The Raid 2

The Raid 2 (The Raid 2: Berandal; ザ・レイド Gokudo) is a 2014 Indonesian action film written, directed and edited by the Welsh filmmaker Gareth Evans. It is the sequel to the 2011 film The Raid and stars Iko Uwais, Arifin Putra, Oka Antara, Tio Pakusadewo, Alex Abbad, Julie Estelle, Ryuhei Matsuda, Kenichi Endo, and Kazuki Kitamura. In the story, special forces officer Rama is sent undercover to expose the corrupt police officials colluding with the crime families of Jakarta's criminal underworld. Like Evans' previous films Merantau and The Raid, the fight scenes showcase the Indonesian fighting style of Pencak Silat.

The film was released on 28 March 2014.

Plot
Two hours after the events of the first film, Jakarta crime boss Bejo executes Rama's brother Andi who took over from Tama, a gang boss operating under Bangun. Rama meets Lt. Bunawar, head of an internal investigation unit. He sends Bowo for treatment but has Lt. Wahyu executed. Bunawar assures Rama it was to protect him from crooked cops like Wahyu, saying courts cannot fix the problem. Testifying would only endanger him and his family. He asks him to go undercover to expose Reza's and other police officials' dealings with the Bangun and Goto crime syndicates. Rama agrees after Bejo murders Andi. Bunawar tasks him to infiltrate the underworld, befriending Bangun's son Uco. Using the alias "Yuda", Rama is told to assault the politician's son responsible for putting Uco in prison. Bunawar can arrest him and befriend Uco. In a riot a year into Uco's prison term, several assailants attempt to kill him. They are led by Benny who betrays Uco's trust before Yuda saves him. When Yuda is released two years later, Uco takes him to meet his father, who hires him out of gratitude. He proves his value to the family through his work under Uco and his father's consigliere Eka.

Uco is frustrated with his limited role in the organization and is furious when a bar girl calls him a "debt collector". When he leaves the room, Rama plants a bug in his wallet. Bangun meets the hitman Prakoso, who assassinates another of Bangun's targets.

Bejo invites Uco to dinner and tells him he has his eye on Gotos' controlled land. He shares rumors of a plot to turn Reza and others against his father. Bejo brings the assailants from the prison riot. Uco kills them. He notices a gang tattoo on Benny's wrist. They hatch a plot to start a gang war to disrupt the truce between the two families. Uco can prove himself to Bangun; Bejo can profit from carving up Hideaki Goto's territory. Uco lures Prakoso into an ambush. Prakoso is killed by The Assassin. Uco lies to his father saying the Japanese were responsible. Bangun will not counterattack. Frustrated, Uco phones Bejo saying "Just do it." Bejo's hitmen – Hammer Girl, Baseball Bat Man, and The Assassin – kill several of Goto's men, sparking a gang war between the families.

Rama is attacked during the conflict. He defeats the assailants and discovers a police ID on one of the attackers. When the families meet to reconcile, Uco lashes out in anger, embarrassing Bangun into conceding territory. Rama learns from Lt. Bunawar the attackers were Reza's corrupt cops sent after him. He receives a call from Eka to save Uco. Bangun beats Uco when they return to his office. While Yuda is on the way, Bejo and The Assassin barge in with a mob of henchmen. Revealing his betrayal, Uco kills his father and shoots Eka. Before Bejo can finish him off, Yuda arrives and Eka flees. The Assassin subdues Rama. Bejo commands his men to get rid of him. Eka follows. In a car chase several vehicles are destroyed before Yuda is rescued and driven to safety. Ryuichi informs Goto and Keichi that Reza was seen entering Bejo's restaurant. Goto tells Ryuichi to "take care of him". Ryuichi tells him Bejo is not alone. He informs him of Uco's betrayal of his father. Goto declares war against Bejo, Uco, and Reza. When his son Keichi interjects, Goto responds, "They're not cops anymore. They're in my world now." A bleeding and exhausted Eka tells Rama he knows he was also undercover. Rama calls Lt. Bunawar, who informs him the gang war escalated. The police commissioner was shot dead. Bunawar claims Eka "went rogue" and ten honest cops died. He informs him that Reza, the true objective, is meeting Bejo and Uco at the restaurant. Rama breaches its warehouse and fights through Bejo's men.

