Movies
Associated Press
In this film image released by Sony Pictures Classics, Ray Sahetapy as Tama, left, and Pierre Gruno as Wahyu are shown in a scene from "The Raid: Redemption."
Relentless pummeling paces "The Raid" By JAKE COYLE Associated Press The film speed of 24 frames-per-second barely outruns the relentless pace of pummeling that thumps through the Indonesian martial arts flick “The Raid: Redemption.” Hollywood’s eye for talent is acute for nothing so much as an action director, and in Gareth Huw Evans, it hopes to have found a filmmaker to resurrect the fist-flying genre of Bruce Lee. The Welsh filmmaker has mined the Indonesian fighting style of Silat, which he first sought out to document and then fictionalized in the little-seen 2009 film “Merantau.” “The Raid,” fashioned as a prequel to “Merantau,” was made with much of the same
team, including Iko Uwais, who both plays our hero, Rama, and choreographed the fighting. After building buzz at festivals, it was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics, which has made the subtitled Indonesian film more palatable to American audiences by slapping on a nu-metal score by Mike Shinoda of Lincoln Park and Joseph Trapanese. Narrative complexity is not a relevant quality to “The Raid,” which Evans also wrote and edited. Like John Carpenter’s “Assault on Precinct 13,” it’s set almost entirely in one location: a dilapidated, monolithic, 15-story high rise in Jakarta. A 20-member SWAT team is storming the building to turn out the crime lord Tama (Ray Sahetapy) who has fashioned an impenetrable
lair out of the tall slum. He waits on the 15th floor with henchmen Mad Dog (Yayan Ruhian, also a fight choreographer) and Andi (Doni Alamsyah) at his side, an army of gang members at the ready and floors of poor tenants who’ll do his bidding. Rama, who we first see working out and praying before leaving his pregnant wife for the mission, is only a rookie among the police force. They’re led by the graying Wahyu (Pierre Gruno), whose motives quickly come into question from team leader Jaka (Joe Taslim, a former Judo champ). The siege is immediately overmatched, locked in a maze of grimy hallways and surrounded by psychopathic gunmen who
rain bullets on the cowering police. Tama watches from above through surveillance cameras, giving directives to the building’s inhabitants. As the police numbers dwindle, Rama stands apart for his fighting acumen. The battle ebbs from machine guns to machetes and ultimately to fists and feet. The bad guys (mostly clad in T-shirts and looking downright casual in their violence) carefully observe martial arts movie tradition, coming one at a time. Small amounts of backstory bleed out of the action, but there’s little propelling things beside the simple kinetic kick of the film’s video game-like plot, the next guy coming around the corner.
Checking in on the latest teen film fad By ROBERT GRUBAUGH For The Edge Warning: I'm about to drop a major league pun on you because it would seem that America had a major appetite for "The Hunger Games" this weekend. After seeing the film open to a near-record box office take in excess of $150 million, I decided to see what all the fuss was about. The hit movie is based on a very successful Young Adult novel of the same name from 2008 by Suzanne Collins, a copy of which has been sitting on my bedside table for three weeks. I just haven't had the opportunity to crack it open yet. The world of "The Hunger Games" is our own, set a good distance into the future in a nation called Panem. An apocalyptic war has destroyed the society we know today and
North America has been replaced by a central Capitol with 12 outlying Districts. The title refers to the yearly series of battles that take place in order for the Capitol to remain in control of the people that populate the districts. Each year, a teenage boy and girl representative from each is selected to represent their homeland in a battle to the death. The twentyfour Tributes are put into an amazing outdoor arena, something like a cross between the poetry of Henry David Thoreau and the in-your-face movie, "The Truman Show." Herein the Tributes rely on their skills of survival and gifts from home to defeat, often brutally, their other youthful competitors. The winning Tribute assures an ample supply of food for his or her home District and a place in history as a Hunger Games Champion.
K a t n i s s E v e rd e e n ( J e n n i f e r Lawrence, the outspoken Oscar nominee of 2010's Winter's Bone) volunteers to replace her little sister, Primrose (Willow Shields), in the 74th annual event in hopes of saving her family from a violent end. Katniss, in fact, is exceptionally brave and strong. Her skill with a bow is the envy of her peers and it seems at times that she could shoot the fleas off a dog if it would put food on the table. She's not a fan of the Games, a televised sport that must be watched by all inhabitants of Panem. She fears never again to see Gale (Liam Hemsworth, brother of Thor star Chris Hemsworth), the boy waiting for her at home. She also wants not to harm Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), the other Tribute from District 12 with whom she becomes close. The so-called love triangle
in this film between Katniss-PeetaGale is of little consequence. The support team that the Capitol allows for Peeta and Katniss is a real treat. Their mentor is Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), a celebrated former champion, who has taken to drink after the carnage he witnessed and perpetrated. PR guru Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) is a cumbersome boor, but fashionably equipped for the role. Katniss takes a particular shine to Cinna (rocker Lenny Kravitz), her stylist. Other fantastic supporting characters in this kaleidoscope of background color, include the Games' coordinator, Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley), and MCs Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci) and Claudius Templesmith (Toby Jones). The entirety of the proceedings is lorded over by the reprehensible President Snow
April 5, 2012
(Donald Sutherland). K a t n i s s ( a n d L a w re n c e , b y extension) is destined to be star, even if she has to kill or be killed to do so. Much has been ballyhooed about in the entertainment media about Jennifer's poor casting because she is too old and voluptuous to play the hardscrabble Everdeen. I disagree. Such is the tale of "The Hunger Games" and strength in survival is key. Lawrence has that in spades. I look forward to the inevitable filmic adaptations of the novel's two sequels, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. I bet you're all going to be right behind me in line. ••• "The Hunger Games" runs 162 minutes and is rated PG-13 for intense violent thematic material and disturbing images - all involving teens. I give this film two and a half stars out of four.
On the Edge of the Weekend
21