Originally, this film was written before The Raid: Redemption (2011). When funding fell through, Gareth Evans (director) decided to do a film that required a lower budget that would eventually become the first movie. That film was so successful, the sequel was greenlit immediately upon release of the first film. Part 2’s choreography was already in place before The Raid: Redemption went into pre-production, however, Gareth Evans decided to reserve the choreography for the sequel and use all new ‘silat’ (Indonesian martial arts) choreography for the first movie. The Raid 2’s story begins two hours after the first one ends.
Preparation for the fight scenes in The Raid 2 took 18 months (excluding the completed choreography made before The Raid 1). All the punches and kicks to the body of the actors were real. Iko Uwais and the other fighters had to learn how to control their speed and strength so that it would look real on the camera. Iko Uwais had training together with the other fighters for 6 months, so that they would meet everyday and build that mutual trust before shooting the fight scenes, so that when one of them missed, they wouldn’t want to punch back harder. When they shot the fight scenes, shooting would have to halt Mid scene for about 20-30 minutes each time, for the make-up artist to create damage on their faces, etc, for continuity purposes.
For the car chase scene, roads had to be cleared from 6 a.m until 6 p.m. According to Gareth Evans interview, this is explanation about how he shot the car chase scene; “the pass started with the director of photography on one side of the car. The second DOP is actually dressed as one of the seats. The camera comes in through the window and he just grabs it. On the other side of the car crouching right by the tires on a platform is another camera assistant, so the second DOP passes it to him through the back window.”
The final epic kitchen fight scene took 8 days to film and contains 195 shots and is a favorite of the director Gareth Evans, as it took him 6 weeks to design.
The Raid 2 was directed by Gareth Evans for Pt. Merantu Films.
Things to look up (go to IMDB):
- Pt. Merantu Films
- Iko Uwais
- Gareth Evans
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