I'm Indonesian, but when it was released, I was living in Singapore at that time, and I watched it with my non-Indonesian friends. Our mind was blown away, and by the time it was ended, I felt physically weak and sooo tired, like I was at the end of adrenaline rush. Sometimes when people said, the Raid Redemption had no story line, I felt offended... LOL. What do you mean? No story line?? Perhaps, because the story line was so subtle, and it wasn't described in their conversation, mostly in their gestures and the scenes itself. So, the nuances are lost, but for Indonesian people like me, I could understand the beauty of its "non-existent" story line. How subtle and yet how poignant it is. Like in the beginning, Rama was shown to wake up early in the morning and to do his morning praying time. We can conclude that he's the man of faith, and yet, during the day later on, he kept killing people without even blinking. The juxtaposition, I still cannot wrap my mind around it. As a religious man, how come he could kill so easily? So, what was he? Because no religion could validate a murder. And then his scene with his pregnant wife, judging from pregnancy, she's probably 7~8 months. So, during all the fight scenes, I was reminded why Rama seemed so heartless, moving from killing to killing, he took down 2 middle-men within 8 seconds. Because the possibility of him not able to come back home to his pregnant wife, it was never on his agenda. And his scenes with his father, about bringing "him" home. Him as in his brother who went undercover. Mind-blown.... Faith, parenthood, brotherhood, friendship, and fulfilling obligation to one's wife. Not to mention, challenging one's limit, betrayal, human greed and corruption. What else do you need? Comparing The Raid 1 and The Raid 2, I love The Raid 1 more. Because all violence and killing done by Rama has 1 motivation, to go back to his family ALIVE. That's it, the truth, plain and simple.

Dude I saw this in the theater and the audience reaction was just primo asf! The cheers were insane for the fight scenes, especially the end of the mad dog fight

The raid is their project to gather the fund for their real project which is raid 2. Turns out they make one of the best, if not the best action movie ever.

I was in college when this came out. My friend wouldn't stop raving about it, said it was the best action movie he's ever seen. I called that way too tall of a praise, but watched it for myself about a year after release when I came across a copy online. I gotta say...first thing I did after watching was call up my friend and asked him why he didn't force me to pick it up sooner 😂

I like Raid color grading. It makes the movie look simple and raw and dull. It looks like a movie coming straight from a slum. Weird, but i like. Not all movie needs fancy color, some movies can be dull color but still pleasing to the eyes.

Your really good at this, i cant stand when people summarize the movie and call it a review

I remembered, I didn't particularly follow action movie. I do enjoy classic martial art movie which played by jacky chan, jet li, or bruce lee, but action movie is never my first choice. However, when I first saw the first still from the raid (the picture was when Rama and other guy fall and hit the outdoor AC), I immediately searched for the trailer. The second I heard the original scoring in trailer, every shot in that trailer, the color grading, everything about that trailer made me want to watch it. So yeah, two weeks later I bought a ticket, best experience ever. It was a huge hit, every local online forum have a thread for it. And Maddog became a huge meme because he just too OP. I remembered, Yayan Ruhiyan was interviewed about his character, when he was asked about how many character he killed in the movie. He said he could kill everyone and only the producer and director could stop him. I remembered Iko said that his knee was injured when he casted the trio for hallway fight scene. If I remember correctly he said he can easily "play" with his knee cap after that injury, because it torn some of his ligament. And turn out Gareth Evans already make a pilot for toilet fight scene (in the raid 2) after he finished "Merantau". The pilot titled as "Berandal". They made the raid 1 because they wanted to make "Berandal" I am still hoping they will execute The Raid 3. But the whole crew already busy with their own projects. PS: I still used "Lethal" by Fajar Yuskemal and Aria Prayogi as my alarm. It was The Raid OST from the trailer.

the raid doing what bourne taught other action wrong. they "shake"(move) the camera at right direction so the audience can sense the chaos yet still clearly see the motion of every action.

I went to go see the raid on a whim when it came out. I saw the trailer 2 hours before its midnight release. I texted 4 of my closest buds to meet me at the theater no questions asked. They thanked me after and told me i had amazing taste.

Love seeing the raid getting the recognition it deserves.

This film is absolutely fucking incredible, it still rocks, I saw it at the cinema with a mate of mine and it blew our minds.

don't forget, Joe Taslim who star as sergeant Jaka is a Judo athlete who won silver medal in SEA games.

You got the point bro, After the raid 1 and 2, every time I watch action movie, it fells like I watching the raid. For example Deadpool (the carfight Scene), captain America (winter soldier), jhon wick in every sequel specialy the highway chase fight/war in the lastest movie. And also the jack reacher(tom cruse)

Even though The Raid 2 was very awesome but nothing beats the first one because of it's replayability and pacing. It also changed on how fight scenes should be shot.

