2011’s The Raid introduced American audiences to what the Jakarta action scene had to offer, specifically director Gareth Evans, who both wrote and directed the martial arts thriller. Evans returns to Sundance this year (The Raid made its U.S. premier there in 2012) with the sequel The Raid 2, a film we’ve been following for some time, and one which made our list of Most Anticipated Films of 2014. An international trailer was recently released, but (lucky us) it seems even more footage has been made available with. That’s right, there’s another new trailer.
Made for a meager 1.1 million dollars, the first film kept itself contained, following Rama (Iko Uwais) and his S.W.A.T. team as they shot, stabbed, and punched their way out of a gang controlled apartment complex. The Raid 2 boasts a budget somewhere between three and four times that of the original, and that budget shows on the screen. The sequel continues Rama’s fight against corruption, this time taking him undercover out on the streets of Jakarta.
While The Raid showed Gareth Evan’s ability to craft stunning and intense action sequence, the sequel certainly seems to have taken things up a notch. We can only hope that with a bigger budget, larger set pieces, and 148 minute running time (more than 30 minutes longer than the original), the film won’t lose the visceral quality that made the original great. And while the jury’s always out until the film premieres at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, this new trailer takes another big step towards putting those fears to rest.
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