Bejo and Uco meet Reza to discuss terms against Goto. Still shaken from his act of patricide, Uco discovers the bug in his wallet. Uncertain who planted it, he notices Bejo has the same tattoo as Benny, suggesting the prison attack may have been another attempt to spark a gang war. Uco sits in shock realizing he has been used. Rama defeats Bejo's three hitmen and disrupts the meeting carrying The Assassin's pair of karambit. Bejo attempts to shoot him. Uco grabs another gun and shoots Reza dead. He shoots Bejo, before turning his gun towards Rama who throws the karambit at Uco then stabs him. Uco dies in his arms. Rama limps from the premises and encounters Keichi, Ryuichi and their men sent to attack the meeting. While Lt. Bunawar drives to the site, Keichi smirks as he shares a silent dialogue with Rama. Rama is heard saying, "No...I'm done."

Cast

 * Iko Uwais as Rama/Yuda, a special forces member turned undercover agent. His alias "Yuda" is a reference to Uwais' character in his debut film Merantau.
 * as Bunawar, the head of the internal investigation unit who recruits Rama to oust police–mob collusion.
 * Arifin Putra as Uco, a nefarious mobster who is the impatient son and heir to Bangun.
 * Tio Pakusadewo as Bangun, a notorious kingpin who is one of the two mob bosses in control of Jakarta's underworld.
 * Oka Antara as Eka, Bangun's consigliere who holds a secret of his own.
 * Yayan Ruhian as Prakoso, Bangun's most loyal and dedicated hitman.
 * Alex Abbad as Bejo, a self-made Jakarta crime boss who considers himself very ambitious.
 * as "The Assassin", Bejo's top enforcer who uses the karambit as his signature weapon.
 * Julie Estelle as Alicia/"Hammer Girl", a merciless assassin who uses claw hammers as her signature weapon.
 * as "Baseball Bat Man", Alicia's brother and one of Bejo's top three hitmen.
 * Kenichi Endo as Hideaki Goto, head of the Goto family and one of the two mob bosses in control of Jakarta's underworld.
 * Ryuhei Matsuda as Keichi, Goto's son and heir.
 * Kazuki Kitamura as Ryuichi, Goto's lieutenant and interpreter.
 * Roy Marten as Reza, a corrupt high-ranking police official affiliated with the Gotos, who Bejo wants to buy out in his plans for expansion.
 * as Topan, operator of an illegal "porn den" in Bangun's territory, who receives a visit when word gets out he's expanded into the drug business.
 * Zack Lee as Benny, an associate of Uco in prison who betrays his trust.
 * Donny Alamsyah as Andi, Rama's brother who is executed by Bejo.
 * as Bowo, Rama's colleague and fellow survivor of the first film's eponymous raid.
 * as Dwi, Prakoso's estranged wife.

Other cast members include Henky Solaiman and Fikha Effendi, who reprise their roles as Rama's father and wife Isa, respectively. Veteran actors Deddy Sutomo and Pong Hardjatmo make cameos as the mediator and police commissioner, respectively.

Development
Following Merantau, director Gareth Evans and his producers began to work on a project called Berandal (which is Indonesian for "thugs"), a large-scale prison gang film intended to star not only Merantau actors Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian, but also an additional pair of international fight stars. A teaser trailer was shot, but the project proved to be more complex and time consuming than they had anticipated. After a year and a half, Evans and the producers found themselves with insufficient funds to produce Berandal, so they changed to a simpler, but different story with a smaller budget. They called the project Serbuan Maut (The Raid), which led to the creation of the first film.

While developing The Raid in script form, Evans considered the idea of creating a link between it and the initial project, Berandal. Following the release of The Raid, it was later confirmed that Berandal would serve as a sequel to The Raid. Evans also said that he wanted to include car chases in the sequel, as well as a third Raid film being "a lot further down the line."

