Who would have thought that an Indonesian martial arts movie directed by a Welshman would turn out to be one of the best action movies in years? Shot for a meager $1m, the hook is brilliant in its simplicity; a squad of police officers enter an apartment block on the ground floor, the bad guy is on the top floor. What follows are 100 minutes of inventive fight scenes, with a surprisingly well-rounded performance from lead actor Iko Uwais. With The Raid, writer/director Gareth Evans instantly established himself as one of the most talented action filmmakers working today. With the set-up established in the first five minutes, The Raid is free from the shackles of plot to deliver numerous expertly-choreographed fight scenes of increasing brutality. Sure, the movie is a little lacking in terms of character development but I don't think anybody went in expecting to see any five-minute monologues. The bare-bones narrative gives Evans plenty of breathing room to stage a series of kinetic set-pieces, each one more impressive than the last, with the action benefiting greatly from a tight edit that sees things reach a crescendo in the frenetic third act. The simple story results in a relentless, well-paced assault on the senses that marked arguably the best action flick since John Woo's early 90's output.
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