Review of The Raid 2 (2014) by 3T3Rnal — 25 Dec 2021

I loved The Raid, and I still liked The Raid 2, but it's definitely a case of "suffering from success". The success of the first movie means bigger budget, means more locations, more "distinct" baddies, bigger odds, more brutal fighting, etc. Unfortunately, the old adage "less is sometimes more" has been forgotten, and it - in my opinion, applies to this movie series.

Where The Raid was a more compact movie, that took place in a very limited space and time range and had a fairly simple premise - and it worked well - The Raid 2 tries to make things more complex, but the limitations of the team's capability show here, and it leads to low quality story and setting. The fighting goes from realistic (mostly) raw and gritty to comics style brutality and inhuman feats.

Where The Raid required some suspension of disbelief, The Raid 2 requires it from start to finish with some moments where thinking anything at all is detrimental to the enjoyment of the movie.

Overall, it was an okay experience for a one time viewing. I don't even begrudge the attempt to take the movie further. It just wasn't done well. I'll re-watch the first one at times. I don't think I ever thought about re-watching 2.