Pre Vis Action brings the fight choreography of Gareth Evans’ The Raid to an age of samurai warriors.
If you’re an action movie fan and somehow haven’t watched The Raid or its sequel, you need to fix that right away. These films, written and directed by Gareth Evans, blend Indonesian martial arts and fast-paced gunplay into gorgeously brutal films that left audiences at the edge of their seats. But modern action scenes aren’t all Evans can produce – take Pre Vis Action, a short film that applies the same principles to samurai sword-fighting.
Pre Vis Action follows a messenger tasked with delivering a peace treaty between two rival lords. There’s just one problem: Someone wants the fighting to continue, and has hired assassins to intercept her delivery. What they didn’t expect was for the messenger to be an accomplished warrior herself. The end result is a wonderfully shot two-against-one fight that’s as incredible as you imagine.
The project was originally a test action sequence designed by The Raid‘s Gareth Evans, Yayan Ruhian, and Cecep Arif Rahman. It’s goal was simple: Translate the style and rhythm of The Raid into a PG-13 experience that all audiences can enjoy. Pre Vis Action pulls this off wonderfully, showing that you don’t need graphic violence to create a dramatically tense action scene.
Evan’s team is still working on The Raid 3, which isn’t expected to hit theaters until at least 2018. Yet somehow, this footage almost has me wishing Evans could working on a full-length samurai film instead. Here’s hoping when The Raid series is completed, Evans will take a crack at the genre.
Source: YouTube, via GamesRadar
