We're used to being told what's the best action film of the year, the funniest comedy, the scariest film. Delivered unscrupulously and intensely from all angles in pre-screening trailers, TV spots, Youtube commercials, Bus posters, and many more forms of media saturating us with quotes that if true would result in multiple masterpieces every week of the year. Of course we know most of these five star reviews and over-amplified glorifications are nonsense, mostly from showbiz correspondence mags and columns who have it within their need to praise such products, either that or they haven't a clue. With The Raid - a new beat 'em up/shoot 'em up from Indonesia - you can believe every bit of hype stirred up over it. It doesn't just tick every box but puts the pen through the paper, signing off in blood. This film is destined for cult status.
The action genre has been in a creative rut for many years, long past are the days of Die Hard (ignoring the continuing franchise) and the once world igniting talents of John Woo, we get enough action films in a year but how many of them stick around for a second thought, that linger with classic set-pieces inducing wonder and adrenaline into audiences? Even those not focussing on CGI wizardry seem to play it safe and only draw deja vu.
Welsh born writer/director/editor Gareth Evans clearly understands the genre and has no desire to reinvent or subvert its conventions, instead creating a perfect example of action cinema that dishes out the goods in every respect, devoid of pretension. This well informed yet simplistic approach is made clear from the start as we're given reason to invest in our main hero (the ultra talented Iko Uwais) as he leaves his pregnant wife, reason to hate the villain as we witness a cold-blooded execution on his part, and as a SWAT team are heading towards their target we're filled in on the mission at hand. A savage mobster seen as 'untouchable' lies in a tenement building with all his thugs, the building acts as refuge from police as long as those in need can pay or provide service. It's up to SWAT to take the block one level at a time before bringing down its crime lord - a simple premise handled with upmost respect and proficiency.
It's not long before the bullets start flying and the punches are thrown, the action is intense and wild but never bewildering with Evans shooting with the insight of a master, editing with surgical precision. What at first starts as a battle of fire power soon turns into deadly fist fights as ammunition runs low, at this point its time for The Raid's hero to shine. In the film's vast showcasing of martial arts mayhem the intensity is never dampened through repetition, each fight has plenty to impress and never fails to cause fits squints and gasps. Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda provides a pulsating electronic soundtrack that delivers atmosphere and energy, never distracting from the action, only adding to it. The Raid keeps the heart rate up for its entire duration and never exceeds into silliness; the fights although cinematically heightened have a real nastiness to them, despite the technical immensity on show each fight has a sloppy struggle to them, each blow is felt and fatal, holding you every second. Although containing excessive amounts of violence it never becomes sadistic, when it looks like we could get a dose of Oldboy like savagery it cuts away, and despite seeing men maimed in ways thought unimaginable it never lingers on suffering. You could even argue The Raid is less spiteful than Bride Wars (2009).
The film follows sequential steps in keeping with its simple plot and genre placings, however it never feels overly blatant in its trajectory due to the state of wonderment it awards us. What's more impressive is how Evans - clearly a fan of action cinema - has studied the works of greats like Peckinpah, Woo, and the classic staples of the genre yet his film never feels like a throwback, a send up to the masters with homage and flattery. The Raid doesn't hide its influences nor is it ashamed of going down much travelled routes and for its modesty, craft, passion and respect for the genre, and not desperately trying to reinvent action cinema, The Raid has taken the world by storm proving that working hard and excelling at what you do is better than reinventing the wheel. If you're a fan of action films and blokes beating each other up this is bloody nirvana, if not inclined towards such unsavoury happenings this is certainly not for you.
With a sequel planned, Hollywood remake also pending, and surely a video game adaptation soon to be button bashed to smithereens, you can expect to hear a lot more from Gareth Evans and star Iko Uwais after the masses have cooled down over this one, though that may be some time yet.
