Criticisms
00:53:45
Speaker
yeah.
00:53:45
Speaker
It definitely deserves its own chance to nanny, but do you think that was a good continuation? I think it was. The Raid 2 is different, sort of the way I look at them. To use a crude comparison, the first Raid,
00:54:01
Speaker
to me is like a superior version of Commando, and there's that really short, really intense burst of action and everything, while the Raid 2, I look at as, and this is like, I really like the Raid 2, and I was saying to you, I have a hard time choosing, which is my favorite team to do, but the way I look at the Raid 2 is I look at it as an inferior Terminator 2, in that way that they're both action films,
00:54:26
Speaker
but like both the Raid 2 and Terminator 2 are like longer films and it's not, they're not as relentless as more character development. There's more slow moments in both of them. You know, there's more, there's like more time to breathe and everything. So I look at it that way. I don't think the Raid 2 is quite as good at that as something like Terminator 2 is. And in that way of building characters, but also combining the action, but they're different films. And I think, I think that's the way it had to be. I don't think it would have worked as well. The Raid 2 of the Raid
00:54:53
Speaker
if the Raid 2 had been the exact same sort of style and that really like fast like burst you know like being like rapidly punched in your chest like that punch bag at the beginning it's more of a it's more of a slow beating you know you get you're beaten up and you get a few minutes to recover and then somebody comes bring some more hammers at you later on but like so there is a continuation but I think it's the way it had to go and as I think as you said like it's sort of you can almost see it's like maybe the film the guy Gareth Evans is
00:55:18
Speaker
director wanted to make in that more of a crime drama in many ways than a pure action film. And sorry, I'm just thinking of something you were saying earlier, just when you were talking about the name of the
00:55:34
Speaker
special forces, like when you said they're SWAT but they're not SWAT, do you want to explain what happened with the cover of the DVD? Oh yeah, my DVD cover, yeah. So as you can see here, the cover that's up on the screen here, so the cover that I have for the DVD, which I'm obviously the one that was released in the UK and I presume from the US as well,
00:55:58
Speaker
It's the same style, so it's got the building in the background, you've got the raid, and you've got Rama at the bottom, but on the DVD cover, he's got SWAT written on his back, and then there's a fan as well that has SWAT written on it, and there's some other policemen who have SWAT written on it, and so you're just like, oh, that's a bit like, I guess it's just like a way of like a Western audience of like, being like, oh yeah, now you understand, yeah, they're elite cops, basically, which is a little bit like, on one level I'm like, okay, I can kind of understand what they're doing, the other way you're like, oh, that's a bit.
00:56:25
Speaker
I don't know. They're his own people, you know? They have their own unit and everything. They're not just, like, swats, but I don't know. It did make me laugh when I saw that. I was like, oh. I was dumb Westerners, can't understand things. And speaking of levels, the other thing that says on it is something like... I don't even know if it was for the trailer or for the books only, but I do remember them saying something like, 30 levels of hell. And it's like, well, if you actually watch the film, there's only 15.
00:56:55
Speaker
I'm not trying to, you know, I'm not trying to shit on the person who actually made the cover for this, but it's like, yeah, there isn't that much. That is unless he counted the windows on the cover and maybe, I don't, well he didn't watch it. I can understand probably if the person didn't watch it, but it was hyping it up. Even if it was a taller building, would that make it any better?
00:57:21
Speaker
Because, I mean, Dread had probably over 30 levels. And I don't think that... Or it was like a ridiculous amount. But that would have made it more tense if they had a thousand. He just would have got lost at that point.
00:57:40
Speaker
I probably could just leave here, there's no way they can cover all these floors. And I have to admit, it's kind of, it's like obviously it's like a coincidence that Dredd came out at the same time as the raid. But I think, I'm curious to hear what you think, but I think that was quite a good thing. Probably one of the best things that could have happened to this film.
00:57:59
Speaker
in the sense that he had this huge blockbuster film that was coming out, very similar premise of climbing this tower block. And we could definitely do a Chatsunami Ondrade because that is amazing in itself.