The Raids influence on other films was not obvious to me. But you made your point very well. I appreciate the movie even more now. Thank you

The best review about The Raid I've ever watched on KZfaq. You just forgot to mention that the Indonesian traditional martial arts name is Pencak Silat. The Raid 1 & 2 were the result of the beauty of Pencak Silat.

Now everyone watches John Wick and Extraction and gave 8/10 stars. Streets won't forget the Raid and how they single handedly resurect the subgenre

My favourite action movie ever ......i have lost count of how many people i put on to this movie and everyone of them loved this movie

Wow. I am speechless. It's such a profound and elaborate description. Hope this attracts more attention from action movies fans. Thank you for the enlightenment. One more point from me = the raid protagonists are depicted to be vulnerable and not willing to kill people. You can see before the hall way fight Rama was trying hard to escape the machete gank but the emergency door was locked. This human touch seems to be realistic in the real world. It's not like that superhero acting like Julius Caesar : Veni Vidi Vici.

I saw it in the theater when it came out and was blown away.

good watch, i shared it on my Facebook :) it's nice to watch a video made by someone who actually understands all elements of film. i remember when The Raid came out in Australia. i saw it twice at the cinema and raved about it to all my friends for months. i'm glad i saw it before elements of the film were added in a bunch of Western films. i'm still glad the film helped reboot a dying genre. as a kid, i grew up watching 90s and late 80s action films and never understood why Hollywood felt the need to change a formula that wasn't broken with shaky cam. but anyway, good video :)

I mean most of actors who take parts in the movie now ascending to the big screen sort of like : avengers endgame, star wars, star trek, john wick 3, fast furious, and recently mortal kombat. I'm shook how this movie impact to them as well. Love from indonesia 🙏

I agree with you on that that the pure intention and passion brings much better outcome compared to that otherwise. I think that's one of the reasons why The Raid was such a huge success, because there was no pressure. No big name, limited budget, and foreign. It was basically just for fun. And fun they had indeed. As much as I love the second sequel to produce, I don't anticipate it. Now that the two Raid movies were a big success, the pressure is already there. For a perfectionist director/producer like Gareth, it must have put enormous challenge to top them (considering that The Raid 2 was actually his main project and The Raid was the stepping stone) . I just hope the success won't scare him and blunt his creativity for future production. I enjoyed your review though.

This is a legendary movie and it will always hold a special place in my heart

the most complete review of the raid movie I've ever seen on KZfaq. Keep it up!

Dan, this is gold, thank you sir

I think Chad Stahelski’s rule for action sums up The Raid perfectly. “Story doesn’t stop when action starts.”

Amazing review and thoroughly researched! You really go into the details of the movie, properly criticised it, and provide an example or a way for the movie to be better so it's not just a problem that you pointed out, It gave something for the viewers to learn. I was surprised that you even researched the cast and the crew's background, kinda added more depth to this review ya know. Nice work!

Your wording is almost a lyrical masterpiece if not lol a masterpiece in giving a perfect vocal essay / review. Thank you for your time invested in letting us the viewer know about the actors, directors and writers of the Raid . These are things I've wondered about and your information was very well inspiring for me to wanna know more. Your brutal truth is much respected. Thank you again . Fist Razed High Saluting you!

This is a great review!! Been introducing The Raid to people for like a decade now

Great honest from a professional movie reviews. Great job man!

Great video and well put together.

Brilliant review. keep it up bro

OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY. OUTSTANDING MARTIAL ARTISTS. OUTSTANDING MOVIE. ONE OF THE TOP 5 OF ALL TIMES.

thank you for the effort, appreciate it

Great summary and analysis , I’m a big big fan of The Raid series but it’s true that things like the big wall of washed out grey post production could have been a bit better ( I’m still a fan of the music though, I think Mike Shinoda and Joe Trapenese did a great job pairing the music to the moments and really amping things up or even making the occasional soft poignant moment)

awesome video!

Thank u for the deep insight. This video is great 👍👍

Appreciate the in depth review

Nice review. About the color grading, somebody else had mentioned it in the comment. Indeed I saw a lot of the Raid’s influences on Marvel’s productions, such as Iron Man movies and the recent ones, Hawkeye and White Knight, in terms of action choreography.

Gareth is fixing the color grading for a 4K bluray release as we speak btw.

I thought for a second the white clothes in the background is a ghost or something, I actually got scared for a moment lol 😅.

