The Raid (2011 )
The Raid is a 2011 Indonesian action thriller film written, directed and edited by the Welsh filmmaker Gareth Evans. The film stars Iko Uwais, who previously worked with Evans in another action film, Merantau, released in 2009. In the film, an elite squad is tasked to infiltrate a high-rise building run by a ruthless drug lord in the slums of Jakarta; among them is Rama (played by Uwais), a rookie member of the team. After its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), The Raid received positive reviews from critics. The name of the film was changed to The Raid: Redemption in the United States as distributor Sony Pictures Classics could not secure the rights to the title; it also allowed Evans to plan out future titles in the series. The US release of the film features a film score composed by Mike Shinoda and Joseph Trapanese. It was released in the United States on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on 14 August 2012. A sequel, The Raid 2, was released in 2014. Both films showcase the traditional Indonesian martial art of Pencak Silat, with fight choreography led by Uwais and Yayan Ruhian. A third film was considered but Evans decided not to go forward with the project.
Plot.
Rookie Brimob officer Rama trains before joining a 20-man squad led by Sergeant Jaka and Lieutenant Wahyu for a raid on an apartment block with the intent of arresting crime lord Tama Riyadi. Together with his lieutenants Andi and Mad Dog, Tama runs the block and allows criminals and addicts to rent rooms under his protection. Arriving undetected, the team sweeps the first floor and subdue various tenants; they also meet a law-abiding tenant named Gofar delivering medicine to his sick wife. Continuing to the sixth floor, the team is spotted by two young lookouts, one of whom raises the alarm. Tama calls in reinforcements, including a pair of snipers who pick off officers guarding the block’s exterior, and a group of gunmen who destroy the truck they are using. Taking advantage of the chaos outside, Tama’s men successfully set themselves free and manage to regain control of the first five floors.
Tama then cuts the lights and announces over the PA system that the rest of the officers are on the sixth-floor stairwell, and that he will grant permanent residence to those who kill them. Wahyu confesses to Jaka that he staged the mission so he can eliminate Tama, who is in league with corrupt police officials, including himself; the mission is not officially sanctioned by police command, and there will be no reinforcements. The remaining team members are ambushed by shooters from above and are almost completely wiped out.
The remaining officers—Rama, Bowo, Jaka, Wahyu, Dagu, and three others—retreat to an empty apartment and are cornered by more armed thugs. Rama uses an axe to create a hole in the floor so the team can descend to the lower level. Dropping to the room below, the team struggles to fend off Tama’s thugs; the three other officers are killed and Bowo is gravely wounded.
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Development and pre-production.
nitially intended to be released as Serbuan Maut, which translates literally to “The Deadly Raid”; director Gareth Evans came across the idea for the film when he moved to Indonesia to film a documentary about the country’s martial art Pencak Silat, as suggested by his wife of Indonesian Japanese descent. It was in that country that he met Iko Uwais, a Silat practitioner who was then working as a delivery man for a phone company based in Jakarta. Evans then nudged his wife to cast Uwais for Merantau, and then in The Raid. Following Merantau, Evans and his producers began work on a Silat film project called Berandal (Indonesian for Thugs), a large-scale prison gangster film intended to star not only Merantau actors Uwais and Yayan Ruhian but also an additional pair of international fight stars. A teaser trailer was shot, but the project proved more complex and time-consuming than anticipated.
After a year and a half, Evans and the producers found themselves with insufficient funds to produce Berandal, so they changed the film to a simpler but different story with a smaller budget. They called the project Serbuan Maut (The Raid). Producer Ario Sagantoro considers the film to be lighter than Merantau. Evans also considers it to be “a lot more streamlined,” stating that “Merantau is more of a drama” while The Raid is more of a “survival horror film.” Evans wanted The Raid vastly different from Merantau in terms of pacing. With Merantau, some fans complained the action sequences took too long to appear since the first 45 minutes of the film laid emphasis on character development, backdrop (specifically, the Indonesian culture) and drama. Therefore, Evans designed The Raid to be a “full-on” action film.
Filming, Editing.
The crew wanted The Raid to be shot in a quasi-documentary style, that is, the camera is handheld and without the use of Steadicam. To achieve that objective, they shot the film in high-definition using Panasonic AF100 camcorder – which had just recently come out of the market – and strayed from using film format while shooting most action and fight sequences. In addition, the camera was frequently attached to a Fig Rig to prevent most scenes from being too jarring, and give the camera operator opportunities to change angles and positions rapidly. All guns used in the film were Airsoft replicas, to avoid the costs associated with having to deal with firearms. All the shots of the guns’ actions cycling, muzzle flashes and cases ejecting were added digitally. When filming concluded, about 120 minutes of footage was shot; Evans originally intended it to be eighty to eighty-five minutes long. The footage was eventually cut down to approximately 100 minutes. The final stages of post-production took place in Bangkok, Thailand for the color grading and audio mixing processes.
Release.
The film was marketed internationally through Celluloid Nightmares, a partnership between US-based XYZ Films and France’s Celluloid Dreams. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions acquired the film’s distribution rights for the United States, Latin America and Spain, revised the film score, and changed the title to The Raid: Redemption for the US release. Distribution rights to other countries were sold to Kadokawa Pictures for Japan, Koch Media for Germany, Alliance Films for Canada, Momentum Pictures for the United Kingdom, Madman Entertainment for Australia, SND HGC for China, and Calinos Films for Turkey. Deals were also made with distributors from Russia, Scandinavia, Benelux, Iceland, Italy, South Korea and India, during the film screening at the TIFF.RELATED:
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Box office, Home media.
In Indonesia, the film sold 1,844,817 tickets at the box office in 2012. Overseas, in its Sony Pictures Classics debut in the United States on 23–25 March 2012, The Raid: Redemption grossed $220,937 from 24 theaters for a location average of $15,781. For its widest opening release weekend in the United States and Canada on 13–15 April 2012, the film grossed $961,454 from 881 theaters, and ranked 11th overall. In the United Kingdom, the film grossed $660,910 on its opening weekend. In Indonesia, approximately 250,000 people watched the film in the first four days of release, and it was considered a great turnout for a country that only has about 660 theater screens nationwide. As of 8 July 2012, the film has grossed $4,105,123 in North America. The film grossed approximately $9.3 million overseas outside of Indonesia. In the United States, the film grossed $10.1 million on DVD and Blu-ray, as of April 2022.Cast:
- Iko Uwais as Rama, one of the rookie members of the special forces unit tasked with raiding Tama’s building.
- Joe Taslim as Jaka, the Sergeant
- Ray Sahetapyas Tama Riyadi
- Yayan Ruhian as Mad Dog
- Donny Alamsyah as Andi, Tama’s
- Iang Darmawan as Gofar