The Raid Analysis

The Raid (2011)

Written, Edited and Directed by: Gareth Evans
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video as 'The Raid: Redemption'.

The entire film is like a blast, it has action throughout. It felt like even the story wasn't relevant anymore. I couldn't follow the story. I was just enjoying the action choreography, the editing and the camera movements. Because after such a high octane action sequence, when people are talking - the shift in tone and the change in stakes is so much that the drama simply doesn't work. For example, the film opens with the guy telling a goodbye to his pregnant wife - what could create more stakes than this? The problem is it gets too high in stakes that we stop caring. The amount of reaction we have towards a death gets so low after a point that anything that happens in the film can't grab us. Also, I wish I could've felt the need and the urgency for all the action that was happening in the film. I couldn't. Having said this, the scene where the guy stabs the knife into the cardboard and it cuts through his cheeks, that scene held me by the balls. There was so much tension in that scene, because it's so visual. The same tension wouldn't have been there if there was a gun to his head. I think figuring out what creates an impact cinematically is very important in action films. Sometimes, even a head being chopped off can seem normal where a simple punch could give an exuberating effect.

The camera movement was so good, it was shaky but not in a way that we can't figure what's happening. The charge-ins happen at the right moments, they use high angle shots very scarcely - but when they do - it serves the purpose. The action choreography was so good. The film is also edited by the director - and it's also interesting that the director was also involved partly in the action choreography. The color palette is a very desaturated tone, where the costumes are also grey, brown and such colors. It's not as visually striking as 300, or Sin City but it is good enough for the imagery to have a sense of identity.