Kitchen fights!  Omage to Oldboy hammer fights!  Fights in a car!  Fights that raise the bar!  If you love special effects, martial arts, cinematography, or ultra violence, then do not miss The Raid 2 on the big screen.  Rama returns in this insta-classic martial arts film that was so damn good, it had me contemplating the last time I had seen anything even close!  The Lethal Weapon 4 dock fight with Jet Li and the Eastern Promises bath house fight come to mind, but really, the art of the convincing movie fight is all but lost in this dark and dreary age of cutaways and CGI.  Real life gravity and vulnerability should be at the forefront, conceptually and artistically, of any fight scene.  The reason we love Die Hard is that it actually took place on the relatable canvas of a real human body-and it looked great because they actually “did” all the stunts.  When the human body is rubber and invincible, the action feels rote and obnoxious.  I want to see whole bodies, in full view, fighting and showing technical chops.  The finesse The Raid 2 displays in the escalation and intensification of action scenes (with some plot shades of Internal Affairs/The Departed) was an absolute breath of fresh air, and a cut above anything you will see at the movies this year.  As far as I can tell, this is the only major box office hit to come out of Indonesia, and I literally cannot wait for the third installment.

Action Movies: 9/10

All Movies: 6/10