With his much anticipated Netflix film ‘Havoc’ starring Tom Hardy now out we thought we’d take a look back at director Gareth Evans magnum opus ‘The Raid 2’ and just why The Raid 2 is actually The Raid 1.
The second film was released in 2014and is set only a short time after the first raid, Rama (Iko Uwais) goes undercover with the thugs of Jakarta and plans to bring down the syndicate and uncover the corruption within his police force.
Preparation for the fight scenes in The Raid 2 took 18 months (excluding the completed choreography made before The Raid 1). Iko Uwais had trained together with the other fighters for 6 months, so that they would meet every day and build that mutual trust before shooting the fight scenes, so that when one of them missed, they wouldn’t want to punch back harder.
According to Gareth Evans The Raid 2 starts two hours after The Riad (2011) finishes. There were plans for a third movie, which would have started three hours before The Raid 2 finishes. However, in 2018, Evans stated that after doing two Raid movies, he was eager to do some other projects first. As time went on, he felt that the series had already reached its natural conclusion in the second movie, and he felt increasingly less compelled to return to the franchise. Fearing ‘franchise fatigue’, he concluded that him making a third movie would be unlikely.
Both films are generally regarded as two of the best action films of recent times and in a audience Q&A after the screening of the film director Gareth Evans explains why The Raid 2 is actually The Raid 1!
related feature : Director Gareth Evans answers the question, ‘Are you going to make ‘The Raid 3’?
related feature : Director Gareth Evans talk ‘Havoc’ with stunt designer Jude Poyer
Here’s Gareth Evans explaining all……..
