The Raid 2 - Movie Review

Who's in it?

Iko Uwais, Arifin Putra and Alex Abbad


What's it about?

A day after the original Raid, Rama is offered the job of going inside for a couple of months to get in with a big crime syndicate so more corrupt cops can be brought down. Naturally he rejects, but after his brother is killed by a new crime boss on the rise he goes deep undercover to find the killer.

Any Good?

The original Raid was incredibly intense; a heart-pounder which had fights so incredible you just couldn't not watch - while The Raid 2 is brilliant, it just doesn't have that sense of urgency and inevitability the first had.

One big thing for me when hearing of this secret was Rama being the main again, not that there is anything wrong with him at all, I was just hoping for a new character to follow in the underground and I was gifted 4 just for thinking that.

Just one of these could power their own movie!

There was MASSIVE hype around Hammer Girl (above), and while she was brilliant and absolutely terrifying, I found both Baseball Bat Man and crime boss son Uco much better as characters. Baseball Bat Man was an absolute psycho, busting peoples skulls with a ball and demanding their friend give the ball back before bludgeoning them with the bat; he's like a demented version of the TF2 Scout. Uco reminded me a lot of Dominic Cooper in The Devils Double; a man who's father has a huge amount of power and they treat this like an excuse to do whatever they like. 

While I didn't have that original Raid feeling of urgency until the last 10 minutes, it was more of a well told bunch of peoples' stories that tie together, like a more directly linked and action packed version of Pulp Fiction. This sequel is more Western in it's approach to the aftermath of fighting and shooting than the first, but it does get rough near the end and all the better for it! It's a great action movie and well worth seeing as I'm seeing it again on Monday with just as much excitement as the first time!

Rating? 

The (sigh..) Eldest Gorgebag

Stalker - Movie Review

Who's in it? 

John Connors, Barry Keoghan, and Peter Coonan 


What's it about?

Oliver, a huge homeless man, finds Tommy in an alley being bullied by two scumbags, so he gives one a bating and scares the other off. When Oliver witnesses how abusive Tommy's heroin addicted Mother is towards him and how downright messed up his dealer Uncle is, he vows revenge for what Tommy has gone through.

Any Good?

Stalker is crazy and INTENSE. There's the worst aspects of human behavior in it - child molestation, rape, slavery, murder, torture and addiction induced child abuse off the top of my head; it's truly the first REAL 18s film I've ever seen. But by god is it good. Oliver is a psycho against psychos, starting off the film as a good case for homeless people not all being addicts or dangerous but ends as a better case for stay the hell away!! 

John Connors as the schizophrenic Oliver's performance just grew with the film, from eh to fully involved. Barry Keoghan ( who was beside us, I didn't notice until Hasan pointed it out) as Tommy was excellent as well, but the show stealers were Peter Coonan as the complete nutjob uncle and Tommy's addict mother. Coonan freaked me out to the point of leaning over and saying 'Jeeeeezuz' at least four times to Hasan and Tommy's mother TERRIFIED ME with her screams and her finger-tip stinging slaps.  

I honestly can't say anymore without spoiling, but Stalker is a brilliant and terrifying Irish film; the best for me since Inside I'm Dancing. Seriously, go to see this before it's torn from the cinemas when people start causing trouble over it - it's completely worth the money and it's definitely going to be part of my movie collection as soon as available and you'll be helping a growing Irish film industry that is going from strength to strength. 

Rating: