Theater Whore: The Raid 2: Berandal

The Raid 2: Berandal 6/10

If you have ever wished that they made a Double Dragon or Streets Of Rage movie then all you have to do is watch The Raid 2. I loved the first film not expecting all that much from it. The sequel, while even bigger and far more violent than the first, is way longer than it needed to be. I don't think any movie with this much violence needs to be longer than two hours and this movie is two and a half hours long. That is far too much excitement for one film.

This takes place like one hour after the first film ends. I won't ruin what happens for anyone who hasn't seen it, but the main guy Rama played by Iko Uwais needs to rest. This dude has just survived hell and is being asked to go undercover in prison to get some information about a bad guys kid who is locked up. Rama has to commit a crime to get a few months inside but ends up getting years instead leaving his wife and newborn kid behind.

I don't watch these kinda movies to see an in depth story so when this one spends a lot of time showing the relationship between the bad guy and his son who is power hungry I started to get a bit impatient. I just wanted to see people get punched with elbows and kicked with counter tops. Don't get me wrong, this does happen. It just didn't need to be so damned long. I can see why it didn't do that well in theaters besides the fact that there are a lot of movies out right now that aren't subtitled. But seriously. Two and a half hours.

In the first film there was an epic battle between Rama and this guy named Mad Dog. In this one there are three bad asses. The Assassin, Hammer Girl, and Baseball Bat Man. Hammer Girl kills the shit out of a train full of bad guys. Baseball Bat Man kills people with his bat or by hitting damned baseballs into people. The way these fights are done are brutal as hell. The Assassin is just as good as Rama when they fight. It is a long and violent fight. This is worth seeing if you are a fan of the first movie, but the length of it keeps me from telling people to flock to theaters.

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