Is death ever beautiful? Hardly dinner table talk, but it’s an undeniable question that’s raised by darn near every dazzling and devastating fight scene in The Raid 2. Chock full of untrackable blurs that I think were punches and flashing zigzags of innumerable daggers, dirks and general knivery, this movie makes high octane art out of the melee and is drop-dead-gorgeous to boot.

It’s just the right dosage of everything for anyone sick with want of a stand-out action film. Plenty of plot to move the non-stop action on feasibly, but not enough to be distracting, and enough eminent danger to be intoxicating and startling with every gargantuan gang fight, sly sneak attack or loyalty switch plot twist. Forget the American mafia, martial arts hit men and Chinese crime lords are where it’s really at.

Coming out hot on the heels of it’s big brother “The Raid: Redemption,” I had reservations at the time for the nebulous sequel. There would be only two returning characters and the concept had changed. What? Rama’s brother was living away from him still? Double what?

The future sure seemed hazy, and looked to be a let down to fans freshly off the kung fu high of what I’d definitely call the best martial arts flick in a decade. With boosted budget and mainstream attention, the pressure was heavily on and the stakes as high as any fight Rama had ever scrapped his way out of.

But the film proves to be a scrapper of it’s own accord, beating it’s way out of the substantial shadow of it’s predecessor and easily extending the collections legacy into what will thankfully be one more movie, and another attempt to try and save a genre currently riddled with incompetence.

With other major studio productions proving to not be worth the wallet invested into them, such as the farcical flop “47 Ronin” and strange American experiments like “The Man With The Iron Fist,” we find ourselves in as much need for saving as any character in the fantastic Raid series. I’ve watched what they’ve tried to label as kung fu here, and it’s of as questionable origins and flavors as the school oriental rice bowl. so why stay with that kind of film when you can get a fine cut of real Chinese cooking, in the fantastic form of The Raid 2. Take it from someone who’s seen everything else. Been there, wished I hadn’t done that.

So for anyone with two eyes and a heart that beats for high kicks and low punches from the Far East, this is something you’re going to wanna see. It’s truly a landmark film in the midst of the middle of nowhere.