When a film’s tagline is “1 ruthless crime boss, 20 elite cops, 30 floors of hell,” it should be clear that it’s not exactly a Scandinavian drama of self-discovery. The Indonesian action hit The Raid is pretty much the exact opposite: here beaten, shot, stabbed and diedthat even John Rambo shyly pulls his bandana over his eyes.
The Raid on TV: What it’s about doesn’t really matter
The plot of the film is told in no time (or rather, in the blink of an eye?): The drug lord Tama (Ray Sahetapy) has holed up on the top floor of a run-down high-rise in Jakarta. A 20-member special police unit, including cop Rama (Iko Uwais), storms the building to arrest the unscrupulous cartel boss.
However, this is anything but easy, as Tama has a whole squad of powerful henchmen on standby to protect him. Rama and his colleagues have to Work your way up, floor by floorbut lose numerous men in the bloody clashes with the gangster army. Who will have the upper hand in the end?
The Raid: Low budget actioner becomes a genre highlight
Director Gareth Evans (Apostle) shot The Raid in 2011 with one Micro-budget of just £1.1 million (approx. $1.4 million) and earned around nine times as much. In addition to the economic success, the general reception of the independent action film was of great importance. It is also extremely popular within the Moviepilot editorial team and came in at number 82 in our top 100 of the best films of the 2010s.
Thanks to the gripping, fast-paced production, the ruthless level of severity and the masterfully choreographed fight scenes The Raid went from being an insider tip to becoming a cult genre film. The martial arts style practiced therein Pencak Silat suddenly became just as well-known in Hollywood as leading actor Iko Uwais (Mile 22). The almost inevitable US remake of the film is expected to land on Netflix soon.
Incidentally, three years later, Evans laid the Sequel to The Raid 2 which is more like a crime epic, but is no less worth seeing than its predecessor. The director also relies on unrestrained martial arts action, but combines the whole thing with significantly more story and character depth.
When will the action spectacle The Raid be on TV?
RTL2 shows The Raid today at 00:50 a.m. on the night of October 26th to 27th on TV. The film is currently available as a streaming flat rate on Amazon Prime Video and as a purchase or rental title from various providers.