Sightlines · reception

How The Raid 2 was received

2014 · Gareth Evans · The Raid 2 on Sightlines

The arc

It premiered at Sundance 2014 to rapturous genre-fan buzz — and reports of walkouts over the violence — while some critics dinged its sprawl next to the first film's lean purity. A decade on, the bloat complaints have largely evaporated and it's routinely ranked among the century's greatest action films.

What’s debated

The eternal fan debate: is the lean, perfect siege of The Raid better than the sequel's sprawling crime epic — or is bigger actually better here?

Its footprint

Hammer Girl and Baseball Bat Man became instantly iconic action-cinema imagery, and the kitchen fight and car chase are constantly cited in 'best action scenes ever' lists. Its DNA runs through modern Hollywood action — Raid-series fighters Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman were later cast in John Wick: Chapter 3.

Where it stands

A Letterboxd action-fan favorite and a 'you must see this' entry in the modern action canon, spoken of alongside the very best of the genre.

Did you know? The script — originally titled 'Berandal' — was written BEFORE The Raid: Evans couldn't get it funded, made The Raid as a smaller stopgap, then retooled Berandal into the sequel.