Oscars 2015: 10 Movies That Should Be Nominated For Best Picture

9. The Raid 2

While Hollywood action blockbusters become increasingly CGI-laden, exposition-heavy affairs, The Raid 2 is an old-fashioned action flick the shows how it should be done. Taking place mere moments after the first film left off, The Raid 2 sees our Indonesian police hero, Rama, go deep undercover with a crime syndicate. A gritty, grimy thriller with a wonderful sense of cinematic flair and jaw-dropping fight choreography, The Raid 2 is an enthralling action flick that anchors itself in (relative) realism so lacking in its contemporary peers. The first Raid film took a cool premise as an excuse to construct an absolutely fantastic fight extravaganza, but what's surprising about The Raid 2 is how intriguing the film's plot is. When it is at its best, The Raid 2 matches pace for pace some of the recent great crime films and TV shows. The drama in the film is very real and although it gets a little distracted in its third act with all the fight scenes, The Raid 2 works extremely well as a dramatic film in addition to its more obvious action categorization. Welsh director Gareth Evans has proven himself an immaculate director of fight sequences with his first two films. With The Raid 2 though, Evans established himself as a director who is capable of much more than the niche fight film genre. Unfortunately, The Raid films have not seen much exposure to the filmgoing public at large, which means Evans opportunity to branch out into different genres is likely limited, but here's to hoping he spreads his cinematic wings to as many different genres as possible.