The two punching scenes in The Raid movies each have a deeper meaning relating to the two film’s stories, and this is something that many viewers miss upon first watch. Writer-director Gareth Evans and leading man Iko Uwais burst onto the action movie scene with 2012’s The Raid: Redemption, which follows a Jakarta police unit in a deadly raid of an apartment complex populated by the city’s worst criminals. 2014’s The Raid 2 followed up its predecessor with Uwais’s protagonist Rama going undercover to infiltrate a Jakarta crime family.
The Raid movies became action classics overnight, with their amazing fight sequences making a martial arts star of Iko Uwais, along with his co-stars, Joe Taslim and Yayan Ruhian. Both of The Raid movies also include scenes of Rama executing punching drills while alone. In both cases, each punching scene in The Raid and The Raid 2 is significant to Rama’s emotional state in the two movies.
The Raid's Punching Scene Is About Preparation
The Raid opens with Rama preparing for his unit’s mission for the day, with him doing early morning exercises and performing traditional Islamic prayers before suiting up. Rama’s exercises include hitting a punching bag, and as revealed by Gareth Evans on The Raid’s Blu-ray commentary, this is all about Rama's “spiritual, mental, and physical preparation before he goes out on this mission."
What makes The Raid’s training scene even more important is that Rama has a personal stake in the mission, with his estranged brother Andi (Donny Alamsyah) being a part of the gang commanding the tenement building. In being structured like a video game movie, The Raid's mission is one that Rama must steel himself for both inside and out. With Rama also determined to bring his brother home to his family, his preparation takes on an even deeper meaning for his harrowing battle ahead.
The Raid 2's Punching Scene Is About Repressed Emotions
In The Raid 2, Rama is forced to go uncover into a Jakarta prison to get close to Uco (Arifin Putra), the son of crime boss Bangun (Tio Pakusadewo), in order to get into his inner circle. The Raid 2’s punching scene shows Rama alone in his cell punching a wall with a human figure sketched on it, and it is all about Rama venting his pent-up emotions. On The Raid 2’s Blu-ray commentary, Evans states that Rama punching the wall is “all about regret, it's all about sadness, and it's all about him realizing just how much he’s had to give up now."
The Raid 2's scope is also bigger than its predecessor's, and with it, the emotional impact on Rama, who is not only forced to go to prison for the sake of his family’s safety but is also dealing with Andi's murder in the movie’s opening. Moreover, Rama's wall-punching also comes just after he is overwhelmed by attackers in a bathroom stall in the prior scene. Both punching scenes in The Raid movies are stunning displays of Iko Uwais’s speed and skill as a Silat exponent. However, each is also a tool for telling Rama’s story in The Raid films, with each doing its job splendidly on different levels.