Every week this May, Houston Chronicle Arts Editor Cary Darling hosts a foreign action film that proves kicking ass is a universal language.
Gareth Evans' absolutely electric films "The Raid: Redemption" and "The Raid 2" rank as two of the best action films of all time. Make no mistake, their stories are skeletal. No one's going to confuse them with "Oppenheimer." In each, a young Indonesian cop (played by with athletic grace by Iko Uwais) has to battle what seems to be an entire city of gangsters, goofs and goons. But it's Evan's breathtakingly kinetic, spine-snapping approach to filming the fight choreography that puts the cinematic meat on those slender thematic bones. Now, why show the second film instead of the first? Because it's the more eye-popping and impressive of the two, and it has Hammer Girl and Baseball Bat Man, two villains whose nicknames qualify as truth in advertising. Besides, you don't really need to see the first to catch up with what's going on. (See "skeletal" above.) There was supposed to be a third "Raid" film but Evans ended up scrapping the project in favor of the TV series "Gangs of London" and the movie "Apostle." After viewing "The Raid 2," there are only two words to say: Our loss. (Cary Darling)
