Artfully sadistic and elegantly hypnotic, Gareth Evans’s “The Raid” is a master class in brutally stylistic and simplistic storytelling. Ostensibly a traditional cops-vs.-bad-guys frenetic beat-’em-up, Evans executes his tale with such flair and guile that this is far superior fare to comparable genre pictures. Evans’s appreciation of and fascination with the Indonesian martial art Pencak Silat ensures that every punch and kick hits the mark, subjecting his audience to a relentless assault on the senses.
crash/burn 