Two of the very best action films of the past decade are undoubtedly The Raid and The Raid 2: Berandal. The films deliver some of the most fast-paced, hard-hitting, perfectly choreographed action in recent memory, and while director Gareth Evans is responsible for bringing it all together, leading man Iko Uwais deserves plenty of credit for pulling off his own fight scenes and stunts. And now he’s back in what promises to be another brutal action flick, albeit with a derivative story.
The film hails from The Mo Brothers, who are Timo Tjahjanto (director of the “Libido” segment of The ABCs of Death) and Kimo Stamboel. It should come as no surprise that the style of the film feels close to that of Gareth Evans’ work inThe Raid movies, because Timo Tjahjanto actually worked with him on the “Safe Haven” segment of V/H/S/2.
Having Iko Uwais in the lead easily gets me more excited to see how much ass gets kicked as he attempts to track down and save the woman who saved his life from a gang of ruthless thugs who just might be his former colleagues from a life he no longer remembers. Sure, that’s a story we’ve heard plenty of times before, but with this kind of action in play, I’m fully on board to see how this all turns out.
The rest of the cast features Chelsea Islan, Sunny Pang, David Hendrawan and Very Tri Yulismann, who had the easy to spot role of Baseball Bat Man in The Raid 2. If you want to know more, here’s the official synopsis straight from TIFF: