The Raid 2 : Berandal (2014)

Before I start with this review.  Please look back on my review of The Raid : Redemption (http://roubsreviews.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-raid-redemption.html) as I will make references to it.  This is the sequel after all.  How can I not?

Rama (Iko Uwais) is back!  Not sure that he wants to be back.  None the less, he is back!  Our hero is yet again thrown back into a situation he doesn't necessarily want to be involved with.  And because of this we are given 2 hours and 45 minutes of ass-kicking goodness.  And I truly mean that.  This movie doesn't slow down to breathe very often.  But when it does, it's just as good as the fighting.  I'll get to that soon enough.

As like the first film.  This film follows Rama as he kicks, punches, dodges, maims, kills, and survives an environment he is new to.  The first film being a apartment complex overrun with thugs and criminals.  This time he is undercover trying to take down a mob from the inside.  Now I should talk about the story at this point.  But I'm not.  I want to talk about the fighting.  Cause really.  That more or less the reason we all want to see this movie.  And I think that Garth Evans knows this too.  Because he has really amped up the fights in this one.  They are bigger and badder for sure.  But how much is something to really be seen.  These fight scenes border on epic.  Massive really.  And at the same time, done quite beautifully.  The choreography is astounding.  And you can see how Garth is growing in this genre.  The amount of action in each scene is something to watch in awe of.  Albeit the violence is very extreme.  Weak stomach?  Might be much for you then.  For others.  Dig in.  You're in for a treat.  Just wait til you meet Hammer Girl.  As far as I am concerned, the first film pales in comparison to this.  The camera views alone are spectacular!

The acting is another area that has been improved on.  While the first had characters that were very forgetful.  Rama pounding thugs to a bloody pulp.  This movie creates something more.  Maybe it's a better choice of actors?  But we really want to follow these characters.  It also helps that they aren't disposed of once we see them.  Something that happened quite often in the first movie.  Even the main actor.  First time around we just wanted him to kick some ass.  Now we want to see him continue forth and survive (and kick more ass of course.).

And this leads me to the story.

While the first film had a rather simplistic story.  This one is much more complex.  Between the fights we are given a very intelligent continuing story from the first.  Taking place almost immediately after the events of the first movie, our hero is getting involved in something more challenging.  Being undercover for one of the most ruthless mobs.  But, although the story does follow Rama, it also follows Uco (Arifin Putra), the son of one of the biggest mob bosses.  And with this we are given both views of the mob family.  We witness Rama's struggles to infiltrate, and Uco's steps towards his fathers seat in the hierarchy within the mob.  On top of them we get cops, corrupt cops, other undercover cops, other mob bosses, assassins, you name it.  And with those addition characters brings the movie to a new level.  More intelligent and engrossing.

And between the fights, and the story, Garth Evans carries both with almost ease.

And I say "almost" for one reason.  Yayan Ruhian.  When you see him on screen.  You will instantly think Mad Dog from the the first film.  Same actor.  Same look.  Same fighting skills.  Different character.  And this is truly my only beef.  He's so the same that you think to yourself.  "How did he survive?"  But it's not him.  And how I agree that, if I was making a martial arts movie, I would have him in it.  I'd at least make him different in some way.  Not to confuse/draw the viewer into thinking something else.

Really?!?  Mad Dog? You're back?

Recommendation : If you loved the first film.  Then you owe yourself to see this one.  It's grander on all scales.  The story, the fight scenes, the acting.  All much improved from the first.  And really, the The Raid : Redemption was amazing.  This is just that much better!  Now 2-3 years for the next installment?  C'mon!

4.5 out of 5  (Would be perfect except for Yayan coming back from the dead.)

Gravity (2013)

Space is an amazing thing.  From everything we know about it, and everything we don't.  It's vastness, it's eeriness, it's openness to create something that can or cannot be believed.  A playground that can be brought to life with a bit of imagination.  With the basic principals of what we know, we can still bend the rules.  We don't truthfully know what can be done in space.

And filmmakers have always come up with interesting ways to utilize it.   I've always been a fan of films that involve space.  The Alien series, Star Trek, Star Wars (Although 1-3 sucked and ruined 4-6 for me.  Please J.J. Abrams return my faith!), Spaceballs, etc.  I love sci-fi!  I love to be taken away from Earth and allowing my mind to be free.  Even if for only 2 hours.

And Gravity is something special.

We get no aliens, no laser guns, no warp drives.  What we do get is a tense thriller.  One that grabs you from the beginning and doesn't let go until the credits.  But even as a thriller, it still feels like a beautifully composed symphony.  Alfonso Cuarón has created something of pure beauty, but at the same time created something that will make you hold your breath in fear.

The film itself is rather simplistic.  Story wise anyways.  One persons struggle to stay alive.  We've seen it before in countless movies.  But this is something completely different.  How does one survive alone in space?  Floating in nothingness?  Surrounded by nothingness?  Yet home is in plain view.  So to speak.  With this we get to join Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) on her fight to survive.  Being stranded alone in space.

Now I mentioned beauty and fear in the same sentence earlier.  And this film does display both.  We get stunning views of space.  And special effects wise, it is absolutely incredible.  Everything looks so realistic that you can almost believe that it is real.  And that is where the fear comes in.  It feels too real.  And we feel for everything our lone survivor goes through.  The terror that she feels.  The hopelessness.

But with its story, it's truly how it is filmed that makes this something far better than it should.  I have seen many movies in 3-D and none of them compare to this.  The use of 3-D allows us to feel and believe that we are right with her in space.  And the bigger the screen you can see this on the better.  Space is big after all.  You just won't get the same experience on a 19" tv.  Sorry.

The score also feels like a character on it's own.  Almost like the villain.  It never makes you feel happy.  In fact it adds to the dread of the situation our heroine is going through.  From the sounds that she hears, to the music that is added throughout the devastation surrounding her.  It heightens our fears even more.

Now with the "bending of the rules".  This is not a film that is accurate.  Not by any means.  In fact it has many holes that even us laymen would see through.  But that was not the point of this film.  This was to entertain.  And Alfonso Cuarón knows this.  He choose space as his playground and knowing that he can do as he pleases, he succeeded.  I'm sure those from NASA had their beefs with this, but he wasn't making a documentary.  He wanted to bring us a film of fear and survival at it's more dire.

Recommendation : If you can see this in 3-D, you are in for a treat.  A small tv will also not give this film any justice.  And that is my only issue with it.  This is a movie that can only be really appreciated being viewed on a large screen.  And sadly, not all of us have one of them.

4 out of 5 for me.  (Yes, this is a new addition.)