With the title for the North American market announced as The Raid 2, the sequel has a "significantly larger" budget than its predecessor, and its production schedule took approximately 100 days. Pre-production began in September 2012 with filming in January 2013.

Casting and filming
In December 2012, Twitch confirmed that Julie Estelle was cast as "Hammer Girl"; Evans also tweeted that internationally renowned silat practitioner Cecep Arif Rahman was also given a major part in the film. Marsha Timothy, Mathias Muchus, Tio Pakusadewo, and Alex Abbad, who worked with Evans in Merantau, were also cast in the film. Japanese actors Matsuda Ryuhei, Endo Kenichi, and Kitamura Kazuki also joined the cast.

Evans also revealed on his Twitter that Yayan Ruhian, who played Mad Dog in The Raid, will return for the sequel as a new character called Prakoso, the machete-wielding chief assassin of Bangun. He claimed that he would not do a martial arts film without Ruhian being involved. Ruhian, who is a choreographer of the film, also trained Estelle in pencak silat.

In January 2013, PT Merantau Films and XYZ Films announced the start of production. The filming process took about seven months and ended in July 2013.

The film's lead cinematographer Matt Flannery tweeted that at least three RED cameras were used in a test shoot of a chase scene. Gareth Evans mentioned on his Twitter that they were using RED Scarlet for 95% of the shoot, Epic for slow mo, and Go Pro 3 for quick cuts during the car chase.

Marketing
A teaser trailer was released at Twitch Film on 6 November 2013. The Hollywood Reporter stated that the trailer "unleashes more action than most Hollywood blockbusters."

A longer Indonesian trailer was released on 31 December 2013. The American trailer was released on 21 January 2014.

On 26 March 2014, a deleted scene from the film titled "Gang War" was released to promote 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, Latin America and Spain; and Kadokawa Pictures for Japan. Distribution rights to other countries were sold to eOne Entertainment for Canada and the United Kingdom; Koch Media for Germany, Switzerland and Austria; Calinos Films for Turkey; HGC for China; and Madman Entertainment for Australia.

Reception
The film had its world premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on 21 January 2014. It also screened at South by Southwest on 10 March 2014 and ARTE Indonesia Arts Festival on 14 March 2014. Following a wide release on 11 April 2014, due to low returns the majority of theaters closed the film one week later. This was similar to what occurred during the theatrical run of the first film.

Censorship
The Raid 2 was banned in neighboring Malaysia. The film was scheduled to hit Malaysian screens on 28 March, but had not been shown anywhere in the country due to its excessive violence. Indonesian politician, and former Army Chief of Staff, Pramono Edhie Wibowo criticized the decision and demanded an explanation. He further asked the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to "actively perform its mediation function with the Malaysian government."

The US release was given an R rating by the MPAA for "strong bloody violence throughout, sexuality and language", cutting a few frames of graphic violence. Director Evans stated the cuts are very minimal and similar to his original cut. The film received an R-15 rating in Japan with 4 minutes cut, and an R-18 uncut version which was screened in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Critical response
The Raid 2 has received positive reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 80% approval rating, with an average score of 7.4/10, based on reviews from 162 critics. The site's consensus states: "Although its high-energy plot and over-the-top violence may play better with genre aficionados, The Raid 2 definitely delivers more of everything audiences loved about its predecessor." The film has a score of 71/100 on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews", based on 33 critics.

During its world premiere at Sundance, The Raid 2 received an overwhelming reaction. Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times reported that "The screening caused an explosion of excitement and enthusiasm for the film on social media."

In a 3-out-of-5 mixed review, Joey Magidson of the website Awards Circuit wrote that he "appreciate(s) the directing skills on display in The Raid 2, but at a certain point, all of the fighting and killing nearly got to be too much for me. I’m recommending the film, but not in the same way as the last one." He added that while it is "creative enough to be worth a recommendation, it lacks the originality of the first flick" and concluded that "The Raid 2 will delight genre fans, but might not impress to many others."

Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly said, "The Raid 2 will make you feel like Christmas came nine months early. Some action sequels don't know when to say when. But here's one where too much is just the right amount."

Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com praised the film for its "involving plot"; calling the cast, especially Uwais, "charming" and dialogue "winningly precise" while noting that the sequel is "a great step up after the already-impressive The Raid."

David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, remarking, "Evans gives the audience a knowing wink by having Rama endure repeated batterings that would leave mere mortals in traction, not to mention some nasty blade wounds. Yet he keeps coming back, finding the stamina to snap more limbs and crush more skulls. Taking place inside moving vehicles, a subway car, a noodle bar, warehouses, a porn factory, tight corridors and in the most electrifying mano-a-mano clash, a gleaming nightclub kitchen and wine cellar, the fights are dynamite."

Rolling Stone chief critic Peter Travers wrote, "The Raid 2 lets its warriors rip for two and a half thrilling hours. With the precision of dance and the punch of a K.O. champion, Evans keeps the action coming like nobody's business."

Many have praised the film for matching the action sequences that made the first film so great, as well as improving upon the plot and the dialogue, which its predecessor was criticized for.

Amber Wilkinson of The Daily Telegraph commented, "Hyper-violent it may be but there is beauty in its brutality," and wrote, "To say a martial arts movie brings something fresh in terms of choreography may sound like fighting talk, but Gareth Evans's sequel to his 2011 film is endlessly inventive."

Matt Risley of Total Film gave the film 5 stars and wrote: "Sumptuously shot, perfectly paced and flat-out exhilarating, The Raid 2 cements Evans as the best action director working today and may not be the best action, gangster, or even martial-arts movie ever made. But as a combination of all three, it's unparalleled in recent memory and offers a tantalising glimpse into a post-Bayhem action-movie world. Brutal, beautiful and brilliant" and also wrote, "The sheer imagination on show, both in the cinematography and choreography, guarantees each brawl is instantly iconic. Immaculately edited, each traumatic, tensely tactile fight would blur into chaos if not for Evans's pinpoint pacing something that refreshes all the more in the face of modern blockbusting's tendency to start big and just keep getting bigger, until burnout."

Year-End Lists
The film appeared on several critics' year-end lists.
 * #07 – IMDb 's "Top 10 Films of 2014"
 * #10 – Drew McWeeny of HitFix 's "Top 50 Films of 2014"
 * #10 – DenOfGeek.com 's "Top 10 Films of 2014"
 * #14 – Rob Hunter of Film School Rejects 's "14 Best Foreign Language Films of 2014"
 * #02 – Peter Freeman of DCOutlook.com's "Top 10 Movies of 2014"

Accolades
The Raid 2 has garnered a number of nominations and wins from both domestic and international awards.

On 19 December 2014, it won the award for Best Foreign Language Film from the Florida Film Critics Circle over Sweden's Force Majeure and Poland's Ida; a first for an Indonesian film. It also received two nominations at the 2014 Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards, for Best Stunts, and Best Foreign Language Film; losing the former to Edge of Tomorrow and the latter to Polish film, Ida. Another nomination came from the 2014 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards on the Best Foreign Language Film category, which it lost to Ruben Östlund's Force Majeure from Sweden. For the 8th Houston Film Critics Society Awards, it also received a nomination in the foreign film category, again losing to Force Majeure.

The film received 10 nominations at the local 2014 Maya Awards, organized by online film community Piala Maya. On 20 December 2014, it won four of its ten nominations: Best Cinematography for Matt Flanery and Dimas Subono, Best Editing for Evans and Andi Novianto, Best Special Effects, and Best Supporting Actor for Arifin Putra. It was also nominated for Best Film, Best Original Score, Most Memorable Featured Appearance for Julie Estelle as 'The Hammer Girl' (all three lost to Cahaya dari Timur); Best Hair & Make-Up and Best Sound Mixing (both lost to Killers), as well as another nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category for Oka Antara (who lost to co-star Arifin Putra).

Cancelled sequel
On 6 January 2014, media outlets quoted director Gareth Evans stating that The Raid 3 will take place two hours before the end of The Raid 2. On 19 April, during an interview with Metro, director Evans said that he is planning to take a break from martial arts movies for two or three years before filming it. The Raid 3 was planned for a 2018 or 2019 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."