The Raid 2

Made in Jakarta by expat Welshman Gareth Evans, 2011's The Raid was a first-class fusion of throwback B-movie and bone-cracking martial arts flick, telling the story of a police raid on a mob-run high-rise. This excellent sequel continues the franchise in spirit only, with rookie officer Rama (Iko Uwais) being whisked off within hours of the first film's end and sent under cover to gain the trust of the violent Bangun crime family. Though the earnest Uwais was the obvious, clean-cut hero of the first film, here the canvas is much broader. Evans depicts a more complex, Godfather-style power struggle, in which the relative equilibrium of Jakarta's gangland is threatened when Bangun upstart Uco (Arifin Putra) starts making moves to depose his more cautious father. But though it is more ambitious in scope, The Raid 2 remains, primarily, a visceral pulp action movie, and this is where it truly soars. The violence is not for everyone, but for those with the stomach for it, the film offers a balletic vision of hand-to-hand mayhem, with surprising emotional shading in its cast of good guys, villains and hammer-toting psychopaths.