Video
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audio
Indonesian: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 Note: Indonesian track with Ori...
Indonesian: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1 Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1(less) Note: Indonesian track with Original or New Music. Confirmed by Spanish speakers, Spanish track is Castilian Spanish, so Latin Spanish is not included as the back cover claims.
The Raid: Redemption Blu-ray offers decent video and solid audio in this enjoyable Blu-ray release
A swat team arrives at a rundown apartment block with a mission to remove its owner, a notorious drug lord named Tama. The building has never been raided before, never been touched by police. Seen as a no go zone it has since become a sanctuary to killers, gangs, rapists and thieves seeking accommodation in the one place they know they cannot be touched.
The Raid: Redemption is an orgy of violence wrapped around a loose and uninteresting story, relatively bland characters, and routine plot
developments. The movie succeeds on pure adrenaline, fight choreography, and guts alone. Audiences looking for anything other than butt-whooping
firearm, machete, knife, and martial arts style should seek out another film. Director Gareth Evans' (Merantau) picture ranks high up on the
list of ultimate guy movie adrenaline rushes; it's almost nonstop blood and violence, eschewing most other factors save for a few necessary breaks in
the action and a handful of compulsory character scenes in
order to bring viewers one of the most daring, relentless, and brutal movie experiences in some time. It's dark, dreary, inhospitable, and ofttimes
frightening. It's as close as the Action movie and Cop drama can get to the Horror picture without featuring masked maniacs and unnecessary gore.
That's a lot of building, inside of which there will be a lot of blood.
Rama (Iko Uwais) is a rookie cop who's dedicated to his job. He wakes early, works out hard, says his prayers, and unabashedly loves his pregnant
wife. One day, he finds himself in the back of a SWAT van with several other heavily-armed officers. The team's mission is to take out a ruthless
criminal kingpin named Tama (Ray Sahetapy), a man feared by his opponents and treated as if a god by those around him. He controls a massive
apartment complex that's become home to all sorts of criminal types who work under him. The building houses his own drug lab and an army of
expert fighters who will die in Tama's name. The SWAT team moves up and moves in. They secure the lower floors before their presence becomes
known. When word reaches Tama of the incursion, he orders the officers taken down by any means necessary. What follows is a relentless
bloodbath that will take an untold number of lives and a mental and physical toll on anyone fortunate enough to survive the mayhem.
That's the plot in a nutshell, but don't worry too much about story specifics. The Raid: Redemption is a shoot, slice, stab, punch, and kick
first-and-only sort of movie. The picture offers endless and merciless violence, beginning with the execution of several unidentified people and
continuing
on
until everyone in the movie is bloodied, shot, exploded, cut, maimed, or killed. But this is not an exercise in ratings-pushing. While The Raid:
Redemption certainly shoves into boundaries, it never crosses into bad taste or celebrates violence, even if it turns violence into something of
an
art form at times. But the drab visuals, nearly colorless picture, and sheer awfulness guarantee that the movie puts a psychologically negative spin
on this level of bloodshed,
even if it in a roundabout way celebrates the artistry inherent in fighting and surviving in a closed-in urban environment. The dreary, inhospitable,
worn-down building, saturated in bloodshed and slathered in hopelessness, only further emphasizes the gruesomeness that oozes from every scene.
The movie finds that sweet spot where it makes the audience physically uncomfortable and even terrified, but at the same time energized and
unable
to turn away, no matter how brutal it may become.
So what's the point of this entire endeavor? That's difficult to say. The movie is entertaining and heart-pounding almost to a fault. If this doesn't
get
the juices flowing, chances are nothing will. It will certainly verify whether one's alive and open to the allure of cinema as escapism, that's for sure.
If nothing else, though, the movie is just a cool-as-ice offering that's slicked up but not dumbed down, largely because there's nothing to
dumb down. The picture is 100% fast action where unique kills, wounds, and near-misses are commonplace. The fight choreography is excellent,
and even when the movie is so dark that it's a bit difficult to see what, exactly, is happening, it's obvious that The Raid: Redemption has its
style down to a science. It's lightening-quick and the speed and pace give the movie some intensity and tension even when both
are largely absent from a dramatic perspective. The good news is that the absence of drama and razor-sharp character development and dialogue
doesn't hurt the experience. Audiences will come to know and care for the lead character, but only because the movie follows him and not
necessarily because he's a rookie cop and an expectant father (yawn). The intensity definitely comes from the insane level of violence and relentless
pace. The Raid: Redemption knows its strengths and its place, and kudos for sticking to its guns and not attempting to be something that it
just is not.
