Russian Raid Review

Russian Raid was a film where even the marketing material stated it was inspired by 2011’s The Raid. Those were lofty ambitions because The Raid was one of the best action films of the 2010s.

Nikita (Ivan Kotik) is a former Spetsnaz soldier turned mercenary. He is hired by a man (Ilya Antoneko) who takes the term ‘hostile takeover’ literally. Nikita, along with a team of MMA fighters have to silently take out the security at a factory so their employer can strong-arm the owners into selling.

The Raid felt fresh when it was released. The camera work was dynamic, and the fight scenes were brutal and inventive. Fresh, dynamic, or inventive are not words that could be used to describe Russian Raid. This was a film made without the passion or creativity that made The Raid so special.

One of the main selling points of Russian Raid was its cast was made up of MMA fighters and other athletes like powerlifters. This seems like a strong bedrock for some fun fight scenes but sadly this wasn’t the result. Most of the fights came off lethargic, laboured, and staged. There was no sense of urgency or spontaneity. The filmmakers did try to put some life into these fights with some fancy camera and editing tricks but it was a cast of looking like they were trying too hard.

As an action film Russian Raid had two major issues. The first problem was for a large portion of the MMA fighters faced little challenge. Early in the raid most of their opponents weren’t as good as fighters and when they did face a physical threat they were able to counter them with sheer weight of numbers. In films like The Raid, Dredd, Die Hard and that film’s various copycats, the hero/heroes were outnumbered and outgunned – their chances for survival were slim.

The other issue was MMA doesn’t lend itself well to cinematic fighting. It can be a slow and methodical style of fighting. Other fighting styles like Wuxia, Pencak Silat, and Muay Thai are a lot more quicker and fluid. Nikita did incorporate some Russian folk dancing into his fighting style which at least made him agile.

If the action film fails with its action scene then other issues were made more pronounced. As stated, most of the cast were MMA fighters so the acting was not of the highest quality. Most of Nikita’s fellow fighters were indistinguishable from each other – the most recognisible was the cocky young member. Most of the characters weren’t even named.

To criticise Russian Raid for its plot would be pointless. The same criticisms I could make to Russian Raid could be laid on The Raid and other martial arts films. The film just needs an excuse for the hand-to-hand combat. Other aspects of the screenplay weren’t so forgivable. Other action films, even films with a basic plot at least have interesting character dynamics, emotional stakes, and compelling villains – Russian Raid had none of these. The most uncomfortable moment in the film was when the MMA fighters start getting gropey with the only major female character in the film. It was uncomfortable, exploitative, and added so Nikita would have an excuse to fight with his compatriots.

Russian Raid serves as a great example of how not to make an action. It failed on a basic level.