Yesterday, I highlighted one of my more recent guilty pleasures, Timu Tjahjanto’s unhinged action thriller The Night Comes for Us, and today I highlight an action scene from an earlier film that helped propel Indonesia’s action film scene to most Westerners with a little sequence from Gareth Edwards’ The Raid 2. A sequel to his own earlier film, The Raid.
This sequence stars the character only known as Hammer Girl and played Julie Estelle who is also in The Night Comes for Us. I would’ve picked her scene from that film to highlight but it spoils a major part of the film so I decided on this scene in The Raid 2 that got her noticed with action film aficionados worldwide.
It’s a simple set-up. Girl with two claw hammers in a crowded train silently squares up against a train car full of yakuza members. What comes next is a masterclass in action choreography that induces many a visceral response form the viewer yet hard to look away from.
Through the Shattered Lens 
Wow! That is an amazing scene, and blah, blah, blah “Oldboy”! This film is now on my ‘to see’ list. Long story short, the original “The Raid” was known as “The Raid 2” (and the action premise revisited in DREDD (2012). So THAT is why the production company could not license the title for U.S. release, and now this film is ‘The Raid 2’. I had been bypassing this, thinking I had seen it before. But I’m glad you included this clip, because it showed me that it would be all new to me! Thanks for the review and summary Brad! Also, big fan of Iko Uwais and enjoyed his crossover in ‘Mile 22’ with Mark Wahlberg. Iko Uwais is now Barry Eisler’s choice for John Rain if those books/films ever move forward.
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“The Raid: Redemption” is the greatest action film of all time and the sequel did it proud!
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