Gareth Evans - The Raid: Redemption

0:02 Twenty Cops thirty Floors of Chaos one a film by listener who subscribes to our Patreon at the producer level tier. What's that sound like, Jeff, It sounds like we've got a Patreon subscriber requesting one hell of a movie. So let's talk about a film by Gareth Evans, his twenty eleven action impactriller The Raid Redemption.

0:49 Hello, and welcome back. I'm Jeff Johnson, I'm David Burns, and this is a film by podcast. It's a second quarter of our of our season, and. Uh, flying by, already flying by. Uh, but it's already time for a Patreon request from mister James Buckley. Of course, Yeah, James, this one is for you. He he had a great one for us back in February. We did uh Devil in a Blue Dress, a Denzel movie. Yeah, first time watching me. It was fantastic. I mean, Scott had a great time talking about that. And uh, we're back for for another one for James talking about The Raid Redemption by Gareth at Evans. So real quickly, Dave, let's let's talk about why we're doing this for James. Uh. He in fact, he subscribes he is one of our mini subscribers on Patreon. We have we have several tiers, right you know, this tier might get you a free sticker, maybe a T shirt. This tier might get you some some fun stuff on Patreon.

1:58 We might do we might do an episod out on Patreon for you. But at the producer level, James gets everything. He's one of the guys that gets all the swag he gets. He gets his uh his pick on on Patreon episodes and every quarter. Listen, we don't. We don't take the suggestion. We we we we do what we're told. James gives us the film, He gives us the director. He says, boys get the work. So and he's not let me down yet because every hoop he has given us has been fantastic. I gotta be honest. Every movie he has he's offered, we have loved. So this guy just amazing taste. Yeah and uh yeah, and shout out to James. Uh he is a an actual John Grisham character in real life.

2:48 Uh you know, uh Louis Louis I and a lawyer by day, rock and roll drummer for the band Hidden Tracks by night. The guy, The guy's awesome Uh, he actually, Jave, I'm sure you remember we did a We did a fun Top seven courtroom drama type movie. So James joined me for that one. We had a lot of fun. So go back, listener to go back and check that one out. James and I had a great time. But listen, can't be he can't be the only one. I shout out. Uh from Patreon, we got a new Patreon member. Uh so I'd like to welcome. I'd like to say hello to Rob Balducci. Rob. I hope I said that correctly. Yeah, just signed up this week.

3:36 Uh, awesome, Welcome Rob, Welcome Rob. You know, hit us up, Rob, let us know, like you know, what do you what brought you to Patreon? What are you looking for on our Patreon? More importantly, Uh, what do you think of a film buy? Because that's why we do this stuff. We want to we want to hear from you guys. Well, Dave, let's uh, let's talk about Gareth. He wanted to say, Gareth Edward. That's another Yeah, he's another amazing director. But with all due respect to mister Evans, a couple of facts and a quote. I don't know if you know this, Dave. He was briefly connected to not one, but two potential d C EU movies. This was the the DC movie superhero films prior to the Saffron Gun administration. Yeah, apparently, so death Stroke he pitched an idea for with every intention of writing and directing it. I'm guessing maybe that fell to the wayside because that was around the time Ben Affleck was like, Hey, I want to direct a Batman movie with death Stroke in it. So I'm guessing that's maybe why that one went south.

4:45 And we know how that went so. Uh and sadly they offered him Justice League Dark. M hm, he passed on it. What I let's just can we pause for a second talk about that? Sure, this guy at this point, I mean, he's done the raid, he's done his you know, footsteps mantal, he's not. Really on the map yet though, No, not at all. DC says, we're we're not giving you a death stroke, But hey, what do you think about Justice League Dark? Which is a very cool premise, you know, I mean talking to the comic book nerds, and I could say that because you and I are both we are one, that's right, We're in that family. Yep, we're waiting for this film. We'd love to see this film, he says. No.

5:31 Well, I mean if I didn't know anything about this guy, and I didn't know anything about this film, so it's eye opening for me. So if I was an executive at you know, install this film, I'd be like, I want this guy on my team. Oh yeah, when you watch the Raid, this is clearly like the give this guy. Just give him a blank check, because this is the guy that's going to give us our next action franchise. More on that later, But if you happened to have signed up for online classes to learn Welsh years ago, there's a chance this guy was your teacher. Really, gare he. Was an online instructor. Prior to his success as a filmmaker, he was teaching Welsh classes online.

6:17 Alrighty, what a nice turn he made for his career. You know, hey, to all those online instructors out there, to all those aspiring filmmakers that are doing like the industrial you know, factory movies, safety films and stuff like that, we've talked about something. They're out there. Yeah, but hey, you never know, you know, you might be talking about the you know, the dangers of saying the wrong thing in the office one day, but the next day d C might be offering you that's this league dark So that's right, you never know. Yeah, keep the faith man, Dave. Back in twenty twenty one, he signed an exclusive deal with Netflix to produce and direct films. So wondering, like, where's this guy been, what's he doing?

7:05 Well? Netflix has him. So the first first movie though, I guess they shot this a couple of years ago, but the strikes were a problem and some other shit happen. But Havoc starring Tom Hardy and Forrest Whitaker, Dave, I believe this was just released a few days ago, on Friday twenty fifth. Oh so how interested you? Yeah? You and all the Netflix subscribing listeners need to let us know about that one, because you know, you know how I am about Tom Hardy. I love Tom Hardy. Hey, yeah, big Fanhm, he's his new show. Are you watching mob Land on Paramount Plus?

7:45 I've been told by quite a few people, but I've not watched it yet. Well, now you're being told by me, I know, but listen, Okay, if I could just pitch it to you real quick, sure, and Teddy listener hasn't heard so James Bond himself. Pierce Brosnan is the head of one Irish mob family. Mm hmm, he's uh, you know, there's a war about to kick off with another Irish mob family. Tom Hardy is the the muscle. He's the enforcer for for Brosnan's army. And I don't want to say aymore because I don't know. I don wanna spoil it, but it's so damn good.

