With production costs of just under a million dollars is “The robbery“ (2011) is a good example of how big action spectacles don’t need a blockbuster budget. Director Gareth Evans (“Gangs Of London”) made a big impression with his uncompromisingly brutal martial arts thriller, shaped the genre in the years that followed and rightly anchored himself in modern pop culture with his high-rise hype. And now, 13 years later, a dream has come true for many fans:
“The Raid” will be released on April 25, 2024 as the Ultimate Edition – which should be the absolute ultimate for fans and is available for pre-order now. And we can say one thing: you have never seen the film like this before!
It doesn’t matter whether you count “The Raid” as one of your favorite films and therefore want to have it in the best version or whether you have had the 18+ board on your watch list for a while and now is the perfect time for you. arrived, missed to catch up: “The Raid” will soon be (even) better than ever!
“The Raid”: for the first time in 4K – and how!
Because Evans only had very limited resources available for the film’s production at the time, “The Raid” was produced for significantly less money than “The Raid 2” and that is certainly reflected in the film. Since the spring of 2023, director Evans has been devoting himself to an extensive restoration of the film – to make it shine in completely new splendor in 4K. And the visual differences that result are truly enormous – almost giving the impression that the film has been reshot almost 1:1.
Not only has there been a lot of help in terms of sharpness, but the color correction is also completely new – and virtually eliminates the one weak point that at least the author of this article always had to criticize the film for. And of course this will soon be the brand new thing, Ultimate Edition features four discs in the media book Obviously this one will be on the shelf no matter what. It would be funny if this truly ultimate new edition were missing from the various “The Raid” editions from around the world…
The edition of course includes the remastered version on both 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray and is also packed with bonus material – and comes in a brand new, super stylish design, which also looks great on the shelf and begs to be beautifully presented. Furthermore, the film is available not only in the unabridged theatrical version, but in the uncut original version, which is a few seconds longer and is now finally being released by FSK for ages 18 and older.
That’s what ‘The Raid’ is about
Jakarta: The Indonesian capital is ruled by drug addiction and unemployment. In the middle: an apartment building inhabited by the unscrupulous gang boss Tama Riyadi (Ray Sahetapy) and his gang. Even the bravest police officers have so far failed to storm the building. Until the twenty-man SWAT team led by Sergeant Jaka (Joe Taslim) tries again.
And at first the planned attack seems to work: they enter the building unnoticed and reach the sixth floor before finally being discovered. While the gang boss follows the events on the monitor, the residents of the apartment building have a bloody clash with the elite unit, which advances floor by floor and is increasingly decimated. One of the few survivors is the relatively inexperienced Rama (Iko Uwais), who regroups the unit and continues to fight his way forward to stop the boss.