Since the year 2000 martial arts movies have largely moved away from the raw and hard-hitting kung fu classics of yesteryear and towards a more elegant and graceful brand in which wirework has come to the fore. The same can't be said for The Raid: Redemption, which eschews such glossy visuals in favour of unbridled brutality. Newcomers Iko Uwais and Yayan Runian star as a determined cop and highly skilled psychopath in a film which all but disregards narrative in favour of the kind of continual action normally reserved for a video game - there's certainly something game-like about the waves of enemies the police SWAT team encounter as they work their way up the tower block to take out a criminal kingpin. The real star of The Raid: Redemption is the incredible choreography - not since the days of Jackie Chan have filmmakers and their stars dedicated themselves so tirelessly to crafting exciting fights, and the end result is a movie-length tribute to the glory of martial arts cinema.
