The Raid 2 · reception & legacy
2014 · Gareth Evans
How The Raid 2 has been received, argued over, and remembered.
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 favourite and a 'you must see this' entry in the modern action canon, spoken of alongside the very best of the genre.