The Raid (released as The Raid: Redemption in the United States) is a 2011 Indonesian action thriller film written, edited, and directed by Welsh filmmaker Gareth Evans. The film stars Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Donny Alamsyah, Ray Sahetapy and Yayan Ruhian. The story follows an Indonesian National Police tactical squad that is deployed to raid a ruthless drug lord's apartment block in the slums of Jakarta, only to be encircled by the criminals, forcing them to fight their way through the complex.
After its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), The Raid received positive reviews from critics, who praised its cinematography, soundtrack and action sequences. The subtitle Redemption was added in the United States as distributor Sony Pictures Classics could not secure the rights to the title; it also allowed Evans to plan out future titles in the series. The American version of the film, released on DVD and Blu-ray on 14 August 2012, features a film score composed by Mike Shinoda and Joseph Trapanese.
A sequel titled The Raid 2 was released in 2014. Both films showcase the traditional Indonesian martial art of pencak silat, with fight choreography led by Uwais and Ruhian. A third film was considered, but the project was cancelled.
Plot Rama, a rookie MBC officer, joins a 20-man squad led by Sgt. Jaka and Lt. Wahyu for a raid on an apartment block with the intent of arresting Tama Riyadi, a crime lord. Together with his lieutenants Andi and Mad Dog, Tama runs the block and allows criminals and addicts to rent rooms under his protection. Arriving undetected, the team sweeps through the first few floors. Continuing to the sixth floor, they are spotted by two young lookouts, and after one of whom is shot by Wahyu, the other raises the alarm.
Tama calls in reinforcements, who pick off the officers guarding the block's exterior and destroy their SWAT vehicle. Taking advantage of the chaos outside, Tama's men regain control of the first five floors. Tama then cuts the lights and announces over the PA system that the rest of the officers are on the sixth-floor stairwell. Wahyu confesses that he staged the mission to eliminate Tama, who is in league with corrupt police officials, including himself; the mission is not officially sanctioned and there will be no reinforcements. The remaining team members are ambushed by gunmen from above and almost completely wiped out.
The surviving officers retreat to an empty apartment and are cornered by more armed thugs. Rama uses an axe to create a hole in the floor so the team can descend to the lower level. Dropping to the room below, the team struggles to fend off Tama's thugs; officer Bowo is gravely wounded. Rama uses a propane tank and a refrigerator to construct an improvised explosive device that kills the invading henchmen. With more of Tama's reinforcements approaching, the team splits into two groups: Jaka, Wahyu and officer Dagu retreat to the fifth floor, while Rama and Bowo ascend.
Rama and Bowo reach the apartment of Gofar, a law-abiding tenant who reluctantly grants them refuge. A five-man gang, wielding machetes, search the apartment but cannot find the officers. After tending to Bowo's wounds, Rama leaves to search for Jaka's group, defeating the machete gang in a long fight along the way. On the sixth floor, Rama finds Andi, who has murdered two of Tama's men. Andi is revealed to be Rama's estranged elder brother, and Rama actually signed up for the mission to search for Andi at the urging of their father. Rama refuses to leave the building without his comrades and Andi refuses to abandon his criminal life. Rama parts ways with his brother and continues his search.
Mad Dog discovers Jaka and his group on the fourth floor. Wahyu runs off and Jaka instructs Dagu to protect him. Mad Dog challenges Jaka to hand-to-hand combat and ultimately kills him by breaking his neck. Tama, having learned of Andi's treachery through his surveillance cameras, attacks and incapacitates Andi. Rama regroups with Dagu and Wahyu and they head for Tama on the 15th floor, fighting through a narcotics lab along the way. Rama separates from Dagu and Wahyu when he discovers Mad Dog torturing Andi. Mad Dog lets Rama free Andi and fights them. After a brutal fight, the brothers kill Mad Dog.
Meanwhile, Wahyu and Dagu confront Tama, and Wahyu kills Dagu before taking Tama hostage. Tama taunts Wahyu by revealing that he knew they were going to raid the building, and that Wahyu, set up by his corrupt superior Reza, will be killed regardless. A panicked Wahyu kills Tama and attempts suicide, only to find he is out of bullets. Andi uses his influence to allow the survivors to leave. Andi also hands over blackmail recordings Tama made with the corrupt officials, telling him to contact Bunawar. Rama asks Andi to come home, but Andi refuses and asserts that he can protect Rama in the underworld, but Rama cannot do the same for him on the outside. As Rama, Bowo and Wahyu leave, Andi walks back to the apartment block, smiling.
Cast
Iko Uwais as Rama, one of the rookie members of the Mobile Brigade Corps squad tasked with raiding Tama's building. One of the few survivors of the raid. Uwais previously worked with Evans in Merantau. Having lived for four years in Indonesia and learned about the country's predominant religion, director Gareth Evans implicitly integrated the Muslim faith in Uwais' character.
