Rama goes undercover after the events of the first film to bring down the bigger dogs who have had their attention turned to the tower after it being shut down by him and his team. Sure the action is frequent, intense and to some degree there is a constant sense of danger – but it’s vastly different from the first.
( You can read my review of the first Raid here or grab a copy online to watch. No escape, no outside world, just condensed environment for intense fighting and death. It’s a single setting with constant threat and crazy action. You’re glued to the screen because of this suspense which is backed up with severe violence and an intense level of action that has never before been matched in a martial arts film. Any second you can expect a machete wielding maniac to fly around the corner and see some intense action. Once in, things go wrong and we spend the entire film inside this building, with a sense of entrapment and constant danger.
The movie kick starts with a single storyline, a group of SWAT guys (including the main character Rama – Iko Uwais) storming a dangerous building to take down the crime boss. I can’t wait to see what the third movie has to offer (especially since I heard the rumor that Scott Adkins was possibly going to make an appearance).
These films, although very similar in the most important aspects – action, intensity and and general grittiness, they are quite different and stand together quite well. With the first being little over and hour and half, I knew this film was going to be different than the first, not just longer. I read the back cover – 2 and half hours! Holy shit, that’s a long martial arts movie.