The Raid Blu-ray Review

20th Sep 2012

WTF!!! That’s pretty much what most people said the moment the Raid smashed them in the face. And the director is Welsh?

Well really we ought not to be surprised. If anything we have been waiting for cultures to clash and mix up this way on more of a regular basis so that studios can let their minds go free a little when it comes to getting a film made by the right person.

Gareth Evans has worked long and hard at getting the work he wants put on screen done well. He’s gone to the right people and worked efficiently within the constraints of his budget. It’s all mathematics really. You look at costs, budget and time and after the equals sign you come up with the best outcome you can imagine and then go work that sum as a reality.

The Raid if you don’t know already has a SWAT team heading to a tower block to take down a drug lord. They enter silently, but after only traversing a few floors they are discovered. Work is soon put out to everyone in the block that this team must be taken down. And that’s where it starts to get really interesting.

The film leaps from one action set piece to the next. Guns are quickly emptied and disposed of, leaving the few that remain to go hand to hand against the wave of enemies that are hunting them down. The clarity of the action is the most inspired thing here. The camera is not afraid to get right in there and twist, turn and vault along with the characters caught up in the midst of it all.

Evans doesn’t forget to take a few seconds out to get our breath back, but only to often in calmer scenes there is still in dark shadow of incoming threat looming around every corner and on the other side of every wall.

The Raid is by far the biggest action achievement this year and has already sparked off a sequel and remake in the works. If either are half as good as this, then they will be worth the watch.

The UK extras are good. There is access to all of the online promos and behind the scenes shorts. There are also a couple of treats – especially in the animated short utilising the likes of bunnies? But we also get the commentary track which is very informative.