The Raid - Cult Laboratories

“You Have Never Seen Anything This Awesome” - Twitch Film

Ray Sahetapy Tribute: Five Movie Drug Lords

10th Aug. 2012

Atop a tower block, protected by floor after floor of hopped up martial arts psychopaths, sits a drug lord…. A powerful gangster, able to bring to bear legions of loyal foot soldiers who'll protect his life.

It's a brutal, lonely life and few cinematic drug barons die peacefully in their own beds. In The Raid, the gang boss has built an empire on sand and Iko Uwais and his team of cops are near unstoppable in their desire to kick over his castle.

But the crime boss in The Raid, played with terrifying malevolence by veteran Indonesian actor Ray Sahetapy deserves a tribute on the official Raid fanhub - if only for the dead-eyed inevitability he brings to his characters brutal dispatching of transgressors, so in tribute, here are five more movie drug lords that made an impact on cinema…

Scarface

Less a movie character, more a T-shirt icon. Ever watch MTV cribs? Every single rapper insists on displaying his gangster cred by whipping out a copy. Scarface set the template for the drug boss who eventually isolates himself behind a massive platter of white powder, becoming snowblind to his own downfall in the process.

Keyser Söze

The man, the myth, the legend. Who is Keyser Söze? Does he really exist? And if he does, how is anyone ever going to compete in the evil deeds stakes? Seriously, I'm surprised anyone on the Earth is left alive given his thorough attitude to vengeance.

Harry Hill

A gangster for whom the term “don't get high on your own supply” could have been coined. Scorsese uses the real life exploits of a genuine wise guy to both look back at his old neighbourhood with a warts and all nostalgia and show what happens to a man who has everything when the Bolivian marching powder get a grip on you. What happens is a perfectly pitched descent into chemical paranoia. Is that chopper watching me? I think it is…

Youngblood Priest

With possibly the greatest Blaxploitation character name this side of Foxy Brown, the tale of Youngblood in the cult 70s movie Superfly is an amoral lesson in how to make the big score, which soul superstar Curtis Mayfield manages to turn into social commentary by sheer force of his soundtrack. Unlike many other drug hustle flicks, Priest actually makes out like a bandit and drives off into the sunset with the loot. Score one for the cocaine dealers!

Frank White

Christopher Walken plays this recently released drug baron in King of New York and he manages to expertly blur the moral line with a character who contributes to the community with one hand, while sucking it dry with another. It's one of Walken's key roles… Icy, wound like a coiled spring, offbeat, bizarre and with a palpable edge of bleeding gums Cocaine psychosis.


“THE MOST EXCITING ACTION MOVIE OF THE YEAR.” (FIVE STARS) – EMPIRE.

Following their hugely impressive collaboration on the universally acclaimed martial arts extravaganza “Merantau Warrior”, Welsh-born writer-director Gareth Evans and Indonesian martial arts sensation Iko Uwais have reunited and increased the energy even more (if you can believe it) for “the most incredible action and fighting movie in decades” (IGN), the award winning action-thriller The Raid.

Already being hailed by Aint It Cool News as “one of the greatest action movies ever made”, as “spectacular… incredible… exhilarating… amazing” by Variety and as “a non-stop action bonanza” by Twitch Film, The Raid was the winner of the Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival in 2011 and the winner of both the coveted Audience Award for Best Film and the Dublin Film Critics Award for Best Film at the Dublin International Film Festival in February this year, marking the first time in history both awards have gone to the same film.

Deep in the heart of one of Jakarta’s most deprived slums stands an impenetrable high-rise apartment block. To most it is 30 floors of Hell to be avoided at all cost but for many of the city’s most dangerous killers and gangsters, including the area’s most notorious crime lord, it is a fortress-like safe house protecting them from the law. Even for the bravest and most experienced police officers it is considered a no-go area.

In a desperate bid to flush these violent criminals and their leader from their haven once and for all, an elite SWAT team is tasked with infiltrating the building and raiding the apartments floor by floor, taking out anyone who stands in their way. Cloaked under the cover of pre-dawn darkness, the SWAT members make their move and enter the block not realizing that this is the easier part of the mission. Once inside, it soon becomes terrifyingly apparent that the real problem at hand is surviving long enough to be able to get out again.

Featuring an electrifying kick-ass score by Linkin Park vocalist, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Mike Shinoda, The Raid is a “hard-driving, butt-kicking, pulse-pounding, bone-crunching, skull-smashing, blood-curdling” (The Hollywood Reporter) action-thriller that reaffirms Gareth Evans’ reputation as a director to watch and further confirms Iko Uwais’ status as both an outstanding fight choreographer and as one of world’s most impressive new action movie stars.

THE RAID is on UK DVD and Blu-ray: 24.09.2012

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Distributor:
Momentum Pictures
Certificate:
18
In Cinemas:
18th May, 2012
Release date:
24th September, 2012
Extras:

DVD Directors commentary *Exclusive to UK Disc* The Raid feature – original language with English subs The Raid feature with English dub Trailers “Claycats: The Raid” The Raid Fan Films Featurettes Behind the Music with Mike Shinoda and Joe Trapanese An Evening with Gareth Evans and Iko Uwais BLU-RAY Directors commentary *Exclusive to UK Disc* The Raid feature – original language with English subs The Raid feature with English dub Featuring U.S. and original uncut version. Trailers Video Blogs “Claycats: The Raid” The Raid Fan Films Featurettes Behind the Music with Mike Shinoda and Joe Trapanese An Evening with Gareth Evans and Iko Uwais Play.com Exclusive Steelbook Blu-ray Based on designs by award winning comic book artist Mark Simpson AKA Jock first appearing in Empire magazine and now exclusive to this Steelboo

Director:
Gareth Evans
Stars:
  • Iko Uwais
  • Ananda George
  • Ray Sahetapy
  • Joe Taslim
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Credits

Distributor:
Momentum Pictures
Certificate:
18
In Cinemas from:
18th May, 2012
Release date:
24th September, 2012
Director:
Gareth Evans
Stars:

The Raid Live on the Web

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