The Raid 2 Review

I finally got to watch the second instalment in the asian martial art movie franchise. I am obviously talking about The Raid 2. I loved the first one, and really enjoyed watching it. It had great action and choreography, and the plot was decent. The first also had great cinematography and likeable characters.
The second Raid takes everything to the next level. It is a direct continuation of the first one, and takes place right after the events of its prequel. The scope is larger, the action is bigger, and even the cinematography is cooler. Lets talk about the action for a second, because it is awesome. The fight scenes are choreographed beautifully and the actors all did their own stunts which is very impressive, because the stunts looked really difficult. Not only were there great fight scenes, there was also an amazing car chase scene, which was extremely impressive. The cinematography is great, and the movie looks really good. A lot of very cool and creative shots were used which enchanted the movie greatly. All of the actors did a good job and played believable characters.
Most people say that "The Raid 2" is better than 'The Raid: Redemption" and I see where they are coming from, though I do not agree. In my opinion the second movie had a few problems with it. The story is bigger, which might be hurting the film. The first one was very self contained, it all took place in the course of a few hours, and felt really "cozy". The second one is convoluted with a lot of characters who felt unneeded and their motivations were unclear. It seemed like this movie was "westernized".  It feels more like a blockbuster than an independent martial arts movie. I am not hating on blockbusters, but this movie felt like it had less passion behind it.
Overall, "The Raid 2" is still a great and enjoyable movie and I recommend it to anyone who likes action and martial arts movies.
I will give this film a rating of 8/10.