[cheebacheeba]

The Raid 2.
Won preview tickets, well the wife did anyway.

I really liked the first one, was looking forward to see some more brutality visited upon various people - and I got that in spades. Some of the longest, most well coreographed, and brutal fight scenes I've ever witnessed - if I can say that moreso than the first one, you'll know what I'm talking about. \
They out-do it.

Bit more "story" this time, not sure if that was to the benefit or detriment of the overall movie, perhaps it was on account of the amount of "foreign" names of the characters that sometimes I found it hard to follow who was being referred to.
Little bit of a Shakespeare vibe to the overall plot.

I think, that while it's technically a better film with more action and plot, the first one succeeded greatly on the feeling of isolation and desperation, had a touch more atmosphere - but whatever the second one lacked in some areas, it more than made up for with others.

It's tense, it's crazy, it has fight scenes that just look so damn painful...oh, and one hell of a great car chase scene.

I'd give the first raid a 9/10, this one's a solid 7.5.
I like the first one better, but for personal taste.