00:58:15
Speaker
I love it as well, like I have such a soft spot for it. And yeah, it's like, as I said, the same premise and everything. And then the amount of people, I don't even know where this started, but someone must have said, you know, oh, it's just like dread. And then kind of like, you know, just whispers along the playground. You know, it's like everybody was saying, oh, it's just like the raid. It's just like the raid. To which then people have to ask and return, what is the raid? And then of course,
00:58:44
Speaker
Because I don't know, I still think it probably could have got popular, but at the same time, for a film that's meant to be a low-budget action film, it just blows a lot of the other action films out of the water. Oh god, yeah. Like, half of them you're just kind of like, I can't believe how well this is done. You just sit there thinking, oh this film is just...
00:59:06
Speaker
Yeah it is incredible. Apparently like two kind of interesting bits of trivia just before we end but apparently the guns they use are just airsoft guns. Oh really? Supposedly that's what it said and they obviously like add to the muzzle flash which I suppose you can kind of notice some of the graphics are a bit janky like you know the explosion scene with the fridge like you can notice that
00:59:31
Speaker
But that's the thing though, it's like even though they've got kind of like effects that aren't that great, you know, see all the close-up stuff, like the action, I think that kind of like just overwhelms all of its like faults. Like what would you, and this is me putting you in a difficult position so apologies, but like if there was one thing you could criticise about the raid, like what would be the main thing, or not main but like, because I feel as if we'd have to nitpick at this stage.
00:59:58
Speaker
it's this is literally this is literally nitpicking as you say maybe maybe the characters aren't really that well developed no as far as maybe what i would say like they are a lot of them i feel are kind of just stock archetypes like in a way like i think the only person we really kind of get even even rama to an extent is basically somebody like john mcclain or you know it's that it's that archetype of
01:00:20
Speaker
of here but again like the film doesn't again I can't criticize this film for too long before I have to be it doesn't need to be you don't need like we don't need like you know Citizen Kane level of character development in this film but like if you're gonna like if I if you're forcing me to if you're holding machete to my head forcing me or sorry a neon light bulb to my head and forcing me to to criticize this film I'd say like again the characters aren't that well
01:00:46
Speaker
Yeah, because I'm trying to think of myself, like if there's anything I would criticise. Yeah, I would probably say. Although the other thing I noticed, I don't know if you picked this up, see when they shoot up the getaway vehicle, or not the getaway vehicle, but you know the truck that they arrive in. If you look in the background, there's like cars just driving by. It's like
01:01:09
Speaker
you know old like either BBC like shows or something like that where they would say something like oh this place has been deserted for years and then you see like a white van go by in the background and it's like oh thousands of years eh? I think he's on time for his shift you know it's like that bit of it's kind of like okay that's a bit
01:01:30
Speaker
It's a bit strange. And again, yeah, the characters aren't that fleshed out. I mean, for the purpose of the story and considering how the action's framed, it's hard to hold that up and be like, I want, you know, as you said, the Citizen Kane of action films. But yeah, I feel as if they developed just enough. You have enough to get invested in wanting to see Rama survive. Oh, yeah.
01:01:54
Speaker
On the other hand, he's not really a blank slate, is he? Yeah, not annoying. Cos I mean, it could have been, like, so much worse, couldn't it? If the guy I got to was just like, yeah, we're just gonna get this guy who can punch really hard, and that's it. Yeah, that's his character.
01:02:11
Speaker
yeah, how they can like do flips or whatever and it's like no like they really utilize them well and I think that is one of the main strengths of this film like I know I said it before but the fact that they utilize like the environment, the characters, just everything you know they take full advantage and considering this was the film this is the thing I find interesting so is it Gareth Evans who's the director? Yeah yeah yeah Considering he this wasn't his first choice of film you know it's like
01:02:39
Speaker
As I said, he wanted to do The Raid as a prison drama, which eventually is what The Raid 2 became, but then of course they only had the budget to do The Raid as scaling up this high-rise flat. If you were told, oh, you can't do this film, or the film you want, you have to do a film that is a low-budget action film, he could have cut corners in all the wrong places.
