Season 2 of Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight (January 12)

The Raid: Redemption, an Indonesian thriller, stunned moviegoers in 2011 with its almost nonstop action packed with stunts they had never seen before. It was recognized with accolades, included in multiple festivals as an official selection, and appeared on lists of the greatest action movies ever made, not just this year but ever. Only too bad nobody noticed it.Just $15 million was made worldwide by The Raid, with $4.4 million coming from the United States. Nonetheless, it acquired a following. The film received enough recognition from its accolades and positive word-of-mouth to draw the attention of Hollywood and spark discussions of an American remake. Additionally, it assured an American distribution for The Raid 2: Berandal (the Indonesian word for "thug," "berandal"), which carried on the original Indonesian tale.Raid was always going to be a trilogy, according to director Garth Evans, with each movie building on the world that was established in the first, and Berandal does just that. Berandal is a martial arts-infused crime drama, similar to Redemption, which was an action movie with a martial arts theme. While there was just one drug lord in the first movie, we meet his boss and a number of other underworld figures in Berandal. Both the magnitude and the stakes have increased.Though Berandal is not a picture for the faint of heart, there are still plenty of graphic and masterfully shot moments of violence. Ever ponder what would happen to a person if a shotgun blast was fired from only a foot away? Hopefully not, but Berandal provides the answers to that and a tonne of other gory questions. However, the action usually has nothing to do with the gore.

It's mostly there for emphasis rather than extravagance, and the choreography still includes the balletic elements that made the original one stand out.All of the Redemption's successful components are kept, and many of its flaws—the majority of which have to do with plot and character development—are fixed in Berandal.Hours after the first film's climax, The Raid sequel opens with Rama (Iko Uwais) being adopted by a covert police division that needs his assistance in rooting out dishonest cops around Jakarta. Reluctantly, he goes undercover as an inmate at a nearby prison in order to protect his family. There, he meets Uco (Arifin Putra), a target for other prisoners trying to establish a reputation, who is the son of notorious criminal lord Bangun (Tio Pakusadewo).