Gareth Evans has been planning his sequel to The Raid: Redemption for a while now, so here’s some good news: production on the film began just this week. I’m not sure if he’s sticking with The Raid 2: Berandal (which roughly translates to something like “bully” or “ruffian” in English) or if Sony will end up slapping Retaliation on it, but who cares? The Raid stands out as one of 2012’s best genre surprises and one of the tightest, most accomplished action films of the new decade. That we’re getting a sequel at all is nothing short of exciting, to say nothing of the fact that it’s already underway.
To kick off shooting on the new movie, a press release went out that divulged more details about the plot and included a half a dozen images from the set. They’re not terribly exciting– they give away next to nothing at all about the project other than the fact that the first film’s star and hero, Iko Uwais, is back for more punishment, though that’s not a huge surprise. He’ll be appearing with Tio Pakusadewo, Putra Arifin Scheunamann, Julie Estelle, Alex Abbad and Roy Marten, none of whom appeared in The Raid unless I’m completely, embarrassingly mistaken.
The bigger takeaway here is the brief and somewhat vague synopsis:
Picking up right where the first film ends, The Raid 2 follows Rama (Uwais) as he goes undercover and infiltrates the ranks of a ruthless Jakarta crime syndicate in order to protect his family and uncover the corruption in his own police force.
Natch. According to Evans, there won’t be any of that one-building stuff going on this time; the action’s going to spill out into the streets. Given that The Raid‘s success had little to do with locational conceits and more to do with excellence in action filmmaking, I consider this a shrewd, logical move, and I’m looking forward to seeing how much more explosive the fight scenes Evans stages will be when they’re not unfolding in a confined space.
Enjoy the pictures below. Again, they’re nothing special, but it’s nice to have some tangible proof that The Raid 2 is underway.
(Source: Slashfilm)