8:26 Ellen Mirron, Helen, Helen Mirren. She's like the matriarch, you know, she's married to uh to Pierce Brosnan in the in the series, and it's so good. I will definitely have to check it out then because that sounds fantastic and great cast by the sounds of it. Yeah, we're like, I think we're like four or five episodes in. So okay, spend a spend a lazy day inside and just watch it. You'll you'll you'll be happy, all right, I will, Dave. We have James Buckley to think for putting the Raid on our on our radar, we do. I gotta be honest, Listen, this is one of those movies where, like action movie cinophiles have always said, well, the Raid, you know, you haven't seen the Raid. The Raid is the reason why we have this new wave of fast paced brutal action. Like you know, the Raid has got it's got a lot.

9:14 Of esteem m hm, and you can see why. And yeah, yeah we can't now but yeah, you know, I mean, shame on us for for waiting so long. Again. Yeah, but for the listeners who who maybe haven't seen the Raid Redemption don't know about it, or maybe for the listeners that like Jays, maybe there's some people out there that that bought this back in twenty eleven love it, but maybe like it's sounded for a revisit. Will you give us a brief synopsis of what this one's all about? I will, and my snaps has a little tiny, uh spoiler in there. So have you not seen this film? Stop right now and go and why watch this lieutenant while you organize this? This WAT team and invades an apartment building which houses the drug lord Tama and his gang.

10:03 The secret mission, which turns out that not even why superiors know about, quickly turns upside down when he and his men are trapped on the seventh floor by Tama and those in the building who are loyal to him. With no help coming and the men quickly running out of ammunition, the SWAT team has to fight by fist guns and whatever else they can find and hopefully make it out alive. Fists, guns and whatever else they can find. We're going to get into that here in a couple of minutes, because let's be honest, everything that isn't bolted down is used as a weapon in this movie, including the filing cabinet, which, just when you thought you'd seen it all like, a guy uses a filing cabinet as a weapon, and I am here for it, man, Dave. I know, I know the director in you is excited to talk about a lot of these shots. You and gart Evans have something in common though. You both love the storyboard we do now so you know, and you follow the tried and true method of shot lists and drawings, right I do.

11:13 This guy makes video storyboards with his actors. They plan out the fight sequences like month, two months in advance. They just they you know, I'm talking an office building with some crash pads, and they just put it together. So when he's on set, he's looking, he's on his cell phone, he's looking at the video. He shares it. Everyone on set watches the video and then they just they replicate what they see sense and he uses these these little video things that he creates like they're like placeholders, you know, in his film. So let's like, all right, we got that one, so well, now we'll delete it, you know, we'll delete the cell phone stuff, you know, we'll delete the camera stuff that we did. I think that's brilliant, man.

11:58 It is. I mean, with the fights that you've seen in this film, you're gonna have to have that stuff choreographed in advance. So as a director in me, I just can't imagine having to come up with something like that. Because the way the camera moved at times, man, I mean it was so fluid and so smooth with some of the fights that it just like melted into the scene that you were watching like it was part of the fight. It was amazing. I think sometimes you watch an action movie, you know, or an action sequence for that matter, where there's a lot going on, a lot of a lot of close quarters combat, the camera is it can be almost like blurry, a little jarring because you just your eye doesn't know where to go, right. But did you notice his his his directions. Is just it's flawless because, like you said, fluid, I never once felt myself discombobulate. I always knew where to follow the action like it. It's just it's he He truly directs not only his actors, but he's directing you, the audience member. He's showing you what to look at the entire time, you know, and not you know, like a little little little you know, jump forward to a scene.

13:11 Think about that, Like in the hallway we see a machete exactly, but but there's that moment where we see a machete. He disarms a guy. We watched the machete fall, We watch his foot slide it back behind him across the floor. The camera follows it and then whips us right back to the action like we always know where to look. I love that about this guy. Man. It's brilliant, it really is. It's a obviously this is a very intense action thriller, but Gareth Evans considers The Raid to be more of a survival horror film instead of an action movie. Do you see do you do you see that?

13:54 I definitely can see that. I have to be honest, man, watching it, I was like it at times it felt like a zombie movie. Yeah, I forget what was the one movie that there was a horror film where they got stuck in the building with zombies. It was a foreign film and then we remade it over here. I cannot think of the name of the top of my head, but seeing this movie, I definitely can see why he would call this it feels like a horror movie because I mean, yeah, there's a lot going on. It feels like zombies are attacking them. Well, it's just like like the like the like the thugs, like when you know, our hero character Rama when he is beating the crap out of them, you know, they fall, but then they get up. But and just the way that you know, obviously they're a little groggy, they've you know, they're getting fatigued from the from fighting, and just the way they move. Some of these guys move like zombies. Yeah, at least at least I felt like that.

14:44 It does seem like it. No, I'm with you on that. I agree. Yeah, all right, I'll tell you what, Dave. Let's let's take a quick break. Uh. And then a couple guys I want to talk about that are doing what I think maybe is some of the best martial arts I've seen in a lot long time. Welcome back. We are discussing Gareth evans twenty eleven action thriller The Raid. It's a James Buckley Patreon producer episode. Again, Thank you, James, Yeah, thanks James. So let's talk about Eco UUs. He's our lead character, Rama, the rookie for the Mobile Brigade Corps, which is basically it's it's Indonesia's Swat Swat team.

15:28 Right. Can we just talk about the opening for a second, because I love the opening montage of him basically getting ready for work. He's, you know, there's a little bit of prayer, there's a little bit of you know, affectionate longing. You know, his pregnant wife is asleep. He's trying to be quiet yep. And then he's doing some very intense workout on the on the heavy bag before you know, getting ready for his day. I have to be honest, man, his his hand work on that bag is so fast. I think the only other person I've seen with that kind of speed is Bruce Lee. Yeah, it was quick.

