The Raid (dir: Gareth Evans)

A cup of green tea to calm down.

Is it me, or are there more interesting DVDs in charity shops than ever before? Are they going the way of the video tape, with people getting shot of things they think of as clunky remnants of a pre-cloud world?

Whatever the reason, I am finding that I can pick up something worth taking a look at most weeks, and this week was no exception. With the Raid 2 about to hit cinema screens, I noticed the original film in the PDSA shop for £1.99, and thought I'd give it a try.

The film (which I think was released in 2012) was widely reviewed as being a benchmark movie in the action genre, which is not something I know much about.  My philosophy is usually that if you going to explore something new, whether food, music, books or film then to start with the classics and work out from there. So this seemed a good opportunity to see if I should explore further.

Set in a Jakarta tower block taken over by a brutal criminal gang, essentially this film is a 90-minute long fight, with a few moments of calm to allow the viewer to catch their breath before the next protracted period of ultra violence. Guns, knives, machetes, and kicks, kicks, kicks are the order of the day with no punches pulled on showing the gore on screen either. This film is not for the squeamish.

So, what did I think? Certainly is was fabulously put together, the production design, acting, music and sound all working well in the service of the film, but the star was clearly the direction, perhaps better described as choreography. The battles are absurdly over the top, with the flurries of punches, kicks and leaps sometimes feeling never-ending, and the superhuman protagonists surviving damage which no human surely could, then getting up to do it again and again.

For me, it is this cartoonist element that makes the violence tolerable, removing it from all sense of reality, an experience I last had watching Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Brutal and bloody, it wasn't something I would normally give the time of day to, but the time flew by, and the ending had a emotional punch I wasn't expecting.

So, will I be off to the cinema to see The Raid 2? Probably not, but I'll definitely be keeping an eye out in Brum's fine charity shops.