Great review

Personally, I disagree with your point on the movie's soundtrack being bad actually. Audio is an oftenly overlooked key thing while observing a film. If you think about it, without music or any sound effects whatsoever (such as all those impact you can feel for every hit, every gunshot, everytime someone got their head banged onto an object, etc) the movie would probably just be really awkward and this goes for any movie actually. I mean for example: Just imagine a Thor movie where he would awkwardly swing around his hammer casting thunder and killing fodder monsters and you just see him moving around hearing his grunts, taunts, yells and everything but without any kind of soundtrack to back it up and no sound whatsoever came whenever he's casting his thunder. Sorry for digressing but what I'm trying to say is that amongst all things, the music playing in the background also can also play an important role on setting up the feel for a scene. In this case I'd say they've made a great decision hiring Shinoda because the soundtrack really brings the action scenes to life for me. It's supposed to be adrenaline inducing, violence, and to me it gives off this vibe of "Kill or be killed, survive no matter what." All in all, audio (soundtrack can be included) is actually a crucial aspect and everything can feel so lifeless without it, and so great choices of sound design just brings more life and believability to certain scenes. And in my opinion, in this case it works well for The Raid. And yes I know by the way that there are maybe certain scenes in movies that are better off left soundtrackless like the fight near the end of "Atomic Blonde" for example, but again in this case Shinoda's produced music works very well with the action in my opinion. I mean yes, of course the cinematography and choreography itself is already excellent, but the music complements it even more. Working in synergy with all other aspects of the film and they set the tone so well. Closing this, I wanna say I apologize if my English is bad by the way because I'm not a native speaker haha (An Indonesian here!) and to close off my point I wanna direct you to this hilarious video showing how lifeless a scene would be without proper sfx and music just for an example: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/o7OYbKSQmduWmZc.html And how yeah, sometimes no music is the way to go. This is what I was referring to: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ediAd7eS0aeVfJc.html

Thoroughly enjoyed your thesis. Of course, you had me at Lucy.

The Raid is easily The Matrix in its genre

11:06 Actually, Iko Uwais is quite an accomplished Pencak Silat artist (winning several regional Pencak Silat tournaments), it's just that his martial skills did not guarantee a steady job so he became a salaryman. Yayan Ruhian is also a top Pencak Silat master. He was a trainer for the Indonesian Presidential Security Force and toured Europe multiple times on behalf of the martial arts community and the government of Indonesia, even before The Raid was made.

best low budget action movie ever made

this is a very good commentary and analisys

I HATE shaky cam and I distinctly recall seeing it for the first time in that Jason Bourne film. I was a teenager when it was released, saw it, and even I felt like it was a garbage experience as a viewer. I vividly recall asking “wtf is this? I cant see anything” It is such a plague and such a cheap shortcut to faking an action scene. Takes me right out of the film.

I've shunned "shaky-cam" ever since its conception. It is the dubstep of cinematography .

I never realized this but you are correct right here

I'm in the middle of slowly going down The Raid rabbithole and I arrived here. Just from your Introduction, though I'm yet to watch The Raid, I can totally feel that with an anime called Madoka Magica. It was a fresh influential anime that dared to dive into being actually dark, almost hopeless, packed full of hidden lore with all the Witch Runes that you can actually decipher, as fans discovered after much effort. All despite looking like a cutesy girly anime. It was so influential in fact that I feel it's nothing new anymore nowadays, and I get that same feeling of "if you've watched a Madoka-influenced anime, you probably won't feel Madoka's magic as much". Though that said, I feel that the anime's presentation is still legendary that it's worth watching anyway. From the visuals, the music, the pacing - even the Madoka spin-off, Magia Record, couldn't match it. It has the overall package of experience in an anime that I feel some modern cool-looking anime lacks - that is, I feel like they increasingly put money on the visuals but not the story, music, even voice acting. So it ends up feeling hollow. Quite sad.

What a perfect explanation.... I bet U are a perfectionist guy....

I always tell people The Raid 2 is a better movie, but The Raid is a better action movie.

Bourne Identity was directed by Doug Liman who employed handheld cameras but was far more restrained than Greengrass’s shaky cam style. I wish the Bourne Supremacy was exactly the same except the action shot in line with Identity. It would be nearly perfect at that point.

Amazing action movie 😍

Wow, is it 10 years already??

