The Raid

Despite being an early entry, _The Raid_ is arguably the most revolutionary action movie of the past decade. And the decade is almost over. Iko Uwais is clear talent when it comes to this sort of stunt work, and with the exception of a little too much shakey-cam near the start, you get a really look at him (and the rest of the cast) doing their thing, a lesson which the majority of Hollywood action movies nowadays apparently needs to re-learn. _Final rating:★★★★ - Very strong appeal. A personal favourite._

In the centre of Jakarta, a criminal fraternity pretty much own a residential block where they carry on with impunity. “Tama” (Ray Sahetapy) is the kingpin who pretty much does as he pleases and has a small army at his back when the police arrive to close him down. This is an heavily armed SWAT team but what soon becomes evident is that they are outnumbered and outgunned and that their boss has engaged in this perilous operation without advising his bosses - so there will be no reinforcements, or better still, a few missiles fired into the place from a well placed helicopter. The building is riddled with CCTV so the police movements are easily monitored and quite swiftly “Lt. Wahyu” (Pierre Gruno) is down to a mere handful of folk as they try to ascend to the seventh floor. Fortunately, one of them is “Rama” (Iko Uwais) who is no slouch when it comes to martial arts and with some assistance from an unexpected source, battle lines are drawn. The dark and dingy building provides a good venue for their graphically violent activity and though it is definitely repetitive, especially later when it seems determined never to end, the sheer gymnastic athleticism here is impressive. It’s a vehicle for the charismatic Uwais to show just how nimble he can be against machine guns, pistols, machetes and fridges and packs plenty in. The story plays out predictably and at times really does suffer from a ridiculous degree of an immortality syndrome with characters surviving the most impossible of physical injuries to keep on breathing, let alone fighting - but this isn’t meant to be reality, it’s a showcase of athletes that has a video game mentality and rarely stops for breath.