The Raid 2

Starring: Iko Uwais, Arifin Putra, Oka Antara, Tio Pakusadewo

Rated: 7/10

Why on Earth would you go for an Indonesian crime film and why on Earth would it seek an India releaseIJ Raid 2 summarily tells you why. Besides being the most violent film ever made by any director in any corner of the globe, it is also one which leaves you gaping in astonishment about its blood-curdling lure. You might choke, puke and even forget to breathe at the amount of blood that is let out in this two-and-a-half-hour crime saga, but the overwhelming feeling is of shame about getting hooked on to such blatant show of blood-soaked brutality.

Consider this: As a man is being cut into innumerable pieces, his eyes gorged out, his head battered by a baseball bat, his lip yanked out all the way to his chest and beyond by an axe, his leg vein cut slowly and steadily and his limbs broken into limpness, the audience stands up in ovation, clapping at the savagery and chanting “awesome man, awesome!”

Under the circs, you definitely have to say a few words about the ingenuity that director-writer Gareth Evans shows in this sequel to Raid Redemption, which was a surprise global hit three years ago. In this one, he has gone a step further with the cruelty — almost into insanity — but with so much method in the killing that foul seems fair, in this case the foulness of attacking your senses as no one should dare to. I hate violence of any kind but in Raid 2, I couldn’t take my eyes off the blood and gore that humans inflict on each other. And there was ample variety to it — swift, lingering, inhuman, casual, savage, fierce, passionate, bestial, sadist, vehement, classical and also as a job well done. Gareth has enhanced the killing frenzy on all props — by acoustics, expression and imminence. Choose your type and go get sucked in — just like those boys who kept serenading the violence with applause. The gore is so blatant and yet so deft that the film qualifies to be called a treatise of blood-letting.