The Raid (2011 film)

The Raid (Serbuan maut) is a 2011 Indonesian action film written, directed and edited by Gareth Evans. The film stars Iko Uwais, who previously worked with Evans in another action film, Merantau, released in 2009. Both films showcase the traditional Indonesian martial art Pencak Silat, with fight choreography led by Uwais and Yayan Ruhian. In The Raid, an elite squad is tasked to infiltrate a high-rise building – run by a ruthless drug lord – located in the slums of Jakarta; among them is Rama (played by Uwais), a rookie member of the team.

After its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), The Raid received positive reviews from critics. The name of the film was changed to The Raid: Redemption in the United States as distributor Sony Pictures Classics could not secure the rights to the title; it also allowed Evans to plan out future titles in the series. The US release of the film features a film score composed by Mike Shinoda and Joseph Trapanese. It was released in the United States on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on 14 August 2012.

A sequel, The Raid 2, was released in 2014. A second sequel was initially planned for release in 2018 or 2019, but no production schedule has yet been announced.

Plot
Special tactics officer Rama prays, practices Silat, and bids goodbye to his father and wife who is pregnant with his child. He cryptically promises his father he'll "bring him home." Rama joins a heavily armed 20-man elite police squad, including officers Bowo, Dagu, Sergeant Jaka and Lieutenant Wahyu, for a raid on an apartment block in Jakarta's slums. The team intends to eliminate crime lord Tama Riyadi – who, with his two lieutenants Andi and Mad Dog, owns the block letting criminals and junkies around the city rent rooms under his protection. Arriving undetected, the team sweeps the first floors and subdues various criminal tenants; they also temporarily detain an innocent, law-abiding tenant delivering medicine to his sick wife in apartment #726. Continuing to the sixth floor, the team is spotted by a young lookout, who passes on the message to another lookout just before he's shot dead by Lt. Wahyu; the latter youth raises the alarm.

Tama calls reinforcements and the team is brutally attacked. Thugs snipe two officers guarding the perimeter, eliminate two more in the van, and ambush the officers patrolling the first five floors. Cutting the lights, Tama announces over the PA system that the police are trapped on the sixth-floor stairwell, and he will grant free permanent residence to those who kill the intruders. In the darkness, the remaining team members are ambushed by shooters from above, and almost completely wiped out. Prior to the gunfight, Lt. Wahyu confesses to Jaka he staged the mission so he can eliminate Tama – who's in league with corrupt police officials, including himself. The mission is not officially sanctioned by police command; nobody at HQ knows their location and there is no hope for reinforcements.

The surviving officers retreat to an empty apartment as they are cornered by more armed thugs. To create an escape route, Rama uses an axe to cut a hole in the wooden floor so the team can descend to the lower level. Dropping to the room below, the team struggles to fend off Tama's horde of thugs and Officer Bowo is critically injured in the process. In a last-ditch effort to defend his team, Rama uses a stove propane tank to construct an improvised explosive device that successfully eliminates the invading henchmen, giving the officers a small window of time. Out of ammunition, and with more of Tama's reinforcements approaching, the team splits into two groups: Jaka, Dagu and Lt. Wahyu retreat to the fifth floor, while Rama and a critically injured Bowo ascend back above in search of the law-abiding tenant they encountered earlier.

Fighting through a handful of goons on their way to apartment #726, Rama pleads with the tenant for help; despite his sick wife's protest, Gofar reluctantly hides the officers in his apartment. Five machete-wielding thugs arrive and ransack the man's home. The leader, noticing a refurbished wall, begins stabbing it but fail to find them. After tending to Bowo's wounds, Rama leaves him with the couple to search for Jaka's group. Crossing paths with the machete gang he runs to the eighth floor but is cornered. He defeats the group, including their leader, who he uses to smash through a window and cushion a three story plummet onto a fire escape below. Exhausted, he makes his way to the sixth floor before being grabbed by Andi, who had just murdered two of Tama's men in the elevator. Andi is revealed to be his estranged brother, who Rama signed up for the mission to search for at the urging of their father. Rama refuses to leave the building without his comrades, and Andi refuses to abandon his auspicious criminal life, "Just because you see what I do as wrong doesn't mean I can't be good at it." Rama parts to search for his surviving colleagues.

