I could easily sum up this movie as the best action movie I’ve seen in a very long time, but that would just open up a whole new bag of worms.

Let’s just keep it to this year.

What made The Raid: Redemption (trailer above) so awesome?

It cut out all the bullshit and left nothing but the good parts. I’m not saying it wasn’t short on time here either, the movie ran 101 minutes. It was just full of nonstop action and gets it straight to you once it starts. Due to the fantastic writing, it was a domino effect of pure entertainment.

IMDB sums up the movie’s plot as “A SWAT team becomes trapped in a tenement run by a ruthless mobster and his army of killers and thugs.” But that fails to mention the movie revolves around young swat team member, Rama, played by Iko Uwais.

Rama, who has a pregnant wife at home just wants to get through the raid and return to his wife.

Sounds sentimental, right? But The Raid doesn’t bore you with any of that crap like typical action films do.

All I have to say is kudos to Uwais, who was the film’s fight choreographer. I say that because it was some the best choreography that I’ve ever seen. The punches, blows, martial art maneuvers, I couldn’t help but “oh” and “ah” throughout the entire flick.

Ok, so we’ve got the choreography down. What else kicked ass? The film work, it had long scenes reminding me of the 2003 film, Oldboy. Another element from the 2003 movie was the use of a hammer, yeah, ok, it’s not a big deal. It was just was one of many bad ass things in the movie.

It’s still in theaters and worthy of more than one viewing, I’m definitely going to try and see it again before it’s done.

thumbnail photo credit: IMDB