What was your favorite film of summer 2014?

What was your favorite film of summer 2014?

My favorite film of summer 2014 was 'the raid 2: berandal'; an Indonesian martial arts crime action thriller, it was released worldwide on 11th April, but due to low returns in many theaters it was closed after a single week, the DVD was released in the UK mid July. 'The Raid 2' when released in the US had to make a small amount of frame cuts due to excessive bloody violence, that being one of the films well known aspects following on from the first film. The main aspect of the film is its incredibly well thought out fight scenes, excellent choreography and brutal deaths, a personal favorite of mine is the opening fight scene in which the main character Rama if forced to fight a very large number of prison inmates within a prison toilet cubicle, which makes for an interesting and even comical scene.

The Raid 2 follows an ambitious plot expanding from the original films iterate military action film subject, Rama the former swat agent is enjoying his well earned family time until he is asked to join an undercover task force, which he declines until the organization he was asked to follow kills his brother. The plot causes for a story full of twists and one that takes the viewer around a number of locations, large scale prison fights, car chases, and the trademark brutal kitchen fights and a restaurant martial arts massacre , the open up of the plot and its locations makes for a tasteful and exciting film, something the first film failed to deliver.    

As for the character Rama, we see a development from a hard and salty character that always puts friends safety before his own, into a rage fueled martial arts machine seeking revenge for his brother's death, to which he will  dispatch enemies with little regard for who they are and who the fight for, for me the no-more-mister-nice-guy attitude only fuels the adrenaline without jeopardizing the plots integrity and feeling. The Raid 2 also features some unique supporting characters including baseball bat man and hammer girl, the two supervillan sounding persona's add a little fruit to the way the action is executed, a hammer and a baseball bat being popular household weapons can create executions that are quite frankly difficult to watch, the two characters also create a sense difficulty when both come up against and angry unarmed Rama, that makes for one of the most memorable scenes you will ever see. 

Martial arts films are often very under appreciated by audiences and film critics, since they tend to be rather cheesy and cliche, but The Raid 2 delivers an action film that stands tall above a lot of Hollywood action films, which only a fraction of the funds available compared to the big-time Hollywood directors, I think it's also very appealing for western audiences since its very western in aspects, car chases, guns, police, gangs and bloody violence. I hold this film close to my heart for its ability to create a memorable experience with raw talent and little to no CGI.