16:09 Like I I for a second, I was like, did they speed the camera up? Is this is he really move because it's a blur. His his his punch, his strikes are so fast. You i'd say you, I'd say, you're seeing maybe every third every third hit maybe if you're if you're that lucky. But this, this guy, like I just you know again it's an Indonesian uh you know, uh superstar we're talking about. I know he's done a little bit of work. We haven't seen it though, Dave. No, just after seeing this, I want I want more Eco. Us Absolutely I do. Yeah, he was brilliant in this thing. Man. Yeah, this is listen, I'm this is I'm not being disparaging when I say this, but this is. This movie's almost one long action sequence. It is, and it's really easy for someone like like the guy to not really do any acting. And let's be fair, he wasn't an actor before this movie, you know, so given that, you know, because I still think there's there's definitely some emotional weight to his performance, and like, what's motivating him in this movie?

17:18 What do you think of his performance? A fight? All fighting aside? Well, I mean with what little words he has. As you know, movies can really move along without having words, and that's what you want you want pictures, And I feel like a lot of his performance done with his eyes. His face expressions. I think they're fantastic. You know, the whole build up at the beginning there where he's working out and just you know, you don't get a lot of dialogue there in the beginning. You get a little bit, not much, and I like a lot of that because I think dialogues used too much. Sometimes there's a place for it. But what I like about them he was driven by his facial expressions, his eyes. I mean, acting is in your eyes, and if you can pull that off, uh, you're a pretty good actor. And he does it very well in this especially later on you know when again if you haven't seen this, but uh, he finds his brother. Yeah, you know, I thought that was a great scene between the two of them, and you know, you get a lot of build up between all that fighting going on until you get to that dramatic moment. But all his performance in this room I thought was fantastic.

18:23 Fighting aside, let's talk about yeah, Yan Ruin, he's playing mad Dog, who is basically dude, the beast, the muscle behind Tomas operation this guy, and let's be honest, like when you think about the the the heavy, like you know, the bad guy's henchman. Usually it's like some mountain of a guy. Right, this is this guy? What is he? Like five six like my height? Yeah, this is the Indonesian David Burns man. Yeah, but he is he He clearly lives up to the name and hot take. Man, I'm gonna go and tell you maybe my favorite character in the movie. Yes, without a doubt. You know. Oh okay, I thought I thought you were like, he's a villain. No, no, no, no.

19:07 It's funny when I was watching this film and when I saw his first fight where you know, he broke the sergeant's neck and then he drags him down the hallway to the elevator, and I'm like, Okay, this guy's kind of cool. And then when he got to the second fight where he actually you know, lets him the brother go and just prepares himself to fight the two of them, I'm like, oh, man, But to backtrack that a little bit too. Remember he had the gun on the sergeant. He put the gun down because he ended up fighting with his fists his hands. So I'm like, this dude is bad ass. And I know Jeff loves him. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, listen, listen to you. You're stepping all over noteworthy scenes and I'm afraid. I'm afraid to correct you because, like now, I see what a guy like a guy five six can do to me. He was hired by Gareth Evans in two thousand and eight to work as a fight choreographer shock you know, on the on his film the film Maranta but Dave. His other films include appearances in Star Wars The Force Awakens.

20:11 Gotta go back and see it now. He played He played a character named Tatsu Leach. I don't know who that is, scratching my head. Apparently he was. He was prominent enough to do the voice for the Lego Star Wars video game, playing the same character. So all right, gotta go back and check that one out. Uh. He also was one of several people that tried to kick John Wick's ass in john Wick three Parabellum. And again this this this fighting style which we'll talk about, uh, prominently featured in john Wick three. It's you see a little bit of it in The Accountant. I know, me and Garrett Gibson talked about that when we covered the account We kind of mentioned this this fighting style Pinchot salite, which we'll we'll get into here in a second. But yeah, yeah, Ruin just fun to watch. Man. You are like, yeah, you know, I uh yeah, I can't say enough good about him. But let's let's move on. Let's let's talk.

21:15 Let's talk a little bit about the background on on how this movie got made, because I really think this is an interesting story. So Gareth Evans, his wife is of Indonesian descent, and she, you know, convinces him to take a job as a freelance director. Let's go to Indonesia make this documentary about Pinchot salite. So, Dave, we're talking about an Indonesian martial art that focuses on striking, grappling, and weaponry where every part of the body is subject to attack. And if you know now that you've seen this movie, all bets are off, man, like this is this is what hell of a martial art too? I dig it man, Uh it's it's actually part of the Southeast Asian Games. It made its debut in nineteen eighty seven at the Games. And uh it's taught as an elective in Indonesian schools. Okay, I just want to if I if I could just make a comment on the American education briefly, go ahead, and I'd be careful because you know, we're friends with several teachers. Dave, you and I were taking study Hall as an elective or home economics or homech yeah, or wood shop, which I enjoyed my time in home mech I did too. I got to eat a lot of food. Yep, I enjoyed my time in wood shop. But h pinchots salite was not

22:51 on the electives list because if it were, I pretty sure I know what that were, I'd be you know, oh yeah, me too. I'd be I'd be hitting people with filing cabinets right now. But I would be the new mad dog. So you would be yeah, day birds day bad dog Birds. So anyways, Gareth is completely fascinated by the combat sport and he happens to discover the probably at that time Indonesia's top star uh in the sport, Eco UoS. This guy's working for the phone company by the way, when he's discovered what is it with these jobs? I don't know, I don't know. But anyways, he casts Eco as the star of his second film. You know he did. He did a low budget like a like an independent movie called called Footsteps. But his second film, which had a little bit better budget, it's an action movie, a low budget action movie called Marinto. I didn't get to watch the whole film, but I saw a little bit of it.