Mad Dog discovers Jaka and his group hiding on the fourth floor. As Lt. Wahyu runs off, Jaka instructs Dagu to "protect him," while Jaka is left at Mad Dog's gunpoint. Instead of shooting him, Mad Dog challenges Jaka to a hand-to-hand fight which he ultimately wins and proceeds to snap Jaka's neck, killing him. Mad Dog meets up with Andi to report back to Tama in the surveillance room. Tama, having learned of Andi's treachery, incapacitates Andi and hands him over to Mad Dog for torture and execution. Rama regroups with Dagu and Lt. Wahyu in apartment #403. They make their way up, fighting through a narcotics lab, as they head for Tama on the 15th floor. Along the way, Rama discovers the room where Mad Dog is torturing Andi, causing him to separate from Dagu and Wahyu. Mad Dog lets Rama free Andi, and fights both brothers. He initially has the upper hand, but the brothers prove to be a match when working together. Following an intense and grueling battle, Rama kills Mad Dog with Andi's help.

Meanwhile, Lt. Wahyu and Dagu confront Tama after killing off his remaining henchman. However, Lt. Wahyu ends up betraying Dagu by shooting him in the face before taking Tama hostage, intending to use him as a shield to escape. When the duo encounter Rama and Andi as they're going down stairs, Tama taunts Wahyu revealing that he had already been waiting for them before the raid began and Lt. Wahyu was set-up by his corrupt higher-ups; indicating that he will be killed regardless of escaping. In despair, Lt. Wahyu kills Tama and attempts suicide, only to find he has no ammunition left.

Andi uses his influence to allow Rama to leave with the injured Bowo and a detained Lt. Wahyu. Gofar, who protected Bowo, watches from a window grinning with relief. Andi also hands over emergency blackmail recordings Tama made of corrupt officials he dealt with, telling him to contact Officer Bunawar. Rama asks Andi to come home, but Andi refuses due to his acclimation to his criminal lifestyle. Andi asserts he can protect Rama in his role as a gang boss, but that Rama can't do the same for him. As he turns around and walks back to the apartment block, the trio exit to an uncertain future.

Cast
Other cast members include Henky Solaiman and Fikha Effendi, who play Rama's father and wife, respectively. Verdi Solaiman, Ananda George and Yusuf Opilus appear as officers Budi, Ari and Alee, respectively.
 * Iko Uwais as Rama, one of the rookie members of the special forces unit tasked with raiding Tama's building. One of the few survivors of the raid. Uwais previously worked with Evans in Merantau. Having lived for four years in Indonesia and learned about the country's predominant religion, director Gareth Evans implicitly integrated the Muslim faith in Uwais' character without being too political or preachy about it.
 * Joe Taslim as Jaka, the Sergeant who leads his unit into the raid. Having been a fan of Merantau, the former Judo champion Taslim contacted Evans through Facebook for their next project. As Evans was browsing through Taslim's profile, he came across a photo of him in a SWAT uniform and felt that it resonated with the character. Evans had him undergo choreography and drama auditions, with Taslim earning the role having aced them both.
 * as Tama Riyadi, a ruthless drug lord who is the boss of the apartment building. Evans wanted a non-stereotypical take on the character, citing most gangster films wherein the boss is usually wearing a pristine suit and smoking cigars.
 * Yayan Ruhian as Mad Dog, a skilled fighter who is the muscle behind Tama's operation. Ruhian previously worked with Evans in Merantau as an actor and fight choreographer. Evans cast Ruhian in the film as he wanted him to play a "purely evil" character, opposite to that which he played in his debut film which had a "redeemable value".
 * Donny Alamsyah as Andi, Tama's consigliere who is also Rama's estranged elder brother. Alamsyah also played Uwais' character's brother in Merantau. Since he regretted not being able to do action scenes in Merantau, Alamsyah approached Evans as they prepared for The Raid, earning the role having aced the audition.
 * Iang Darmawan as Gofar, a tenant of the building who tends to his ill wife. Prior to the film, Gofar's acting credits had been in sketch comedies, and The Raid marks his transition to a serious role.
 * Pierre Gruno as Wahyu, the Lieutenant who arranges the eponymous raid to take out Tama. One of the few survivors of the raid.
 * Tegar Satrya as Bowo, the hothead member of the team who is wounded attempting to save the life of a team mate. One of the few survivors of the raid.
 * Eka Rahmadia as Dagu, a skilled fighter and team member who protects Lt. Wahyu as they make their way towards Tama. A Taekwondo practitioner, Rahmadia is part of the Piranha Stunt Team who helped with the film's shooting.
 * Alfridus Godfred as leader of the machete gang, who hunt the surviving officers when Jaka and Rama split into two groups.

