The Raid broke me mentally — and almost physically

polygon.com:

Ten years ago, Gareth Evans’The Raid: Redemption jolted me awake. Especially the part where I barely dodged a rage-fueled rumble before the halfway point.

Related

Back when the movie was released in the U.S. in 2012, I was limited to whatever screened at my suburban New Jersey multiplex. Cable stations played Broken Arrow or Die Hard on repeat. My action movie vocabulary reflected popular culture, and in 2012 terms, that was The Expendables. Don’t get me wrong — Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and other ass-kicker icons hold their own as masters of foot-and-fist combat. But The Expendables, for better and worse, represents everything stateside audiences crave in their blockbusters. Point gun, inhale cigar smoke, pull the trigger, exhale a quippy retort to a cold corpse.

I knew action flicks could be more than bulgy biceps and gunsmoke — my father’s sixth-degree black belt certification in Taekwondo meant a household of martial arts appreciation. And yet, American bullet barrages from Rambo toSmokin’ Aces worshiped the masculinity of Stallone types or fully loaded shootouts. They still do. The Raid: Redemption introduced Indonesia’s hyperspeed “pencak silat” artform as an antidote to mountains of muscle throwing one another through concrete pillars.

The Raid: Redemption lulls viewers into deceptive familiarity as Brimob special forces infiltrate an apartment block to arrest crime lord Tama Riyadi (Ray Sahetapy). Rookie Rama (Iko Uwais) falls behind Sergeant Jaka (Joe Taslim) as they reach the sixth floor, then all hell breaks loose. The ratatat of emptying magazines is recognizable — until assault rifles silence. Uwais and co-star Yayan Ruhian (villain “Mad Dog”) shine as the film’s lead fight