23:55 I would say it's Gareth Edward. I went again, you love Gareth Edwards. Gareth Evans about the Sick Mad Dog look Out. Uh, Gareth Evans, I would say Marintow is kind of like his his homage to Jackie Chan. Okay, because what Eco is doing in the movie. If you watch it, Dave or you know, even to go to YouTube watch them clips. It feels very young Jackie Chan, like drunken master type stuff. Really cool. Well check that out. But you know, the movie has a degree of success, and they decide to reteam. Gareth tells him about a bigger budget film he's doing called Thugs, and it's a large scale gang war movie that's set inside of a super max prison. Now that sounds awesome. Yes, they shoot a little trailer, little teaser trailer, and after a year and a half they don't have the necessary financial backing him and the producer, so it's it's a no go.

25:02 Evans course corrects, streamlines, the story, makes some some minor changes, moves it to a smaller location aka and apartment building, and Thugs becomes the Raid Redemption. Big budget cuts. I can see why he did that. That may cheap, Oh yeah, real cheap. Now here's what I'll tell you, because I'm sure James Buckley already knows this, and some of our listeners that are fans of the Raid, they probably know this. What I just described, this movie, Thugs ultimately becomes the sequel to The Raid Redemption. It's the Raid Part two where I guess it takes place allegedly allegedly takes place moments after Rama walks out of the apartment building. Oh okay, so tell you right now.

25:50 It is definitely then the number one spot on my queue. Like you know, next time I sit down to watch anything, it's the Raid Part two. Yeah. Same here. Now, we got to discuss some comparisons, you know, And I'm gonna be honest with you because there's there's a there's a there's a big one hanging out there. But before we talk about that one, I'm watching this movie and there's something I noticed, and that's that uh Tama, you know, the the head bad guy that's controlling this apartment building. Yep, with all these with all these gangsters and drug lords and everything. I love the idea that, you know, he's kind of caught this swat force in a trap. He's not letting them out. Basically, it's like a killbox, and he doesn't want anyone on the on the streets or anyone outside this building to know what's going on. His guys are they're executing cops on the outside that like the you know, like the van, the swat team Van brutal and they're put they're getting rid of the van. They're they're hiding the evidence, so to speak.

26:53 And when I saw that moment, I was like, this is this is Carpenter, this is assault on Precinct right, Yeah, I love that it's got a real assault on Precinct thirteen. Vibe to it with the entire movie one. You know, some loan cops trying to survive one one go with the criminal Empire. Yep, very cool, man, very cool. But there's another comparison. This movie comes out in twenty eleven, twenty twelve, we get the reboot of Judge Dread Carl Urban. You know, just Dread, right, which is a very similar theme.

27:37 Yes, now, let's let's be honest, Dave, Dread was pretty awesome. Oh absolutely, it was okay, And listeners, if you haven't seen Dread, there's a similarity here because Dread goes into an apartment building. What was it like the peach Towers or something like that like that, I don't remember that. Yeah, but there's basically there is a you know, like the leader of a criminal empire is hold up in a apartment building and Dread and his partner are basically going through, you know, the entire building trying to fight their way back out, and that's basically the raid.

28:22 It is just with less people. But sure, just with less people. Yeah, I gotta be honest. James, James Buckley, we were talking, you know, he was excited that we were going to do this one. He's like, man, He's like, I'm just curious to think what you guys think about the comparison between Dread and and The Raid. I'm kind of wondering if these directors knew what was going on, you know, with each other. Now, think about this, Dave, they're basically in production at the same time, right, and I'm forgetting his name, the director of Dread, but kind of irrelevant because Alex Garland writes the script. Yeah, and more less takes over the film because there's some different you know, creative creative differences, right.

29:05 We love this creative differences. Exactly Peter Fria's last name. But anyways, a guy walks, Alex Garland kind of takes over Dread quietly, just keeps directing it. And I was kind of curious. I was like, you know, this is very similar movies. I did a little digging. I actually found an Alex Garland interview. You know, he was promoting Dread, and this interviewer starts off the interview by saying, hey, can we talk about the controversy with this and the raid? And what do you know Alex Garland, who we like? Man, we remember we did that movie. What was it? Men? You and I covered really creepy strange movie.

29:47 Or a strange film? Yeah last year. Yeah, Garland, is you gotta watch this interview? I gotta send it to you because he is visibly pissed off right from the get go, like, oh, this is how we're gonna start the interview. I've got very sort of conflicting feelings about this, And as I suppose you might imagine, on the one hand, if I separate myself from the whole process, just from a filmmaking point of view, I can look at The Rain and I think it's kind of amazing what they've achieved. I mean, I really think it's amazing. I really do. It's extraordinary. It's hard making films anyway. At the level of resource, with the amount of imagination and invention that they did, that's actually really stunning, actually, But there's something frustrating about it, which is not the Raid as a film itself. I don't really think there's a problem with that.

30:42 I remember very well in the eighties there were a whole bunch of V and R movies that came back to back, like Platoon and Full Metal Jacket and Hamburger Hill and stuff, and it was like it was just fair enough whatever. It's more the accusation that we stole material from The Rain. I find it. It's extremely irritating. The reason it's irritating is because it carries an implicational insinuation of plagiarism. And I read this from film journalists who I would have thought would be able to do the math and figure out that we would have needed a time machine to be able to do that. If you are writing about fucking film production, you ought to have a sense of how on a shoot last, how long post production takes, what editing and VFX requirements entail.

31:34 And there's no mystery about it. I would have thought it was obvious, So I don't I have no problem. I really have no problem with the whole thing about the raid. I don't like being told that I ripped off something else's idea when I didn't, because I just think it's rude. Yeah. Well I'm here to clear that up. No, sure, Yeah, And I should probably be a lot more polite and diplomatic when I talk about it. But I find it. Yeah, And he makes it, you know, he like he makes a fair point. He's like, listen, he goes, Platoon came out and nineteen eighty six, thank you Alex Scottord for shotting out ninety a six the best year for films in the nineteen eighties. But he talks about Platoon coming out, He's like, yeah, we got Hamburger Hill in full metal Jacket, and you know, all these Vietnam movies.