As much as I love The Raid 2, there are a couple areas where, in my opinion, The Raid 1 is better. Those main areas are tension and the final mini boss. In regards to tension, there's a couple reasons why the first movie is better. It takes place in 1 day verses several years. There's the scene where Rama and Bowo are hiding in the wall, which is full of tension. There isn't any real equivalent in The Raid 2. I'm sure I can list other examples. In regards to final mini boss, I'm talking about Mad Dog in the first movie and The Assassin in the second. Mad Dog to me, is a much better fighter and character than The Assassin. Mad Dog is introduced very early in the film and you feel his presence throughout it. The Assassin doesn't make an appearance until over halfway through his film and you don't really feel his presence. Mad Dog had a very memorable fight with a fairly well rested Jaka and came out on top, to show how well of a fighter he was. The Assassin had a very 1-sided fight with a half-dead Prakoso that didn't show him as someone to be concerned with. Rama needed help from Andi to take out Mad Dog. Rama was fine going solo against The Assassin. Mad Dog gave his speech about why he prefers his fists over guns, showing off his mindset and personality, plus some conversation with Andi before and after. The Assassin doesn't say as single word during any of his screentime. In pretty much every other category, The Raid 2 is better though. Sorry for the rant.

Good work.

They change the action genre forever....wow!

1000% Agreed It`s my film of the DECADE!

The raid 2..is masterpiece

Just saw this video. Great review! My takes would be if Hollywood wants to do anything with the franchise, i hope it won't be a remake, make the sequel instead with Hollywood budget. They could bring american elements in it to the Raid 3, e.g. Rama being recruited by CIA or interpol or something. That would be freaking awesome!

I first saw this movie the raid 2 on a bus. Its so damn good

That's why there is John Wick. It's Hollywood's answer to " The Raid "

The raid was supposed to be a trilogy, but Gareth evan sudden disappearance make the raid 3 (retaliation) impossible, i hope he changed his mind and continues the raid anytime

Mike Shinodas score was added to the US release it was actually Aria Prayogi and Fajar Yuskemal that did the original and much better soundtrack

The reason why the sequel is better in every aspect is because Evans wrote it first but he didn't have enough budget to put it into production so he made this one, a much simpler film with much less budget. The Raid was basically just a great martial arts choreography and stunts without a real plot. Fortunately it was a huge success commercially so he could make the sequel that he wrote in the first place.

Imo, the color grading of the movie fits well and i think if you change it into a vibrant color, it ruins the movie but that's just my opinion.

Interesting review, too bad i missed it in cinema ffs

I'd love to hear what you think about the movie Ronin within the context of everything you're talking about here

This guy deserve more recognitions

I actually prefer The Raid over part 2

How come this guy has only 405 subscribers and not 4 millions?

This movie doesn’t waste my time at all! I love it when Cop Vs Drug lords and actions after actions and you can’t take your eyes of the movie! John wick stole the fighting style from this movie.

Saw it and its simply the best action i have ever, ever seen. So much better and than a bunch of stiff American actors trying to impress other stiff American fan boys.

you deserve more subs

Best action film ever

good video

There's a big difference between martial artists playing actor, and actors playing fighters. As you mentioned, in the raid, the actors ARE martial artists, even the tugs who easily killed, they were trained in martial arts before auditioned for the role.

Dope

Why? Why muted color and somber music make it bad? This movie is conveying gritty action movie. Not whimsical like Jackie Chan's movies or colorful like most Holywood movie. The movie never try to glorify the fights. It's pretty much a pure survival movie. I hate that Hollywood had to put bell and whistles around an already well made movie.

I am sort of obsessed with this movie, I love even the absence of a plot, what are other movies similar to it?

The Raid and Mission Impossible: Fallout are my favourite action films. The Raid slightly gets the edge though

you remember when mad dog said "I don't like guns, they're like food service. TOO CONVINIENT/ NO CHALLENGE" That became a meme for a long while in Indonesia. it was badass and hilarious.

nice one

After watching the raid, almost every action movies i see feels like children fighting.

The main problem I have with the Raid movies is the way that sharp weapons, even a broken wooden handle, go into flesh like a hot knife through butter. But I really like them.

Amen

i look at the raid as a SURVIVAL STORY

I hope that south east asia start to produce more action or martial art movies spesially indonesia. Thank you for your thoughts it is profoundly.

Can you review The Night Comes for Us

I always enjoyed martial art films, after watching The Raid, I stopped watching this type of films for while... Every fight scene started looking bad, they were so good that they ruined everybody else.

hello 2022

the sequel is great though

23:15 i am dead

Probably the most proportional review on the Raid, ever. Looking at it retrospectively, I feel the same way. Altho perhaps, being Indonesian, granted me some kind of pride bias.

tet! here is the fun fact. the director Gareth Evans can speak Indonesian and Japenese very fluently . He is so genius .

John Woo changed the world in the 80s and the 90s. In movies like The Killer and Hard Boiled. Face Off is probably John Woo's best Hollywood Directed movie.