01:03:08
Speaker
It could have been so easy to be. I've seen a lot of later Steven Seagal films, I know how it goes. We've all seen Under Stage 2 here. I've seen so many lazy action films where it's just, you see the characters throw a punch, the guys go down.
01:03:26
Speaker
They save the day, it's all sunshine and roses. It's so lazy but with the raid it's not. He takes full advantage of everything that he's given. And then he even cuts the cast at the beginning so that saves the bunch. Which probably, whether that's true or not, I'm making a joke there.
01:03:49
Speaker
like he does it in such a good way and that's the thing as well though for a film that is all about like close combat action it never really feels claustrophobic yeah like a lot of people like you can assume that there's other people living in this like apartment complex that aren't hungry cycles
01:04:08
Speaker
you know, that they aren't out to like, stab the policeman or anything, you know? But even despite that, you've got just enough people, you know, to make it believable that they're in danger, you know, rather than like it being, like, or feeling more like a set. Like it feels more like a, definitely more like a lived-in place that they're trying to
01:04:30
Speaker
As derelict as it is, it's more of a lived-in place. They're trying just to scale up and make sure that they're just trying to reach their object.
01:04:40
Speaker
all the while like avoiding intense doom which i think is the only way you can describe it really isn't it oh oh yeah definitely yeah before yeah fire brimstone gnashing of teeth all of the good stuff and i mean when did this phone come out you said 2011 2011 this is a decade now it's 10 years old now it still holds up though doesn't it yep yeah
01:05:04
Speaker
I watched it again this morning and I felt the exact same way I felt when I saw it the first time round. I can completely understand because I mean I watched it I think either last night or the night before and it's just I remember watching it thinking
01:05:19
Speaker
This still holds up. As I said, some of the effects don't hold up, but seeing all honesty, it's in a row way. I don't know why this came to my head, but it's like watching Citizen Kane and being more interested with the globe that he's holding.
01:05:37
Speaker
You know, it's like, oh well, that is the plot point. But you know, I mean, it's like more interested in like, oh, what kind of make is it? You know, rather than... That's really a prop globe, not a real snow globe. That's not like a real 1870 Austrian made snow
Final Recommendation
01:05:52
Speaker
globe. You know, it's like, it's like...
01:05:54
Speaker
being worried about the wrong things, that's essentially my point, is being worried about the wrong things and you don't like, it doesn't matter almost, like even if the graphics, or not the graphics but the special effects can be a bit janky because just the action sweeps it away and it's by far like a 10 out of 10 film.
01:06:13
Speaker
I guarantee you will not, the first time you watch it, you will not notice that like the explosion is kind of janky and stuff. You'll probably maybe notice it like the 10th time you watch it. The first time like I had no concept. I didn't even wasn't even registering like what they, what the graphics were like. I was just like, I was just like, I was both screaming, but I was screaming internally because I didn't have air. I had to go over my hair as I desperately tried to suck air in as I was like, oh, you know, just watching this film. Yeah, 10 out of 10.
01:06:43
Speaker
Yeah, I honestly think I was the same, actually. Because I'm trying to remember when I first watched it and that's all I was concerned with. Like, how are they gonna get out? What's gonna happen next kind of thing rather than, oh, those graphics look bad. You're just like, no, never, no, absolutely not. It's just, you are on the edge of your seat, and...
01:07:02
Speaker
Yeah, it's honestly just an example of how to make a good action film. Yup. It's completely a 10 out of 10 film. And again, as I said, it's no one that kind of ends happy.
01:07:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's bittersweet. Bittersweet, yeah. I mean, they manage, or some of them, manage to escape, but the rest of them have just been, I don't know, dumped, I want to say. Yeah. It's not a very nice ending for the others. Yeah, of course that then leads to the second film, which is something we probably, honestly, we might as well do it next week, or at some point.