32:20 He's like and no one took issue with it. He goes, same thing. He goes and it's not like we stole from the rate because that he's getting more and more worked up. You know, he's just getting lathered up about. They goes like, well, that's it, I just want to clarify, and you know, the interviewer is not helping himself at all because Garl's getting more pissed and he's like, look, and he's like, look, what do we have a time machine? Because that's the only way I could steal from this movie, you know, because we were in production. What do you want me to do? Even apologized, he's like, listen, I know I'm getting a little upset here, but I'm just He's like, I don't like being told that I'm stealing someone's work when in effect, it's just it's just coincidence, you know, It's just it's just bad timing.

33:04 Yeah. And then funny thing because we mentioned assault on Precinct thirteen, He's like, you know, if you want to say I stole from anybody, you know, stay sass, stole from assault on Precinct thirteen. I'll be like I'll throw my hands up and say, all right, sure, you know has been like that for a while though. I mean, remember like is Leviathine Deep Star six Abyss, although it came out on top of one another, whie Pembstone, come on, uh huh, it happens. Well, it's just like, hey, there's an idea out there. Who's gonna who's gonna get the final cut first? Right, Yeah, he's gonna wrap the picture, so exactly. That's that's how I look at it. You know, it's there. Are both good films. I'm not worried about it. Oh yeah, yeah, you know, aside from the fact that you got a cop trying to fight his way through an apartment building.

33:45 Mm hmm. It's about it, you know, because I here's why I look at it, Judge dread. It's more like the themes of the movie. It's more about law, and it's it's a lot a lot colder, right, it's about process, yep, whereas the raid it's a little bit more about family. You know, Rama is is uh you know, he's doing what he's doing for the benefit of his family, both his private wife at home, his long lost brother. And you almost lose sight of that too, you do, because you barely get a little bit of that in the beginning where the father says he was talking to him right when he's ready to leave, and then you get all that chaos going on in the in the in the apartment building, and you almost lose track of it until uh he grabs him and pulls him into the apartment and you're like, oh, wait a minute, I almost forgot about this.

34:33 Well, yeah, because at the beginning, like you know, he's he's gearing up, he's getting his gear on. By the way, the uh SWAT team, Like, who's a jacka jacka the sergeant? I love. You know, anytime you get a little exposition dump right in a movie, sometimes it's annoying. You know, I don't I don't want to be spoon fed. But this he's basically he's he's he's like a camp counselor sitting around the fire talking about the legend ad Jason Vorhees. He is building up this bad guy Tama yeah, and basically scaring the ship out of these guys, these these these rookies, you know, and I'm like, I can't wait to get in this apartment building. Man, this is gonna be a This movie is gonna be awesome, But.

35:16 I want to talk about the scene real quick. But go ahead, come back to that scene, good and finish. Put it in that scene. We'll put it in that okay, because we're we're gonna get to net Worth these scenes here just a quick second. But I'm like, you man, like, I'm like, who's this old guy? And Ram was like, hey, I'll bring him back home? Like who? Who bring him back? Who home? Exactly? You know what? And for a while, you know, a little misdirection here because I'm like, oh, wait a minute, our hero is named Rama, the villain, the bad guy is named Tama, right, is this those older brother? Is this? Is this like a brother thing? And I was like, well, clearly they're not. They're not talking about that, but then you know it's brother find out, then you find out. But I'll tell you what, Dave, I don't know how we're gonna pair this down h for noteworthy scenes. But let's let's get to some noteworthy scenes, shall we.

36:03 Yeah, well, I want to go back to the van scene, because. Let's go back to the van. Let's start with there. What I find very intriguing about this scene, and I'm wondering if Gareth had this in his mind when he was doing this. I'm telling you that entire scene felt like the boats on Normandy going to the beach and saving Private Ryane. It really does. Yeah, because you even got the police officer shaking his hand. You even get the guy driving tapping the truck saying thirty seconds. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, you're right, yeah yeah. I was like, holy crump, this is a saving private right. This is the opening the Private Ryne. I did even pick up on that man. Yeah, so cool. Well, you know, typically like when you when every action movie has this, it's a it's a cliche. Well, we're going to see the the SWAT team, you know, lock and Load. You know, they're they're badasses, right yeah, but this is Private Ryane. These guys are legitimately terrified of this mission. And you know there's a little bit of shit talking between them. You know, uh you know what about you what you know, Like I just yeah, I now that you said saving Private Ryan. I'm I'm loving that scene more absolutely. And here's what's great about it.

37:11 We it's inner cut with our introduction. They're they're talking about this guy and we're like, well, he sounds like, you know, one bad mother, But uh, how bad could he be? And we cut to this, you know, this average looking dude eating some noodles. I'm like, this is who they're afraid of. But let's talk about Tama executing five guys in front of him. I don't know who they are. We don't know who they are. We don't need to know them. But are these guys that failed like these were some of his his soldiers that that failed him? Were the Are these people that live in the building that won't fall in line? And we don't know. All we know is that five guys are duct taped on their knees in front of a large sheet of plastic. Now, I don't know about you, Dave, but when I see a large sheet on the plastic on the floor and I don't see buckets of paint, it's over. I know someone's about to get whacked. I'm not going anywhere near the plastic man, you know. And I'm sitting there like, why are these why are these guys willingly on their knees Because he picks up what is it like a forty five?