Joe Taslim as Jaka, the Sergeant who leads his unit into the raid. Having been a fan of Merantau, the former judo champion Taslim contacted Evans through Facebook for their next project. As Evans was browsing through Taslim's profile, he came across a photo of him in a SWAT uniform and felt that it resonated with the character. Evans had him undergo choreography and drama auditions, with Taslim earning the role having aced them both. Yayan Ruhian as Mad Dog, a skilled fighter who is the muscle behind Tama's operation. Ruhian previously worked with Evans in Merantau as an actor and fight choreographer. Evans cast Ruhian in the film as he wanted him to play a "purely evil" character, opposite to that which he played in his debut film which had a "redeemable value". Donny Alamsyah as Andi, Tama's consigliere who is also Rama's estranged elder brother. Alamsyah also played Uwais' character's brother in Merantau. Since he regretted not being able to do action scenes in Merantau, Alamsyah approached Evans as they prepared for The Raid, earning the role having aced the audition. Iang Darmawan as Gofar, a tenant of the building who tends to his ill wife. Prior to the film, Darmawan's acting credits had been in sketch comedies, and The Raid marks his transition to a serious role. Pierre Gruno as Wahyu, the Lieutenant who arranges the eponymous raid to take out Tama. Tegar Satrya as Bowo, the hothead member of the team who is wounded attempting to save the life of a teammate. One of the few survivors of the raid. Eka Rahmadia as Dagu, a skilled fighter and team member who protects Lt. Wahyu as they make their way towards Tama. A Taekwondo practitioner, Rahmadia is part of the Piranha Stunt Team who helped with the film's shooting. Alfridus Godfred as leader of the machete gang, a priest who hunts the surviving officers when Jaka and Rama split into two groups. as Tama Riyadi, a ruthless drug lord who is the boss of the apartment building. Evans wanted a non-stereotypical take on the character, citing most gangster films wherein the boss is usually wearing a pristine suit and smoking cigars. Other cast members include Henky Solaiman and Fikha Effendi, who play Rama's father and wife, respectively. Verdi Solaiman, Ananda George and Yusuf Opilus appear as officers Budi, Ari and Alee, respectively.Ari (Ananda George) fires the shotgun in the dark which gives their position away.Budi (Verdi Soleiman) notices the noises above but fails to halt Ari in time.Alee (Yusuf Opilus) picks the lock to penetrate the building and carries the axe.
Production Development and pre-production Initially intended to be released as , which translates literally to "The Deadly Raid"; director Gareth Evans came across the idea for the film when he moved to Indonesia to film a documentary about the country's martial art pencak silat, as suggested by his wife of Indonesian Japanese descent. It was in that country that he met Iko Uwais, a Silat practitioner who was then working as a delivery man for a phone company based in Jakarta. Evans then nudged his wife to cast Uwais for Merantau, and then in The Raid.
Following Merantau, Evans and his producers began work on a Silat film project called Berandal (Indonesian for Thugs), a large-scale prison gangster film intended to star not only Merantau actors Uwais and Yayan Ruhian but also an additional pair of international fight stars. A teaser trailer was shot, but the project proved more complex and time-consuming than anticipated. After a year and a half, Evans and the producers found themselves with insufficient funds to produce Berandal, so they changed the film to a simpler but different story with a smaller budget. They called the project Serbuan Maut (The Raid). Producer Ario Sagantoro considers the film to be lighter than Merantau. Evans also considers it to be "a lot more streamlined," stating that "Merantau is more of a drama" while The Raid is more of a "survival horror film." Evans wanted The Raid vastly different from Merantau in terms of pacing. With Merantau, some fans complained the action sequences took too long to appear since the first 45 minutes of the film laid emphasis on character development, backdrop (specifically, the Indonesian culture) and drama. Therefore, Evans designed The Raid to be a "full-on" action film.
Pre-production took about four months, which include finalization of the script (which included translation of the original English-language script into Indonesian) and the work on choreography for the fighting sequences, which were designed by Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian. The actors that make up the key members of the police squad were sent to bootcamp military training with KOPASKA, where they learned how to use weapons, and how to perform strategic attack and defense techniques.
Filming The crew wanted The Raid to be shot in a quasi-documentary style, that is, the camera is handheld and without the use of Steadicam. To achieve that objective, they shot the film in high definition using Panasonic AF100 camcorder—which had just recently come out of the market—and strayed from using film format while shooting most action and fight sequences. In addition, the camera was frequently attached to a Fig Rig to prevent most scenes from being too jarring, and give the camera operator opportunities to change angles and positions rapidly.
All guns used in the film were Airsoft replicas, to avoid the costs associated with having to deal with firearms. All the shots of the guns' actions cycling, muzzle flashes and cases ejecting were added digitally.
Editing When filming concluded, about 120 minutes of footage was shot; Evans originally intended it to be eighty to eighty-five minutes long. The footage was eventually cut down to approximately 100 minutes. The final stages of post-production took place in Bangkok, Thailand for the color grading and audio mixing processes.
Soundtrack
While the film was still in production, in May 2011, Mike Shinoda and Joseph Trapanese were tasked to create a new score for the American release. The film premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival with the original score from the Indonesian version which was composed by Aria Prayogi and Fajar Yuskemal, who also composed Evans's previous film Merantau. The Raid made its debut in the US with Trapanese and Shinoda's version at Sundance 2012.