01:07:38
Speaker
Yeah definitely soon because it is just such a good film but they're both like completely different but yeah kind of just to sum up like if you were trying to convince someone to watch this film like in a couple of sentences what would you say? I would say if you like action film go watch this film like if you like action films and you haven't seen this film
01:07:59
Speaker
What are you doing? Go see it now. The only people I think I wouldn't recommend this to is if you really dislike action films and you really dislike excessive violence, then don't watch this film because it's not going to change your opinion on either of those things. But if you like action films, go see it. If you just like good films, just go watch this film. It's a masterpiece of its genre.
01:08:25
Speaker
You know, it's it's exactly how do you make the perfect film to suit your genre, to suit your budget and everything? I think this is this is the example I'd hold up and say, watch The Raid. That's what you do. That's how you do it. It's only it's just over an hour and a half. That's not a big time investment. So go check it out. It's great. Yeah.
01:08:45
Speaker
I don't think I can summarise it better. If you don't like films or action films that are a bit too bloody or kind of in your face with the violence then yeah this definitely is not for you but if you're looking for like a amazing start to finish like thrill ride then yeah like as Adam was saying what are you doing? Go right now!
01:09:09
Speaker
get out of here go grab a copy of this film because it is you honestly if you're a fan of action films and you haven't seen the read then go see it because you will not you will honestly not regret it it's one of those only films that i 100% if i know someone's into action films martial arts or things like that just yeah it's
01:09:30
Speaker
definite with the film for you. I've watched it with people who aren't like action films but aren't like as big into it as we are and they absolutely loved it. So I think yeah because it's such a fresh like take on an action film in a way in that you probably chance are you probably not seen anything like it before in that way that I think like just its uniqueness is a real draw
01:09:55
Speaker
And it's something that will really stay with you. You say uniqueness, and then Dredd came out and just ruined that question. But not so much even the story in the action in terms of like, Dredd is, and I love Dredd, but Dredd is more reminiscent of your kind of...
01:10:10
Speaker
classic action film. Well this, like just the way it's choreographed and paced and its intensity, I doubt you'll have seen anything like it. Oh no, absolutely. Because even with Dred, like it's kind of joking as I was saying that there, like the only real premise is, or the similarities to the premise is they're both climbing a really tall building to stop a drug lord. Like the action is completely different
01:10:36
Speaker
See, once you get in there, I can't imagine Dreid going fist to fist with some of the other guys and leaping over them. As you said, I think you summed it perfectly at the very beginning that it is almost like a dance. It's like a complete dance of fighters trying to pivot around one another.
01:10:58
Speaker
end it as fast as possible and I think that is one of the styles of a sila where it's there you use your body as a weapon so it's supposed to be that you're supposed to like fight without a weapon and use your body as the weapon and it's just brutal it's just throwing yourself completely into this that is like what the raid is if you throw yourself into it you're just gonna get a brutal like non-stop action experience yeah and it's just absolutely amazing 10 out of 10 nothing really else we can say to that as well
01:11:27
Speaker
nope just go watch it yeah definitely if you haven't watched it go watch it it's yeah fantastic so is there any final thoughts like you want to say about the film i mean i think i think i've i think i've gushed all i can yeah all i can about this like just if you if you want to if you want to get as close to life experience of what i imagine it's like people like scrapping to the death
01:11:53
Speaker
he's graphic to the death then go watch this film. Apart from actually being in that situation yourself, I've never seen anything that will become as close. Yeah, I'm not even going to clarify in that. Just go see it. Go see it. So yeah, thank you again Adam so much for returning to talk about this amazing film.
01:12:12
Speaker
this was this was it's my pleasure every week but this was especially my pleasure you did very little to coax me into doing this one i think i think you're like do you want to do the right i was like yes yes no let's go now is that right now no it was great i love talking about this film and yeah so yeah thank you for having me oh no thank you so much for coming on
01:12:35
Speaker
If you want to see more of my content, you can catch me on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and of course Twitch under the name Satsanami42. And if you want to see more of this kind of Chatsanami content, you can catch us every Wednesday at 7.30pm BST or
01:12:56
Speaker
You can also catch extra episodes of Chat Tsunami over on Anchor, Spotify and Allgood Podcast distributors without any further ado. Stay safe, stay awesome. Most importantly, stay hydrated. Bye guys. Bye.