The Raid 2 (April-ish 2014)

[Ghambit]

http://sonyclassics.com/theraid2/

Technically it released on the 28th of March but kinda have to check the theatres on the website to see where it's playing and when.  Limited release for now, but as to be expected it'll widen after a while just like the 1st one.  All the main actors are back.  Directer said "fuck it... fuck plotholes, so what. /stabstab"  No really... he likely said it just like that.

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PQ6yUHHfZ04

I'm starting to have second thoughts about moving to Bali.  

[UnSub]

I was a fan of the first film.

The sequel is better. The action sequences suffer a little bit of "one guy after another" at some points, but there's a lot of very hard consequences for those who get caught up in the violence. I've seen more violent films, but not films with so much blood that arises from beating on people. In most cases the worst scenes have the graphic violence happen just off screen or a bit in the distance (well, right up to one that doesn't).

I can't remember that last film that had fight scenes where I had force myself to relax while watching them. Punches aren't pulled. Hammer Girl going to town on a bunch of Yakuza on a train is as blood-soaked as you would expect.

The acting and pacing is better (although I agree that the film overall is a bit bloated) although you do have to pay attention to which character is which and who is linked to who. Yes, the characters are often stereotypes and you can probably guess what happens next in plot terms based on other films you've seen in the Asian crime genre, but it is a step up from "The Raid".

Also, the director Garreth Evans really knows how to find a visually striking location and line up a shot.

I liked it. 

[Rendakor]

I also liked this more than the first (which I was a huge fan of). There's much more of a story this time, while still plenty of brutal action. I had the same problem as UnSub telling who belonged to which faction occasionally, but you figure it out eventually.

[UnSub]

The worst example of character misplacement is (iirc) Reza, who's the police chief (or high ranking police officer). He shows up in the first 15 minutes and then in the last 10, but he gets talked about a bit and if you forget who he is, you wonder why all these people are talking about him.

But yes, it's a minor thing.

[murdoc]

Watched this last night - intense. The action is brutal, with a knife fight near the end actually making my cringe a bit. It definitely has the problem of one guy after another, but the fights are also so well choreographed that it almost makes sense in some cases. I'm not typically a fan of "martial arts' films, I prefer the gun battles (thanks John Wick) in my action sequences but this was really well done and even though it was 2.5 hours, it was well worth the watch.