You can have too much of a good thing, and this is certainly the case with "The Raid 2", Gareth Evan's follow up to the fantastic original. I realise that I seem to be in the minority with my opinion on this one but I have to be honest.The film is at least 45 minutes too long and after the 90 minute mark becomes somewhat tedious and overly complicated. It's a shame because it looks fantastic and the fight sequences are some of the best I have ever seen but great action sequences don't make a great film. The original succeeded so much because it had a strong straight forward narrative. By opening up the setting to the whole city the sequel now feels convoluted and at times pretty dull. There are moments of awe and amazement, the whole prison sequence is superb, but as the film goes on and we get more and more action sequences and it eventually becomes, dare I say, boring. It's hard to describe, I was fully aware that what I was witnessing was some of the best choreographed action that has ever been commited to the silver screen, but because I had already seen it 16 times previously it began to grate on me.
The praise for the film also seems ridiculous. "The Dark Knight of action films?" Who was smoking what that day or perhaps they just wanted their quote on the poster?
3 out of 5 stars
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