The Raid: Redemption 4K SteelBook review
Jan 17, 2024- Permalink
The Raid: Redemption is an Indonesian action film released in 2011. Written and directed by Gareth Evans, it had its premiere in the Midnight Madness section of the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was a hit with viewers and critics alike. Starring Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Donny Alamsyah, Ray Sahetapy, and Yayan Ruhian, it follows an Indonesian National Police tactical squad who set out to raid an apartment block in Jakarta’s slums that is home to a ruthless drug lord. When they find themselves surrounded, they must fight their way out to survive and complete their mission. Sony has now released The Raid: Redemption as a 4K SteelBook and I had a chance to take a look.
The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded upscaled 4K digital transfer with HDR10 and Dolby Vision is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The colour grading is the star here, with rich, dark black levels that still enable great detail in the shadows and darker scenes. The colour palette is very natural and contrasts well with the darker surroundings. Detail is mostly sharp in the usual suspects (facial textures, textiles, and locations) and any softness is from the source and not the transfer. Seeing as the budget for this action picture was only $1.1 million, it looks great on 4K.
On the audio side of things, you have the choice of Indonesian Dolby Atmos soundtrack that folds back to Dolby TrueHD 7.1 as well as Indonesian, English, and Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, Portuguese, and Spanish. The Indonesian options actually present two option: one to hear the original Indonesian score and the other to hear an international score composed by Mike Shinoda and Joe Trapanese. The surrounds immerse you in all the action, the LFE output will have your subwoofers testing your building’s structural integrity, and above it al the dialogue still remains clear.
The Raid: Redemption 4K SteelBook comes with a Blu-ray copy (from 20212) and a Digital code. There’s an audio commentary by writer/director Gareth Evans, a series of behind-the-scenes vlogs, a moderated discussion with Evans, Shinoda and Trapanese, a look at the international score done by Shinoda and Trapanese, a breakdown of one of the action scenes, more looks at the production and score, a Claymation cats remake, a TV ad, trailer and some Sony previews. The SteelBook itself
The Raid: Redemption is a kickass action film that looks and sounds great in this 4K release. Fans of the genre will be easily tempted to add The Raid: Redemption 4K SteelBook to their collection.