Development and pre-production
Director Gareth Evans came across the idea for the film when he moved to Indonesia to film a documentary about the country's martial art Pencak Silat, as suggested by his wife of Indonesian Japanese descent. It was in that country that he met Iko Uwais, a Silat practitioner who was then working as a delivery man for a phone company based in Jakarta. Evans then nudged his wife to cast Uwais for Merantau, and then in The Raid.

Following Merantau, Evans and his producers began work on a Silat film project called Berandal (Indonesian for Thugs), a large-scale prison gangster film intended to star not only Merantau actors Uwais and Yayan Ruhian but also an additional pair of international fight stars. A teaser trailer was shot, but the project proved more complex and time consuming than anticipated. After a year and a half, Evans and the producers found themselves with insufficient funds to produce Berandal, so they changed the film to a simpler but different story with a smaller budget. They called the project Serbuan Maut (The Raid). Producer Ario Sagantoro considers the film to be lighter than Merantau. Evans also considers it to be "a lot more streamlined," stating that "Merantau is more of a drama" while The Raid is more of a "survival horror film." Evans wanted The Raid vastly different from Merantau in terms of pacing. With Merantau, some fans complained the action sequences took too long to appear since the first 45 minutes of the film laid emphasis on character development, backdrop (specifically, the Indonesian culture) and drama. Therefore, Evans designed The Raid to be a "full-on" action film.

Pre-production took about four months, which include finalization of the script (which included translation of the original English-language script into Indonesian) and the work on choreography for the fighting sequences, which were designed by Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian. The actors that make up the key members of the police squad were sent to bootcamp military training with KOPASKA, where they learned how to use weapons, and how to perform strategic attack and defense techniques.

Filming and post-production
The crew wanted The Raid to be shot in a quasi-documentary style, that is, the camera is handheld and without the use of Steadicam. To aim such objective, they shot the film in high-definition using Panasonic AF100 camcorder – which had just recently come out of the market – and strayed from using film format while shooting most action and fight sequences. In addition, the camera was frequently attached to a Fig Rig to prevent most scenes from being too jarring, and give the camera operator opportunities to change angles and positions rapidly.

All guns used in the film were Airsoft replicas, to avoid the costs associated with having to deal with firearms. All the shots of the guns' actions cycling, muzzle flashes and cases ejecting were added digitally.

When filming concluded, about two hours of footage was shot; Evans originally intended it to be eighty to eighty-five minutes long. The footage was eventually cut down to approximately 100 minutes. The final stages of post-production took place in Bangkok, Thailand for the color grading and audio mixing processes.

Music
While the film was still in production, in May 2011, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions acquired the distribution rights of the film for the US market and tasked Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park and Joseph Trapanese to create a new score. The film premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival with the original score from the Indonesian version which was composed by Aria Prayogi and Fajar Yuskemal, who also composed Evans's previous film Merantau. The Raid made its debut in the US with Trapanese and Shinoda's version at Sundance 2012.

On his blog, Shinoda stated that his score was over 50 minutes and almost all instrumental. After film production, he had room for two more songs, but did not want to sing or rap, so he posted pictures of two music artists. Deftones/††† frontman Chino Moreno guest performed "RAZORS.OUT", which was leaked online on 16 March 2012, as rap group Get Busy Committee performed "SUICIDE MUSIC" for the film.

International release
The film was marketed internationally through Celluloid Nightmares, a partnership between US-based XYZ Films and France's Celluloid Dreams.

Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions acquired the film's distribution rights for the United States, Latina America and Spain, revised the filmscore, and changed the title to The Raid: Redemption for the US release. Distribution rights to other countries were sold to Kadokawa Pictures for Japan, Koch Media for Germany, Alliance Films for Canada, Momentum Pictures for the United Kingdom, Madman Entertainment for Australia, SND HGC for China, and Calinos Films for Turkey. Deals were also made with distributors from Russia, Scandinavia, Benelux, Iceland, Italy, South Korea and India, during the film screening at the TIFF.

Critical response
Reviews were highly positive. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 85% based on reviews from 151 critics, with an average score of 7.5/10. The website's consensus was "No frills and all thrills, The Raid: Redemption is an inventive action film expertly paced and edited for maximum entertainment."

