CreativeExplorer-MichaelMandaville.com

I work in Film. I live in Martial Arts. I thrive in Imagination.

Filmmaking

Media, Film, Streaming, Story

Image

Filmmaking

Filmmaking here with articles, tech, story and other stuff to learn, inspire and maybe piss you off as in "Why didn't I know that before!" Believe me, happens to me all day long. Always more to learn and strategize for greater success and Joy in this amazing filmmaking world. I enjoy action films but really good ones in what I like to call "Arthouse Action" which are films like "Die Hard", "Enemy of the State" and others with quick witted words coupled with quicker action. But make no mistake I prize and enjoy the Art of Cinema in many genres and eras.

The Raid

The Raid: Redemption

November 02, 20231 min read

A S.W.A.T. team — including an officer (Iko Uwais) with a personal stake in the mission — must capture a drug kingpin who lives an apartment tower’s penthouse suite in Jakarta. Each floor in the building, however, is filled with henchmen ready to pick off the cops one by one. Gareth Evans’ instant action classic uses a videogame’s boss-level concept as an excuse to throw every type of imaginable option at his heroes imaginable. Gun play? Hand-to-hand combat (including the brutal Indonesian fighting style known as Penkat Silat)? Machetes, axes and knives, oh my? It’s all here, with each impeccable set piece delivered at a frantic, kinetic pace designed to leave you shellshocked. The Raid‘s bigger-faster-more methodology was such a gamechanger that it’s now become the go-to template for choreographing fight sequences, from those John Wick/Atomic Blonde carnage-fests to Evans’ own, just-as-great-the-second-time-around 2014 Raid sequel.

The Raid

The Raid
blog author image

Michael Mandaville

Michael is a writer, filmmaker and dedicated World War II historian who studies martial arts, action films and is learning more about VFX every single darn day. Oh and a Scholar Warrior

Back to Blog