Writer, editor and director Gareth Evans has improved the story in this sequel over the first movie.
While the first one was tight as the whole movie happened inside 1 building, but there wasn't much to offer in terms of story. This sequel has a very lengthy running time of 150 minutes as compared to the original's 101 minutes. But the story was interesting, albeit far from original.
But the violence this time has gone up a few notches. I remembered watching the first movie and I didn't have all these emotions. Evans has become a pro to give the mind the old one-two. Visually you see what's happening first, but after a second then the mind would comprehend how terrible the pain must feel.
Berandal once again looked beautiful as Evans brought back Redemption's cinematographer Matt Flannery. The first time the cinematography hit me was when the brawl started in the prison field with all that mud. That heavy and dull colour mixture added to the scenes so much more.
And Evans' editing once again was superb. The suspense and thrills from fight scenes and car chase was one of the best in a long time.
What I hope for Evans to improve going forward would be attention to the softer details. The scene on the phone with his wife wasn't as touching as it could have been.
And I didn't like how the good guys were like James Bond, never getting hit by uzi bullets even in close range. And Iko Uwais' character needed to be in pain more because we saw how he got hurt and yet he continued using those body parts as if the injuries were never there. Those parts were too unrealistic in such a realistic action film.
Also there was one scene that stood out but for the wrong reason. Evans decided one day to use snow. That would have been fine if we ignored that this movie was set in Indonesia, but it was just too quick as it was snowing only for one day and everything went back to summer right after. I understand that it was for effects but again, too unrealistic in such a realistic film. And I like realistic films.
I also realised there was a section when it got slightly confusing. When the mobs were supposed to take down Japanese, those that were killed still looked very local. And this leads me to the extras that they employed couldn't really act, which also hurt the film a little. At least the Japanese in this movie were competent actors.
Another thing that caught my attention was the fighting style used by Uwais and Yayan Ruhian (who's back in the sequel playing a totally different character!) was very similar. Understandably these were the action choreographers for both movies, but this would also be the detail that would elevate action movies to the next level. I even noticed Julie Estelle's Hammer Girl had one similar move too!
But even with all those negative and that long run-time, the last series of action was awesome and was worth everything else as Uwais' character took down the bad guys one after another. Hammer Girl and Bat Guy played by Very Tri Yulisman were a treat in this sequel, but Yulisman hitting a baseball bat wasn't as convincing though.
Acting wise we also get much better calibre this time. Arifin Putra, Oka Antara and Tio Pakusodewo saved the movie when it required some dramatic acting.
This was definitely one of the best action movies of the year, if not the best. Too bad it didn't pass the censorship board in Malaysia and that's why it never came to Brunei.
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