38:20 I think, yeah, And one by one is just putting bullets in the back of their heads and and they're all terrified. They're watching the guy in like the first guy drops the second guy, Hey, third guy, get up and run, like at least die running, you know, or you know he's behind you head bud ym and the dick, I don't know, just do something, you know. But no fifth guy get. Which is brutal, the most brutal. Oh well you're like, we know what's going on here because he pulls the trigger click click click. Oh this is one of those the last guy lifts to tell the tale or last guy, Hey, don't fail me again. Yeah, Tama, who is who's just can we say he's got charisma, hes got personality. He lays the gun on the guy's shoulder and says, you know, uh, hold on, watch this for me, Watch this for me, goes to the drawer of his desk, opens it. There's there's bullets, you know, rolling around in there.

39:20 Yeah, well you might gonna get but no he doesn't. No, he doesn't get that. He gets a cla there's a claw hammer that he picks up and just destroys this guy's skull. I mean, and it's one shot, like I I appreciate you know when you see a hammer and you know someone's gonna die by hammer. Typically Hollywood tells us we're gonna it's gonna take like sixteen hits and it's gonna get it's gonna get ugly. The way he shoots this, I'm like, the guy is dead on impact, Like, oh that swing of that hammer, there's no way what was. It was a cool editing trick too, because when when the hammer was coming down the the camera swung with the hammer the camera and then it quickly quickly cut back to the swat team in the van. I thought that was fantastic.

40:03 Yeah, And immediately now we see like the guys shake it like holding their rifles and there's a little shaky yep. Now, I now I totally understand why these guys are terrified. Not a noteworthy see, but I just got to point it out because we didn't talk about the guy. I didn't look up his name, so I apologize, but I want to mention the h the arrival of the lieutenant. Oh why okay, yeah, okay, but yeah, but here's the thing, man, These guys like uh Rama says like you know, let's or the chaka the sergeant says, gear up. These guys are all like head to toe, you know, black fatigues, riot gear, the help. They look they're ready, they're ready to rumble. The older lieutenant he's got like a aaa polo golf pants on. He's wearing the flat jacket over was he on his way to the golf course?

40:59 What church looked? Like? Why is he wearing? You're like, did you not get the memo? Like, hey, we're going into the deadliest part of town too, you know, full assault on this uh, this criminal organization. No, he didn't get the memo. Apparently, Well maybe he's gonna golfing after it. We don't know. Maybe maybe yeah, I don't know, but I just I it took me out of the moment, out of the movie, just for a moment, because I was like, here's this cheese dick, Like he clearly is not gonna make it. You know, he's he's the first guy to get shot and he's not. He's not. Not only does he make it out, but you know, he's becomes a major player. I just it makes it even worth it when you find out who he is, like, oh, man, oh yeah, you're an ass hat.

41:45 Dude, exactly, man, And I'm just like, this guy's just running around and his old navy outfit, and I'm like, what's going on? But justatig, Dave, let's talk. Let's still. I got a little math for you. Okay, you tell me what the answer is. I'm gonna I'm gonna give you the math problem. You give me the answer. Okay. Refrigerator plus propane tank plus grenade. Equals lots of explosion to death. What the hell of an explod Like awesome moment, right right, Absolutely, you take the propane tank and it's we got to hiss, so you know, that's okay, We're clearly something's gonna blow up.

42:28 Then they put in the frigerator and like, what are you doing? What's what's going on here? Because they are you know, some of the cops are pinned into an apartment building. There's like thirty guys with machetes and machine guns outside trying to you know, and again it's like that that zombie mode. That's what these bad guys are all about, trying to trying to bust through the door. And this one cop says, hey, as soon as I shut the fridge door, flip it, turn turn around. Then he tosses a hand grenade in it, and then they turn it towards the door. Great shot because now we're on the outside of the apartment building mm hmm, or the sorry the now now we're on the outside of the uh the apartment door. Yeah, and we just watched the the bad guy their cannon fodder and it's just a giant fireball consumes everybody and explodes them.

43:19 You know, they're all over the walls. Yeah, great shot. That's like way to go again. Anything can be used as a weapon, including refrigerator. Dude, how about that really cool shot where the shotgun goes off where it's the slow motion you get the flames coming out. Oh my god, that was so beautifully done. Yeah, think about this. Every weapon on set they're they're using the airsoft guns, little pelt guns, and then they're doing like in Post, they're doing the right machete in the wall. Dave, my god, you know what I'm talking about. That's one of my favorite scenes. This is a horror movie scene. Yes, it ever was. First off, you get that shot looking down, remember that Jason shot where you're looking down you see the wall, but you see like rama behind the wall, and then you see was that mad? No, it wasn't mad. Dog was the machete guy.

44:11 Yeah, we'll just call a machetty guy. Yeah, who was like, you know, tapping the wall, and then he starts stabbing through the wall and then it goes slices, just the cheek of Rama dude that and then you get that camera shot where the machine he let's go to the machetes walked away and the camera slowly moves in on that machete. Oh my god, it was a brilliant shot. This shot is so good because, like you know, this is a situation. At this point, there are decent people that live in this apartment building and they just don't want to be involved, and this poor guy and his sick wife. They take pity on Rama and his injured partner. They let him in. This guy's got like a a hiding spot. He's got like a false false wall we can hide. I don't know what that's about, but it's awesome.

44:55 But machete guy comes in. He sees the wall is clearly like not load bearing, but he starts just slicing the dice jam stabbing away at it. And I love the shot because it's like we're watching the knife come through the wall and it's getting closer and closer to Rama and his partner, and then that last moment where you know hear it and the camera pans up and it is just like a millimeter into his cheek. I was like, and he's just holding it because his buddy is like agonizing pain and he's covering his mouth. Stay quiet. But here's where his buddy gets my respect, because you're thinking, like, Okay, when the dude pulls the machete out of the wall because he gets in a fight with the tenant ten it's trying to get him out of there. And I love the moment where I'm thinking, wait, when he pulls out, he's going to notice the blood on his machines. I love the fact that the partner raises his hand puts like rests his fingertips on the blade yep, with his gloves and as the machete is was is pulled out of the wall, his gloves are cleaning the blood off the blade. That is one of the most brilliant shots in this movie.

