Twenty heavily armed police are sent into a slum high-rise controlled by a criminal overlord to take him out. About half-way up things go rotten - they are discovered and it's a free-for-all as the cops are whittled away by the criminals around them. Left without back-up, the few remaining cops decide to blah blah blah, who cares? It's a paper thin excuse for awesome (and bloody - lots of blood) brutal violence. It also manages a great sense of claustrophobia as the camera shows you things that the cops / crims can't see, and the grainy filter of the camera adds to the grimy-ness of it all.
Not quite as polished in the action stakes as some of Tony Jaa's work, but as a first 'real' film with Iko Uwais in the lead, it's very impressive. There's some plot dumbness, but it doesn't get in the way of the awesome violence.
So, kind of sounds like a cop version of Blackhawk Down?
"My great-grandfather did not travel across four thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean to see this nation overrun by immigrants. He did it because he killed a man back in Ireland. That's the rumor." -Stephen Colbert
Yes - sorry if I wasn't clear. It starts off as something like "Blackhawk Down", then the cops run out of bullets / lose their guns, and the remainder is martial arts with a dash of "Panic Room".
This movie has one of the best fight scenes I've ever seen; in a strictly semi-simulationist sense (non-flashy, etc.). And the brutal nonstop nature of it is only enhanced by the dialog and language. DEFINITELY a flik you wanna see with subtitles.
Oh, and basically this movie is a modern twist on the classic dungeon-crawl, through and through w/o diversion. Only instead of gaining gear they lose it as time goes on... though, there's still loot to be had.
Awesome movie.
"See, the beauty of webgames is that I can play them on my phone while I'm plowing your mom." -Samwise
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