Since I saw The Raid: Redemption, Serbuan Maut, (2011) on, I believe it was, HBO last year I've kept an ear out for any future Gareth Evans projects. Lo and behold, I heard about The Raid 2: Berandal and couldn't wait for the trailers and film. Often times the trailers may be misleading in terms of style however the style of the trailers for The Raid 2 Berandal, which reminded me of Quentin Tarantino and Francis Ford Coppola, remained in the final cut. Berandal in just about every way ups the ante set by Redemption.
Where Redemption was about Rama, a rookie cop in Jakarta, who is part of a "S.W.A.T." team which needs to raid a building full of notorious gangsters and thugs, "the little fish" and take them down, Berandal has Rama face the repercussions of the events in Redemption and go undercover as "Yuda" and get close to Uco, the son of Bangun (head of the Indonesian crime syndicate) in order to stop the big fish. Redemption boasted one slum-lord with many petty gangsters at his disposal and a corrupt sergeant. Berandal mixes it up with corrupt city and police officials, a Japanese crime syndicate, Indonesian crime syndicate, and deadly mercenaries.
Where Redemption takes place primarily in a raided building, Berandal ventures into night clubs, Jakarta streets, ghettos, restaurants and more. Since there are more locations, camera movements varied from handheld to dolly, jib, crane, and car rigs.
Where Redemption had one color pallet through out the entire film, Berandal's color pallets vary from location to location.
Berandal continues the fast pace set by Redemption but with more exposition scenes which add an extra 15 minutes or so to the run time. Berandal starts with Bejo., a business man who wants the Indonesian and Japanese crime syndicates to kill each other off so he may take over and flourish, killing Rama's brother and then flashing back and forth between Rama in prison and how he got to be in prison, which was reminiscent of the way Tarantino plays around with time from Reservoir Dogs (1992) to Pulp Fiction (1994). From there the storyline is pretty linear with no deviations. As the film progressed I couldn't help but think of Coppola's The Godfather (1972) because the hits were carried out in a montage way. The framing of each scene and take, whether long or short, also added to a style reminiscent of either Quentin Tarantino and/or Francis Ford Coppola.
Berandal allowed Evans (Director, Film Editor, Screenwriter), Matt Flannery and Dimas Imam Subhono (DPs), and Aria Prayogi &Joseph Trapanese & Fajar Yuskemal (Music) to really broaden their horizon in terms of style, culture, and creativity.
Redemption really wowed me with the fight sequences but Bruce Law Yee Man Law, Yayan Ruhian, Larnell Stoall, and Iko Uwais really upped the ante with the fight choreographhy in Berandal. This includes the car chases, the hand to hand combat, and weapons combat. Each fight becomes more gruesome and violent but at the same time advances the story and the characters by offering subtext both before, during, and after the fights. The best fight scene in Berandal was not the one filled with guns or explosions but when you see the kitchen scene close to the end, I'm sure you'll agree with me.
The Raid 2: Berandal tells a more complex story, is packed with action, has great fight sequences that top those in The Raid: Redemption, and in my personal opinion any Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Jackie Chan, or Bruce Lee fight sequence, has a grander scope and feel, and delivers great performances which make you feel sympathy, hatred, and/or empathy for one character or another. In its ambition I give The Raid 2: Berandal an A.
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