Article originally published on TQS magazine
Hollywood often gives us double doses of filmic recipes - some coincidences, some planned - some brilliant, and some God awful. Warrior, starring Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton as estranged brothers brought together by chance as they fight in a mixed martial arts tournament comes just six months after the release of The Fighter - the true story of 80s boxing brothers Micky and Dicky Ward as their family issues risk destroying everything they've worked for.
Whether Warrior was always planned to riff off of The Fighter's success is hard to say but even in this worst case scenario what's important is Warrior's elevation through the incredible talent is holds. Nick Nolte shines strongest as the two men's reforming alcoholic father whose mistreatment of them as young boys still cuts deep.
The two brothers we know will eventually come to blows are introduced as polar opposites and a fragmented family unit is quickly defined. Tommy Conlon (Hardy) is back from tour duty in Iraq, he is a brooding and troubled presence scarred by war, it is Tommy who dominates most of the film one way or another. Brendan (Edgerton) is a high school psychics teacher with wife and kids in a suburban wonder house. The two brothers live in entirely different worlds but both share a fighting background, they also have responsibilities and pressures that eventually will them into the ring once again as they compete for a prize that can save their loved ones lives. Tommy's story is more obscured and is revealed as the film moves on, it's a touching one which gives the brooding beast a heart and added dimension after seemingly fighting for selfish reasons. Brandon is struggling to pay the mortgage as his young daughter was taken severely ill and has rung up huge medical bills, Brandon takes to moonlighting as a MMA fighter once again to bring in extra money, his trusting wife believing he's bouncing clubs.
The brother's story's add sufficient emotional weight and have you rooting for both of them, the thought of either losing is tough going and for this Warrior succeeds. Both brothers have no idea the other is entering the same competition, they share the same distain for their father Paddy (Nolte) but Tommy still asks his father to train him as he knows him to be the best, Paddy knowing he's being used of course uses it as a chance to be let in to his son's life.
In the structure of Warrior is where it falls down; the first two thirds of the film we're shown the brother's predicaments, their familial differences and their eventual training with Paddy at Tommy's side. Nolte gives such an incredible heart-wrenching performance as a reformed man trying desperately to convince of his change that it's a shame he's forgotten in the last stretch of the film. There is an incredible scene between Paddy and Tommy where the father has been pushed too far by his resentful son and has thus been pushed back momentarily into his former hell, the roles are then reversed as Tommy the son almost cradles his father and comforts him to sleep. After this incredible moment, the best moment of the film, we well and truly enter the realm of the sports genre.
Warrior is of course a sports picture and a good one at that; the moments during the fights evoke the exact reactions brutal fights like these need. The camera watches almost from an audience perspective and doesn't utilise any cinematic trickery or chauvinism to highlight any significant blows - director Gavin O'Connor refuses us any glorified slow-motion instead remaining consistent with his naturalistic raw approach.
The competition thickens and of course it seems all the more likely the two brothers will meet in the final round (not a spoiler) . As the two brothers face each other we don't know what the outcome will be as both have so much to lose, we know which result is the most fathomable and it's hard to believe at this point that the rug will be pulled from beneath making it all rather predictable in the end. What the film needed after the winner is crowned was another 10-15 minutes to further us in the relationship of these two men and their father, we feel through the heightened melodrama of Tommy and Brendan's match that some equilibrium is restored but then it's cut short and the feeling is one of hollowness. Whereas The Fighter was a true to life drama first and a sporting picture second, Warrior suddenly feels like a sports concept with some added drama shoehorned in for the competitiveness to function. What's frustrating is that when it does focus on the three central men and their contempt for one another it does it so well. Sure the fights are excellently shot and the price is high for all involved but it's this short coming of cohesion between the competition and the emotion the film so brilliantly conveys in the beginning that stops Warrior from being great.
This is the world of Hollywood and Warrior is the best example of its produce. If only all 'popcorn' movies were of this quality, the term 'popcorn movie' could then cease to reside as a condescending term to mainstream movies. Warrior has a heart as well as adrenaline, two very important ingredients for success here. It's a shame then that the film eventually slips its heart from its sleeve and into the back pocket at the last hurdle.