46:10 It's such an awesome I was even thinking he's gonna pull out, I gonna see the blood and somebody's back there. And then when he did that, I was like, Oh my god, that's awesome. Yeah, wait to way to earn your keep injured injured cop. Absolutely love that one. Man. Uh, just just an awesome moment I got. I got a couple more I don't, and you know, maybe maybe I'm skipping one. And if I do, there's so mudy in that word. I don't want to talk about the whole movie. But yeah, uh, you know, back to our our man, mad Dog. Let's talk JOCKO versus mad Dog. So we have this this mech this that's like standoff moment in the hallway and jocka the sergeant, his firearm's gone.

46:54 He it's like a spin move and a freeze and like Jack has got the knife pointed out him and mad Dog's got a gun pointed at his face. And I was like, well, thanks for playing Joka. It's over. It's over. But then Jaka is like, wait, he's got me. Mad Dog kind of motions him to stand up and then backs him into the room, the empty room, and I'm like, oh, well, why is he Why is he going to hide the fact that you know, why does he want to kill him off from everyone else? Nope, Here is where mad Dog becomes my favorite guy in the movie gets our respect a villain, Dave earning your respect. That's that's unprecedented, right. But he's he's got like this moment where he has like a little little monologue. He goes and puts his gun down on the counter. He you know, empty is a chamber. He does everything, and he's talking about how he doesn't think it's fair, right, Yeah, and he says, like squeezing a trill. He's like, he's like, this doesn't excite me. Squeezing a trigger is like ordering takeout.

47:58 And he's like, this is what I do, this is who I am. And he's all in for hand to hand combat. Absolutely, dude. What a great fight sequence. Yep, it really was. But the next, the one after this one, it was my favorite one. Well we'll get to that, but I know you can't you can't deny, you know. Once he got like a fifteen hit combo Mortal Kombat style on the on the sergeant before he snaps his neck. Yeah, this is some of the best martial arts fighting I've seen, maybe ever in a. Movie, because it's so fluid and so quick and so so bad. These guys are experts at at pin shot salite so and it shows, man, it absolutely shows Yep. All right, so we can we kind of hinted of this. I don't know how much you want to talk about it.

48:42 I don't know if we're spoiling it, but you know, the whole reveal of the brothers, I want to thought. I just want to mention it because you know, it's like, maybe it's the pivotal moment. It's not okay, okay, let's let's okay. It really is. It is. It's the pivotal moment and that it's important to the story. But we're gonna about to talk about what the big the money the money maker is but I want to. I want to bring it up because I love this movie is not dialogue heavy, right, but I think I think one of the best lines of the movie is in this moment because as Rama is trying to explain to his brother, I'm here to get you out. I'm here to save you. His brother, who is like the brains of the criminal empire, you know, they they they're strange. I haven't seen each other in years.

49:34 We get that his brother is saying the same thing. He's like, no, I'm gonna get you out. I'm here to save you, because these guys are gonna they're gonna destroy you. They've already murdered your entire team. And he tells his brother, like, look, before we go out there, at least change your clothes, and Rama says, no, this fits me just fine. And it's going to be a callback to the you know, we get a call back to that moment at the end of the movie, you know, But uh, I was just like, damn, Rama, is he he is He's Gary Cooper. Now he's he is, he is a he is the cop. He's not gonna back down, He's not gonna hide. He's on his mission. He's he's gonna do it. So I think that one's a great moment.

50:19 But uh look, whether it's the pivotal moment or not, let's let's just call it what it is. The Hallway fights, of course all incredible. Dude, I'm telling you, I don't even where to start with those because they're done so well. Man, well they are, and I kind of feel like that it's fair to say the Raid is the blueprint for a lot of popular action sequences that we've seen over the years, because when we watched Atomic Blonde mm hmm, you know which we covered. Our buddy John Wright did that episode with us. You know, that's got one of the greatest fight sequences ever Showley. It's their own and they're fighting like in a hallway, like on the stairwell up and down the stairs in the apartment building. It's awesome. Uh, we watched we watched Chris Evans, you know, in the Winter Soldier mm hmm. You know, before we before we get started, as anyone want to get out that close quarter combat, you know, I think Daredevil, Yeah, the hallways scene, Dared Devil, the hallways scene and Dared Devil. I feel like this all goes back to the raid because close quarter combat in a hallway of all places. You know, I don't know if you've seen it better than what we see here. And I even I even you know, like a I think Old Boy mm hmm. And I don't know if Old Boy was before or after this

51:50 movie great hallway fight sequence, but this is the hallway fight sequence. Yeah right, this is the daddy of them all. Without questions. Yeah, yeah, this is It's the measuring stick, yes, like is it is it? And it's not? I don't think the question is is it better than the raid. I think the question is it as good as the raid? And that's what you say about any action sequence that is close quarters combat, whether it's a hallway or an elevator or or whatever the case. Maybe I couldn't agree more sure. Let's uh, you mentioned it. We got, we got we gotta talk about mad dogs, you know, like round two, like the second fight. Yeah, and here here he does again, you know, and where he put the gun down, you know, to be you get that respect because he wanted to fight the sergeant, you know, with his hands and everything. He does the same thing. Here he's beating the crap out of Rama's brother, who he hears the that going on, so he approaches the door. We go inside to see, you know, that his brother is hanging by the ceiling, you know, with the chains. And then Rama walks in and he lets him go. He gets him out of the chains, lets him down, and then let Rama go over, you know, to release him from the chains, and then they just beat the crup.

