TIFF11: The Raid (2011)
The Raid was awesome, I loved it. It’s an incredibly well-choreographed, executed and shot film that hardly stops to breathe once the action starts. The story is simple and doesn’t waste too much time setting up the meat of the film, and doesn’t fall prey to a lot of the melodrama that a lot of Asian films suffer from. Also, it’s pretty exciting to see such a bold and well-made film essentially burst out of Indonesia, a country that is not especially well-known for its films, not to mention action films.
I did quite enjoy 2009′s Merantau and it’s pretty cool to see such a good working and personal relationship between director Gareth Edwards and his star, Iko Uwais. They clearly understand and trust each other and I’m really excited to see what the come up with next.
Check out the Q&A videos I took (below) to get some insight from Edwards, Uwais and co-star Joe Taslim, including a Silat demo from Iku Uwais!
