[Locke]

Watched The Raid on Bluray:

Speaking specifically about the Bluray it's...fairly unspectacular. I understand that this is a low budget movie from Indonesia but this is the modern digital age, I can't fathom why this picture is so lacking in detail or a nice crisp finish. I'm sure it looks great when stacked against the DVD but as far as Bluray picture quality goes this is incredibly unspectacular. The murkiness may be, to some extent at least, intentional but that doesn't mean it somehow forgives how bad it looks overall.

Although The Raid lacks some of Dredd's polish, the film is able to have a lot of personality and style in its own way. True, it doesn't have the brilliance that is "Slo-Mo", but for a film made for around a million dollars with a cast of unknowns, and a director I'd never heard of behind the camera it's impressive just how well made this film is. Every sequence moves with the action, not against it like those horrible shaky cam flicks, and with the fluid sweeps of the camera it gives every sequence a real dynamic look and it feels like you're right there in the middle of it all.

Iko Uwais is truly spectacular, he doesn't look like a conventional action hero but when you see this guy move - and fight - it's such a glorious thing to see. Both Uwais and the true main villain of the piece, Mad Dog, who is played by Yayan Ruhian aren't actors but fight choreographers. This is important, because it means they're doing their own stunts in action sequences they themselves have orchestrated. It's not easy to put into words but when you see how it impacts the action on the screen you realise it really does make a world of difference.

Fights feel larger than life but flow in a way that feels natural, pencak silat is a martial art that is as deadly as it is beautiful and this movie showcases it wonderfully. There are loads of knives, machetes and guns but the best fights come from having a man stripped of his weapons and armed only with desperation - which is the crux of the final act of the film. It's the tower block itself that becomes the deadliest weapon from door frames to fridges to light bulbs.

If I was to have any real complaints with the action, it's the copious use of CG. From muzzle flashes to blood sprays, pretty much all of it is CG and the kind of naff, cheap CG that looks painfully obvious. Surely if Z-Grade movies were using bloodbags and squibs like fifty years ago, it can't be a cost saving measure to do it today with CG. So not only does it look frustratingly bad but it was an unnecessary creative decision which could have been avoided and made the film look better for it.

I know this is going to feel like somewhat of a moot point, but as you can see I've only really been talking about the action up until this point... because that is really all there is to The Raid. I get that coming to a film like this and expecting Shakespeare would be ludicrous but this is the first time I think I've seen a film where it barely has any semblance of plot, characters or purpose. It is literally a two hour showcase of violence, which is fine for the right audience I suppose but with the so so presentation of the Bluray I think I'm going to be coming back to my copy of Dredd much sooner than I'll be coming back to this.