The low budget The Raid: Redemption arrives on Blu-ray with a lackluster transfer that's a result of a deliberately dark tone and low-grade
photography. The HD video image is terribly flat and lifeless. Details are bland at best, whether almost nonexistent skin textures or a startling lack of
complexity on rough surfaces around the building's interior and exterior locations. The image is at least consistent in its absence of crisp HD imagery,
never capturing much more than the most cursory of details even in the brightest outdoor or indoor scenes. Colors are lifeless, too. The darker scenes
offer next to nothing outside of shades of blue, gray, and black. Well-lit scenes manage a few splashes of stale color, such as blue containers as seen in a
drug lab battle late in the movie. A pale red brick wall, washed out gray skies, and human skin account for most of the coloring outside. Black levels
waver greatly, appearing pale and washed out here and overwhelming there while often slathered in noise. Heavy banding is scattered throughout. This
is far from a pleasant watch, but the Blu-ray image appears to reproduce the original elements as well as it can, which is all one can really ask of a movie
filmed in this manner.
The Raid: Redemption debuts on Blu-ray with the Sony-typical 5.1 channel lossless DTS track, presented both in English and Indonesian. As
with the video presentation, this one's fairly "blah," but it does fare a tad better on the whole. There's not much presence inside the rattling SWAT van
at the beginning; only a cursory amount of bumpiness and rattling play, though at least the sound emanates through the entire stage. Gunfire ranges
from pop-gun intensity to nearly full-blown excellence. Sniper shots from a fairly enclosed space early on lack authority, but fire later in the film finds
more potency. Music plays with fine spacing and good clarity, supported by an adequate low end. The surround channels carry a good bit of the load in
terms of both music and sound effects, predominantly in the form of gunfire with a notable moment coming when distant strings of automatic weapons
fire are heard emanating from all over the stage when the action is away from the gunfire but playing out simultaneously in another part of the building.
It's a good all-around track, but a defining Action movie Blu-ray audio presentation this is not. Note that listeners may choose to view the movie with
either the film's original music or music by Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda.
The Raid: Redemption contains a comprehensive collection of bonus content.
Audio Commentary: Writer/Director Gareth Evans serves up a detailed, intriguing track that covers his journey from Whales to
Indonesian filmmaking, his cinematic influences, ideas for the film and budget limitations, this film's visual style, the picture's dark humor, filmmaking
style and
techniques, casting, sets and filming locales, the picture's music, crafting big action scenes on a budget, and much more. With optional English,
Portuguese, and Spanish subtitles.
Behind the Scenes Video Blogs (1080p): Included is Bootcamp (7:23), a feature showcasing the actors physically preparing for
their roles and learning to use firearms; Set Location, Camera & Lighting, Make Up & Visual Effects, Riot Van (7:05), a compilation piece
examining all of the listed elements; Courtyard, Hole Drop (6:15), a short feature highlighting the construction of a specific style of set for the
filming of two critical scenes; Drug Lab, Tama's Office (6:00), a deeper look into two of the film's sets; Machete Gang & Corridor, Jaka vs.
Mad Dog (6:01), a look at fight choreography, style, and filming fight scenes; and Post Production (7:16), a fascinating but too-short
examination of the process of putting together a finished product when shooting ends. In both English and Indonesian with English subtitles.
An Evening with Gareth Evans, Mike Shinoda & Joe Trapanese (1080p, 40:40): The director and composers sit down with Moderator
Hadrian Belove to field questions surrounding the film.
Behind the Music with Mike Shinoda and Joe Trapanese (1080p, 11:05): The composers discuss their style and
composing for The Raid: Redemption.
Anatomy of a Scene with Gareth Evans (1080p, 2:15): The writer/director takes audiences in-depth into the "hole drop" scene and
shares his vision for the film's style.
In Conversation with Gareth Evans and Mike Shinoda (1080p): The filmmakers speak on a variety of topics. The supplement is broken
into the following four segments: Hard Shoot (1:59), Score (3:33), Stunts (2:07), and Themes (3:51).
Inside the Score (1080p, 1:23): A sample of the score set to scenes from the film and critic blurbs.
Claycat's The Raid (1080p, 2:56): The movie remade with claymation cats.
THE RAID TV Show ad (circa 1994) (1080p, 0:44): A vintage-styled animated ad for the film.
Anyone who wants to see relentless violence, amazing fight choreography, incessant bloodshed, and all sorts of chaotic gun, blade, and fist action,
The Raid: Redemption is the movie to see. Anyone who doesn't get excited reading that last sentence should stay far away. The
Raid: Redemption is no masterpiece, but it's an exemplary action-only movie that knows its place and gets every last bit of blood and sweat out of
its premise. There's minimal story and characterization, just enough to give the movie some sense of purpose beyond spilling blood. Stylistically, this is
a dark, drab, uncomfortable sort of movie, just the right tenor for a picture as brutal and exciting as this. Sony's Blu-ray release of The Raid:
Redemption features bland video, fair audio, and a nice assortment of extras. Recommended for fans of violent cinema.
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