The Raid [2012] ***1/2 Stars Iko Uwais, Ananda George, Ray Sahetapy, Yayayn Ruhian, Joe Taslim, Doni Alamsyah Directed by Gareth Evans This is one of those films that is going to be around for a long time, but it will probably survive as a cult hit more than anything. It's the same way any of Bruce Lee's four main movies have remained in popular culture, or Ong Bak, or OldBoy or any of many movies that have such awesome fight scenes. Yes - it's all about the fight scenes. Plotwise, it's a simple set up. A special team (could be SWAT) infiltrate a 30 storey tower block that owned and controlled by a local drug lord. His drug lab is in the building and he also rents out rooms to other criminals who want a momentary safe haven. This puts a lot of goons at his disposal to throw at the cops. That's when things go really bad for the cops and soon, those that remain have to formalise a plan to survive, which is to continue working and fighting their way to the boss, use him as leverage to get out alive. There is some drama woven in, like why these cops had to raid this particular building on this day, and there's an added twist for our main hero (Iko Uwais) that just raises the stakes. Director Gareth Evans (who made Merantau with Uwais a couple of years earlier) keeps things simple and clear, particularly with the fight scenes. The brutality of those scenes are outrageous at times but the choreography is amazing showcasing the art of silat as the main martial art. There are a few set-pieces that compete for the highlights from a corridor fight to rival that in OldBoy to the final showdown in a closed room Best to watch this in its original form with subtitles than a dubbed version tho. The dubbing was really annoying. Bait 3D [2012] ** Stars Xavier Samuel, Sharni Vinson, Dan Wylie, Alice Parkinson, Damien Garvey, Phoebe Tonkin, Adrian Pang, Qi Yu Wu and Julian McMohan Directed by Kimble Rendall Aside from two moments with CG sharks, this is a surprisingly effective little thriller. How little? An Australian coastal town is hit by a tsunami (pretty spectacular moment) which traps a bunch of survivors in a supermarket. Because the supermarket is below street level, it becomes flooded. AND there's a (12 foot, approximately) great white shark in there with the survivors. As a break from the supermarket scenes, there are also a bunch of survivors in the basement car-park, which s also flooded. AND there's also a shark there just to keep things interesting. The saving grace is that the main sharks were not computer generated effects - or if they were, it was actually pretty good. It kept the sharks at a steady size unlike some other films where the CG sharks would change in size relative to the humans in the water. The 3D did have a nice workout at some points while at others, it felt very much like a post converted film (It was shot in 3D). For the most part, it does feel like an above average SyFy TV movie, or a below average cinematic monster movie. At least the characters weren't all ciphers (the damn dog did survive despite being chucked into the water) while lead star Xavier Samuel broods as well as Taylor Lautner in some scenes. It's not going to appeal to most people but at least it's no Shark Night 3D or even Jaws: The Revenge, better than any of those crazy shark movies (Sharktopus, 2-Headed Shark Attack, Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus), maybe a little better than Jaws 3-D and not quite the waste of time that was Piranha 3DD. Still, for a Australian/Singapore/Chinese low budget co-production it's a decent waste of time for an undiscerning viewer.
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