The Raid has landed on Pluto TV, giving viewers a free streaming home for Gareth Evans’ 2011 action film and its 2014 sequel, The Raid: Berandal. The move puts the modern cult favorite back in easy reach for anyone who wants to revisit one of the most influential action films of the last 15 years.
Written and directed by Evans, The Raid: Redemption in the United States follows a tactical squad sent into the apartment block of a ruthless drug lord, where a rookie member must lead the surviving team after the operation goes bad. Iko Uwais stars as Rama, and the film earned more than eight times its budget, a breakout performance that helped turn it into a genre touchstone.
That influence has only grown. Films like John Wick and Atomic Blonde were inspired by The Raid, and the film also left its mark on The Night Comes for Us, Nobody and Netflix’s Daredevil. Fans have been clamoring for a third entry for years, even as Evans had said in the past that too much time had passed for another sequel to make sense.
The director’s view appeared to soften last year after he met with Uwais. Evans said he had not seen Iko in maybe seven years, and he seemed to come away with a different outlook on the franchise’s future. That does not mean a third film is imminent, but the return of both The Raid and The Raid: Berandal to Pluto TV keeps the series visible at a moment when interest in it has not gone away.
For now, the clearest development is simple: a free streaming release is giving a new audience access to a pair of action films that helped reshape the genre, while leaving open the question of whether the reunion Evans has hinted at can become something more.