53:07 If you weren't a fan of this guy with the fight with the sergeant, you have to be now because it's not only that he wants a fair fight. He wants a challenge. Right, hold on, wait, let me let me let your brother go. You know, I'll fight both of you. How about that? It's so good, man, it is so damn good it is. It was almost like you didn't want it to end the way it ended because mad Dog was just so damn good at what he was doing. I was like, Man, I don't want this guy to die. You know. I you know, I can already tell you. The one thing I don't like about The Raid Part two, even though I've not seen it. What they had don't like is that mad Dog's not in the movie. Man right, our boy you yhan is uh, He's not gonna be there.

53:52 So I wonder if he did the choreographing though he had to have well packed that up. Yeah, Dave, I know, Tipic, you know, when we're wrapping things up, we would we would, you know, would say, hey, you know, if someone's new to this director and they wanted to see more of their work, what would you recommend? Yeah, I'm just gonna be transparent here. Gareth Evans has done the Raid, He's done the Raid part two. He did that movie manatew that we talked about mentioned, and other than that, I I know that he's got this Gangs of London TV series he co created, Never Seen, don't never Seen. I haven't seen it yet. I'm gonna I want to check it out there. I'm a fan of this guy.

54:32 Well, yeah, I'm saying, great director from here. And and Havoc, Tom Hardy, did you see the trailer for this one? This it looks awesome And I had no clue. I love I love how the universe is just kind of aligned here, and like James Buckleer is like I'd love to hear about the Raid, and we're talking about it, and and Gareth just happens to have a movie coming out just a few days earlier. Job James, call this one, buddy, Yeah, actually for the win once more. Yeah, but Havoc, it just looks awesome. Uh. You know, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna discuss my ongoing aggravation with Netflix and why I'm not a Netflix guy right now. But uh, okay, I'll watch it. I'm telling you, if I might be, I might have to break down here. I might I might have to go back to Netflix just to watch watch Havoc. But uh, but yeah, you're a subscriber, so you tell me if I got you know, if I need to watch it this weekend.

55:31 We tell me, yeah, absolutely, well you don't gonna watch it now because of this film, so. Well yeah, I know, yeah, well we we definitely recommend this one right oh by four? Yes, what'd you watch? Is that? Dave? I actually caught this on I rented on Amazon Prime. Okay, so I'm glad you said Prime. That's where I watched it. Uh, listeners, you have an option here because I you know, sometimes you see Prime it's like, wait, why is it showing it twice? There's an unrated version. Did you watch the regular, the theatrical or the unrated? I'm not sure which want I watch. To be honest with you, I didn't pay attention to that. Uh, but that's what. Yeah, I watched the unrated version. It's like one hundred and two minutes. Okay, So I can't tell you. I was hoping you'd say, you know, when we were talking scenes, I was hoping if you you were about to say, I never saw that. What are you talking about? But I'm guessing maybe, just based on what the movie's about and what the what we see, I'm guessing that the unrated version is probably it's a little more graphic with the smell of violence.

56:29 That's what I'm assuming gotta be. But uh, listen, listeners. If you love action movies, particularly Atomic Blonde, John Wick, Dread, The Winter Soldier, or the Daredevil series, this is a must watch. Absolutely, it is well. For those of you that have seen it, what do you think about it? You can let us know on social media. You'll find us on Facebook, Instagram, and x you can check out a film by a podcast dot com for all of the episodes that are streaming on the platform of your Dave. We've been writing some articles here and there, having some fun there. That's all there. And I got to point this out. You know, we always are like, hey, go back and check out this episode. We didn't season two, we didn't season three. We did it last year. You gotta be honest, Dave. We're up to like three hundred eighty plus episodes, loosing on four hundred.

57:17 That can be yeah, we're closing down on four hundred, but that can be a little tedious, like I wonder what they got, or I wonder I'd like to I'd like to go back where I find it. Listeners, if you go to our website and you click the episode's tab. The little drop down box will break it down for you in detail, which season, which limited series. If you're want to check out Dave's work on a film at forty five, you just click that link. If you want to check out Dave's work with Scott and Wayne on Phaser Set to Stun our ongoing Star Trek series, it's there. You click that link. We'll check out ninety eighty six. You want to check out nineteen seventy six, It's all there, Dave, and it'll help you quickly find the episode that you're looking for. You can also write to us at a Film by Podcast at gmail dot com with your questions, comments and concerns. We may just read your response to the show and send you some of a film by Swag.

58:11 Ask James Buckley about that swag. He's he knows pretty much. He's got it all. He's got it all. He's got it all. Next week, Dave, we're in the month of May. We are. It's Bill Paxton Month. All month long, we'll be celebrating the career of Bill Paxton with movies starring Bill Paxton and movies directed by Bill Paxton. Amber Lewis will be here next week. We've got Dayton Johnson from the docu based seventy seven podcast with us, Jason Colvin from the show That You Can't Be Serious Podcast will be here, and David, you're getting in on. This too, right. Yeah, we think you picked that?

58:52 Was it? Indian Summer? Indian Summer? Yeah? Absolutely? I can't be left out of Bill Paxton. Come on, man, No, I knew you wouldn't. But yeah, I'm excited because I know you know went the same summer camp. So we did. I can't wait to talk about that one. Yeah, we'll talk about it. Uh, we'll talk about next month. Until then, Dave as always a pleasure. Thank you for joining me for this. Uh this Patreon request from uh mister Buckley. Did you did I tell you? I asked him? You know when he when he when he told us this is that this was his choice. You know, we got we got a pretty pretty solid crew now we do. So it's like, hey, you know, James who you want on the episode? He who you want co hosting? He's like, uh, was David Burns a hilable? It's like he will he will be You're the You're you're at the producer tire.

59:42 You know you want David Byrd's like, get you, Dave Bird. Well, thanks James, but again you you have steered us to another awesome film. Thank you for that. Thank you, and uh to all of you listening to the show, following us on social media and subscribing to the Patreon like James Buckley, like like Rob Balducci newest Patreon member, and all the other patron members. We think you