10 Movie Sequels Whose Titles No Longer Made Sense

8. The Raid 2

Back in 2009 a Welsh martial arts enthusiast pitched an elaborate Indonesian action film about gang warfare, prison and undercover cops called Berandal (meaning "Thugs"). Unfortunately Gareth Evans, the writer-director, and Iko Awais, the martial artist and star, had only made one film, Merantau, which was well regarded by those who saw it but not often seen. Evans and Awais had to prove themselves further before a studio would release a budget substantial enough to make Berandal. They would have to make something smaller scale, more focused. So they went away and made Serbuan Maut, meaning "The Deadly Raid", but over here simply titled The Raid. The Raid is a brutally focused burst of almost unbroken action as Awais' cop Rama uses the martial art of pencak silat fight his way to the top of a Jakarta tower block run by a violent gang. There are only the briefest pauses for cliched soapish plotting and character stuff before we are thrown back into a kickass fight scene. As such the entire movie is just a raid and is titled accordingly. The Raid was successful enough that Evans could now make Berandal. The only thing was The Raid had been so successful that Berandal had to be made as a sequel, with action cop Rama returning to go undercover. Regardless of the film's Indonesian title or its distinct lack of raiding, the distributors weren't going to miss out on tying Berandal to its hit predecessor, giving us The Raid 2. At the moment it's impossible to tell the potential raid content of the rumoured Raid 3, but the likelihood is that there won't be any.