Two and-a-half hours may seem like a lot for an Indonesian crime saga, but "The Raid 2" has a sweeping scope that justifies its running time. And it will knock you out.
The Raid 2 is to the action genre what The Godfather II became to the mob drama subgenre- pure cinematic perfection and an epic follow-up that manages to surpass its already impressive predecessor in both scope and storytelling.
The violence is so stylized, so energetic, and so magnificently choreographed that it abstracts into something beyond mere brawling; it's about the joy of performance and the thrill of capturing that performance.