It’s a tough gig following a shock debut success – for most people. Not, however, for The Raid’s British director Gareth Evans. He simply made an even better film; kind of The Godfather 2 of Indonesian action films.
“Iko [Uwais – star of both films] was more worried than me,” says Evans. “I just went back to the same creative space as the first one – doing it all without any external influences. I actually had a story already – I’d written it before I wrote the first film, but didn't have the budget to make it.”
You can see why; the sequel, which sees Uwais’s supercop Rama go undercover with a Jakartan gang, is on a far grander scale, with car chases, more characters and subplots – and yes, even more violence. And Evans isn’t stopping with two.
“I’ve got an idea for The Raid 3. It begins about two hours from the end of The Raid 2 – a spin-off from one of the subplots – but I don’t want to disclose anything. Nothing’s definite.”
The Raid 2 is at cinemas from 11 April