When Gareth Evans’ brutal action thriller The Raid: Redemption became a word-of-mouth phenomenon back in 2011, everyone knew that a sequel was all but inevitable. As work on the follow-up has progressed from the idea stage to filming to post-production, we’ve seen a cool banner, a bloody teaser and not much else. Now, however, the sequel, formerly called The Raid 2: Berandal but apparently now just The Raid 2, has an unexpectedly soon stateside release date.
The sequel will make its debut at the Sundance Film Festival next month then expand to theaters in the United States on March 28th. That’s a remarkably quick turn-around for the film, as well as a measure of Sony Picture Classics’ faith in the project.
The official press release reads as follows:
Sony Pictures Classics and Stage 6 Films announced today that they will release THE RAID 2 in the United States on March 28. The film will have its World Premiere at the upcoming 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
Written and directed by Gareth Evans, THE RAID 2 picks up right where the first film left off and follows Rama (Iko Uwais) as he goes undercover and infiltrates the ranks of a ruthless Jakarta crime syndicate in order to protect his family and uncover the corruption in his own police force.
THE RAID 2 was produced by Ario Sagantoro for Merantau Films, and Aram Tertzakian and Nate Bolotin of XYZ Films. The film was executive produced by Rangga Maya Barack-Evans for Merantau Films, Irwan D. Mussry, Nick Spicer and Todd Brown on behalf of XYZ. Matt Flannery (THE RAID: REDEMPTION) and Dimas Imam Subhono served as cinematographers with Joseph Trapanese (THE BOURNE LEGACY), Aria Prayogi (THE RAID: REDEMPTION) and Fajar Yuskemal (THE RAID: REDEMPTION) scoring the picture.
The Raid 2 was gifted with a much larger budget than The Raid: Redemption, so martial-arts enthusiasts are likely counting down the days until they can see Evans’ latest action extravanganza. The sequel, which Evans has stated will be the second part of a Raid trilogy, also had a 100-day production period, so chances are we’ll be seeing some pretty spectacular action sequences in the film.
Are you excited for a sequel to The Raid: Redemption? Will Evans and co. be able to recapture the brutal lightning-in-a-bottle magic of the first film? Let us know in the comments section below.
The Raid 2 hits theaters in the US on March 28th, 2014.