Action films often play like a parade of clichés. Surprises are few and far between, as even
the best genre offerings contain relatively few of them. After all, how many ways can one present a
shootout, car chase, or fist fight? If
Welsh filmmaker Gareth Evans has anything to say about it, the variations on
such genre staples are endless. While
other filmmakers keep the volume at a moderate level during their jam sessions,
Evans prefers turning it up until the knob twists off the receiver. How do I know this? I just watched the insane trailer for his new
film The Raid, which is playing at
the Toronto international Film Festival this year. The images I saw make me fearful to view the
film in its entirety. The sheer action
junkie nirvana it induces might be too much for my nervous system to handle.
The story goes something like this: A crime lord turns an
apartment building into his own personal fort.
He resides on the top floor, and has every square inch of the structure
beneath him under tight surveillance. Petty
crooks and drug addicts alike are offered asylum within its walls. In return, they act as a collective defense
unit. They swarm upon anyone or anything
that wanders into their hive with designs on harming the boss. A battalion of 20 SWAT team members attempts
to infiltrate this urban fortress and apprehend the man who lords over it. Once they are inside, their simple mission
becomes all-out war as the buildings inhabitants take up arms against them.
The premise strings together different plot elements from Die Hard, Hard Boiled, Game of Death
and New Jack City. That seemingly contrived combination is right
out of the high concept filmmaking playbook.
High concept films can be super entertaining if done right, and The Raid looks to be just that. The opening moments of the trailer look like something
out of any number of modern urban action thrillers. The milieu is suitably gritty and
slummy. Up until the 43 second mark, it’s
all fairly standard (though admittedly well done) stuff.
It is at that moment that the building turns the table on
the insurgents. Likewise, the trailer
also turns on the viewer. Insanity
ensues as characters are sprayed with automatic gunfire up close. A SWAT team member claps someone’s dome at
point blank range. Various fight scenes
are glimpsed that offer a plethora of fighting styles and martial disciplines. Heads are smashed into wall tiles. Squibs pop and burst fireworks. It’s an orgy of action choreography in which
all the participants climax at the exact same time and maintain their group
orgasm until the film’s title appears onscreen.
It unfolds before the viewer like a flurry of stiff punches.
American audiences have been lulled into a deep sleep over
the past twenty years by overpriced product that has been refined to the point
of impotency. By comparison, The Raid looks like a massive hit of a
very powerful drug. This level of purity
just might cause those who’ve never had a hit of the real stuff to overdose. If that’s the case, a lot of action fans just
might be checking out of this cruel world with a big smile on their faces. Action films, in all of their fury and
vitality, are the cinematic equivalent of a controlled substance. Gareth
Evans appears to have some real Superfly
shit on his hands.
Get More: Movie Trailers, Movies Blog
No comments:
Post a Comment