In contrast, Chicago Sun-Times' acclaimed Roger Ebert gave the film one star out of four; he criticized the lack of character depth, and noted "the Welsh director, Gareth Evans, knows there's a fanboy audience for his formula, in which special effects amp up the mayhem in senseless carnage." Ebert was himself criticized for his assessment, and later published a defense of his review.

Box office
In its Sony Pictures Classics debut in the United States on 23–25 March 2012, The Raid: Redemption grossed $220,937 from 24 theaters for a location average of $15,781. For its widest opening release weekend in the United States and Canada on 13–15 April 2012, the film grossed $961,454 from 881 theaters, and ranked 11th overall. In the United Kingdom, the film grossed $660,910 on its opening weekend. In Indonesia, approximately 250,000 people watched the film in the first four days of release, and it was considered a great turnout for a country that only has about 660 theater screens nationwide. As of 8 July 2012, the film has grossed $4,105,123 in North America. The film grossed approximately $9.1 million worldwide.

Home media
On DVD and Blu-Ray, the film grossed US$9.4 million in the United States.

Accolades
The film received numerous awards and nominations from both local and international institutions. At the 2012 Maya Awards, which is dubbed by local media as the Indonesian version of the Golden Globes, the film received 10 nominations. The Raid did not receive any nominations at the 2012 Citra Awards (the Indonesian equivalent to the Academy Awards); which was considered a snub.

American remake
A few months after Sony acquired the film's North American distribution rights, it was announced by The Hollywood Reporter that its subsidiary company, Screen Gems, had begun negotiations to produce a Hollywood remake. The deal was completed in November 2011, with writer-director Gareth Evans to serve as an executive producer of the remake. XYZ Films, executive producers on the original Indonesian version, will be producers on the American version. Screen Gems also wants the same choreographers from The Raid involved with the remake. On 21 February 2014, the studio picked Patrick Hughes to direct the remake. Day later, reports stated that both Chris and Liam Hemsworth were being eyed for roles by the studio. On 27 May 2014, Variety reported that the film's production was delayed until early 2015. On 13 June 2014, Frank Grillo was the first to be announced to star in the remake, and is a fan of the original. On 16 June 2014, Geek Tyrant revealed that the remake will be set in the near future. On 4 August 2014, TheWrap reported that Taylor Kitsch has been cast in the lead role, and also that XYZ Films is returning to produce the remake, which is expected to hew closely to the original film. On 22 August 2014, Hughes revealed that describes his version as being in the vein of Black Hawk Down and Zero Dark Thirty with 12 integral roles. According to Tracking Board, on 23 October 2015, both Screen Gems and Kitsch had dropped out of the project and Hughes also dropped out as director. In February 2017, XYZ Films revealed that Joe Carnahan will produce and direct the remake with Evans as a producer.

Sequel
While developing The Raid in script form, Evans started to toy around with the idea of creating a link between it and his initial project, Berandal. It was later confirmed that Berandal would serve as a sequel to The Raid. Evans has also stated his intention to make a trilogy.

Sony pre-bought the US, Latin American and Spanish rights to the sequel. Alliance/Momentum bought the rights to the United Kingdom and Canada; Koch Media acquired the film for German speaking territories; Korea Screen acquired the rights to Korea; and HGC acquired the rights to China. Deals for other major territories were also in negotiations.

Subtitled Berandal for the Indonesian market and simply The Raid 2 for the US and English-speaking market, the sequel had a "significantly larger" budget than its predecessor, and its filming included approximately 100 days of shooting. Pre-production began in September 2012 while filming began in January 2013.

A second sequel The Raid 3 had been announced shortly after the first sequel's release. However, in a 21 November 2016 interview with Impact Online, director Evans revealed the sequel was on hold with the franchise likely having ended, stating "Moving back to UK felt like a closing chapter on that franchise – we ended the story pretty neatly (I feel) in Part 2. I’m aware there's an interest for it [...] So never say never, but it's unlikely to happen anytime soon."

Comics and animation
A graphic novel based on The Raid was released on 21 May 2012 in Indonesia.

A stop-motion short depicting the plot of The Raid as clay-animated cats, made by Lee Hardcastle released on 11 May 2012, was included in the special features disc. A flash animated teaser trailer spoof depicting The Raid as a '90s anime, made by Philip Askins released on 19 May 2012, was also included in the special features.

On 22 June 2016, The Hollywood Reporter announced Titan Comics had teamed up with Gareth Evans and XYZ Films for a comic book spin-off series featuring "original stories featuring characters from The Raid movie series" with a launch date expected for late 2016.