Garreth Evans directed The Raid and The Raid 2, which are without a doubt, by far, the most gruesome and badass martial arts/action flicks of all time. They're Indonesian, and the filmmakers first film was also an Indonesian martial arts movie.
Very surprising that his followup was not Raid 3, or another Indosian film at all, but a turn of the 20th century set horror movie about a cult off some English or maybe Scottish island(i dont know for sure, not important).
Got pretty good reviews, but sadly i was not impressed. It's not bad, but i felt they didn't really do enough with the great premise they had. I did like where the plot goes, but it still left me desiring something more, and despite it going in some wild directions, it kinda had this mundane feel to it. I mainly just expected something more intense/extreme. The Raid and its sequel are easily the most intense and extreme action movies ever created(outside of war based stuff like the battle scenes of SPR or John Rambo, but even those don't come close on the hand to hand fight scenes). I expected the directors take on the horror genre to be of a similar nature. I was left quite underwhelmed by what Apostle delivers. It's still gruesome at times, but rarely is it cringeworthy, rarely is it all that memorable. Really was the type of movie/premise where it would have benefited from things being taken to the extreme(both plot-wise and with the blood-letting).
Raid films set a new standard and nothing has matched up since they came out, not even close. I wasnt expecting Evans attempt at horror to be as mindblowing or earth shattering for that respective genre, but i was expecting a bit more than what i got.
Sidenote, and small beef, and extremely minor spoilers
-persecution of Christian missionaries in China plays a minor role in the plot. To my knowledge, China isnt known for any excessive or horrific persecution of Christians prior to the communists running amuck far later than when this movie is set. Am I not very well versed in the history here or did the director fuck up? Or did he intentionally avoid demonizing the more likely nation when it comes to such things, scumbag Japan?
Very surprising that his followup was not Raid 3, or another Indosian film at all, but a turn of the 20th century set horror movie about a cult off some English or maybe Scottish island(i dont know for sure, not important).
Got pretty good reviews, but sadly i was not impressed. It's not bad, but i felt they didn't really do enough with the great premise they had. I did like where the plot goes, but it still left me desiring something more, and despite it going in some wild directions, it kinda had this mundane feel to it. I mainly just expected something more intense/extreme. The Raid and its sequel are easily the most intense and extreme action movies ever created(outside of war based stuff like the battle scenes of SPR or John Rambo, but even those don't come close on the hand to hand fight scenes). I expected the directors take on the horror genre to be of a similar nature. I was left quite underwhelmed by what Apostle delivers. It's still gruesome at times, but rarely is it cringeworthy, rarely is it all that memorable. Really was the type of movie/premise where it would have benefited from things being taken to the extreme(both plot-wise and with the blood-letting).
Raid films set a new standard and nothing has matched up since they came out, not even close. I wasnt expecting Evans attempt at horror to be as mindblowing or earth shattering for that respective genre, but i was expecting a bit more than what i got.
Sidenote, and small beef, and extremely minor spoilers
-persecution of Christian missionaries in China plays a minor role in the plot. To my knowledge, China isnt known for any excessive or horrific persecution of Christians prior to the communists running amuck far later than when this movie is set. Am I not very well versed in the history here or did the director fuck up? Or did he intentionally avoid demonizing the more likely nation when it comes to such things, scumbag Japan?
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