CHICAGO – Excelsior! Comic book legend Stan Lee’s famous exclamation puts a fine point on the third and final play of Mark Pracht’s FOUR COLOR TRILOGY, “The House of Ideas,” presented by and staged at City Lit Theater in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. For tickets/details, click HOUSE OF IDEAS.
Film Review: Fantastic, Visceral ‘The Raid: Redemption’ Beats Up Hollywood Action Movies
Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Gareth Evans’ “The Raid: Redemption” is a powerhouse kick to the gut of bored action movie fans. And the face. And the kneecap. And the balls. It’s an aggressive, adrenaline-fueled success in so many ways that it might make you like recent Hollywood action films less than you remembered. They weren’t this powerful, super-charged, or generally remarkable. For its target audience, I find it impossible to believe that “The Raid” won’t connect. In other words, if you like martial arts action movies, you have a new must-see.
Inspired by “Die Hard” and “Assault on Precinct 13,” “The Raid: Redemption” has a wonderfully simple action movie foundation. So many modern action blockbusters, especially those produced by the Hollywood machine, over-complicate their set-up on their way to bloating running times, too many speaking roles, and twist endings. Forget that nonsense. More often than not, the best action movies can be summed up as simply as “The Raid” — a team of SWAT members try to take a building that has been controlled by a ruthless crime lord. It doesn’t go well.
Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “The Raid: Redemption” in our reviews section. |
Imagine a rundown building in which every one of the tenants has at least a loose connection to the malicious gangster who runs it. Some work directly for him. Others serve as his spotters. But most are just poor people who owe allegiance to him as their landlord more than they do the cops trying to take him down. When the crime lord learns that a SWAT team is in the building, he gets a loudspeaker and announces that it’s every tenant’s responsibility to try and take them down. Kill some cops, make some powerful friends, and get free rent out of the deal. Sounds good.
The Raid: Redemption
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Classics