The Raid: Redemption – When a Small Movie Changed Action Films

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Some movies don’t want us to think too much. They just give us pure action. The Raid (2011) is one of those films. Watching it again reminded me why this small Indonesian movie made such a big impact on action cinema.

The story is very simple. A SWAT team is sent to take down a 30-floor apartment building in Jakarta that is controlled by a brutal drug lord. That’s basically it. But the mission goes wrong. The team gets trapped inside, floor by floor, with no way out and no backup. The film doesn’t waste time on long explanations. It knows people are here for the action.

The making of The Raid is interesting too. Gareth Evans, a Welsh director who moved to Indonesia, first planned a much bigger prison movie. But there wasn’t enough money. So he made it smaller: one building, one night, one mission. The low budget actually helped make it better.

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The lead actor, Iko Uwais, wasn’t even an actor at first. Evans found him while filming a documentary about Pencak Silat, a traditional Southeast Asian martial art. At that time, Uwais was still working as a delivery driver. He just had the skills and the presence.

For the American release, the film added the word “Redemption” because of a copyright issue with another movie using the same title. The US version also had a new soundtrack by Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park. His score feels more electronic and modern compared to the original Indonesian version.

Before The Raid, Western action movies were usually one of two styles. One was “wire-fu,” with actors flying through the air like in many Hong Kong films. The other was shaky camera action, like in the The Bourne Supremacy and its sequels, where fights were fast but hard to see clearly.

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The Raid did something different. The camera stays steady. The fights are shown clearly. Long takes let the action breathe. You can see every punch, every kick. The Silat fighting style, with elbows, knees, and close combat, looked fresh and intense.

The movie almost feels like a video game. Each floor is harder than the last. Each fight is tougher. And the final battles feel earned.

It’s hard to explain how much this film changed action movies, especially considering its small budget. Its influence is easy to see.

The directors of John Wick have said The Raid was a big inspiration. You can see it in the clear fight scenes and the focus on choreography in their “gun fu” style.

What Evans and Uwais showed is simple: great action doesn’t need a huge budget. It needs skill, discipline, and a strong idea.

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The Raid: Redemption is not about deep story or complex dialogue. There’s a small family subplot, but no one watches this movie for the talking. It’s loud, violent, and nonstop and it does that perfectly.

It became a landmark because it proved that action movies don’t need huge explosions or massive budgets. They need clear choreography, strong direction, and full commitment to the concept.

Just maybe don’t eat during the final act.

Have you seen The Raid? What did you think? And if you’ve watched the sequel, how does it compare for you?

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