OUCH

I'll be brief.  The Raid: Redemption isn't a movie.  Okay, it's a movie strictly in the technical sense.  It was shot on a camera, there are actors in it and it was shown in a theater. However, the The Raid really can be best described as an experience.  A hyper violent experience of biblical proportions.  It's bodies and bullets and blood by the buckets.   Battered bones and broken bulbs used as bayonets.  I'm sure there was a plot in it somewhere, but I didn't follow it.   Not because I couldn't.  But because I realized early on that I shouldn't.  The story is merely a vehicle to legitimize watching an hour and a half long brutal martial arts display.  There are nearly fifty cast members in this film that are credited no higher than AK-47 Gunman #16 or Swat Member #11.  Names aren't important.  Motivations are made pretty clear.  It's visceral eye candy at its finest.  And I enjoyed the hell of it.

And I do mean visceral.   I don't think that I'm going out on a limb here by saying that it may be one of the most violent films ever.   The Matrix? Old Boy? Kill Bill? Ong Bak?  Pikers compared to The Raid.  It is written(HA! HA!), directed, and edited by Gareth Evans.  You don't care about that.  It features music by Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park.  You won't care about that.  All you'll be able to take from The Raid is that Indonesian stunt men need to be paid more.  You'll cringe.  You'll grimace.  You'll gasp.  And then you'll watch it all over again.   It is a must have for any true action film fan.  Go ahead...watch it...finish blurting out an awe inspired obscenity....then tell me I'm wrong.