THE RAID: REDEMPTION is one of those films that lives up to the fantastic trailer.  It is a combination of martial arts, gun fights, and knife fights in this furiously paced action film.   It doesn't waste much time getting the action going and getting the SWAT police in trouble.   There are brief pauses between the action scenes at times to have the audience catch their breath.  

The film centers around a SWAT team that raids a building to capture drug lord Tama only to have things go wrong around the sixth floor of the building.  Two groups of SWAT members try to escape from the building which has become a deathtrap for the SWAT team.    One of the SWAT members, Rama, is a rookie who has a pregnant wife and his own reason for being on the raid while Sergeant Jaka and Lieutenant Wahyu are the ones who are in command of the raid.   The film goes back and forth between the cops and the criminals.   You see how over their heads that the cops are and how brutal the criminals are.   The body count rises and the bullets run out which leads to lots of martial arts and knife fights. 

THE RAID: REDEMPTION is one of the best action films I have seen this year.  It is an energetically paced film which the only fault is the shaky camera style during some of the fight scenes.  Even though it has subtitles, the action is king in this film and you should go see this movie when you get the chance whether it is in the theaters or on DVD/ Blu-ray.   I know I will definitely own this film on Blu-ray because THE RAID: REDEMPTION is easily a film on my top 10 list for 2012.

this review is (c)4-15-2012 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com