'The Raid 3' Would Have Featured A 'Predator'-Like Jungle Hunt And Not Centered On Rama
The Raid 3 is (probably) never going to happen, which is sad news for those who have been clamoring for another entry in Gareth Evans' incredible action franchise. But in a new interview, Evans has laid out his plan for what would have happened in the third movie if he had made it – and the results are genuinely surprising.
Most notably, it would not have followed Rama (Iko Uwais), the protagonist from the first two films. "I definitely think it would have pissed off an awful lot of people," Evans said. Check out his detailed breakdown of the would-be movie's plot below.
The Raid 3 Plot
Speaking on a new episode of The Empire Podcast, Evans (who is promoting his new TV series Gangs of London) explained for the first time his full idea for his unusual approach to The Raid 3. "I couldn't fathom of another f***ing reason why [Rama] would put his life at risk and separate himself from his f***ing wife and kid again. I was like, it can't be about Rama. It just can't, because if he does something to pull himself away from his poor f***ing wife and kid again, I'd be like, 'Hmm, you sort of deserve to die now really. Take some responsibility and be a father for a change!'"
So who would the movie be about instead? Well, it would have started with a literal bang. "The Raid 3 would begin with Rama coming out of that building after having killed everybody and saying 'No, I'm done,'" Evans said. "He walks away to [police officer] Bunawar, who'll be waiting for him in his car, he gets in and drives away. And you stay with the Japanese gang, who are like, 'What the f*** do we do now? Everyone's dead, we've got no-one to kill.' They get into their car, and as they're driving along all of a sudden this other car rocks up alongside them and just blitzes them, and the cars crash. Goto, his son, and his right-hand man are the only remaining survivors from that attack, and it cuts to credits and says 'The Raid 3'."
The Raid 2 drastically expanded the scope of the story after the contained original, and the third film would have flashed back to a key moment for one of the supporting characters of The Raid 2: when Goto tells his right-hand man to essentially murder every single corrupt cop and politician they've been paying off so the gang can start from scratch. "The idea was that the right-hand man, after being told to kill off all the politicians and cops and wipe the clean slate, would call back to Tokyo to the big huge boss, and be like, 'Goto's going f***ing nuts. This is f***ing crazy, what do I do?' The call from HQ is, 'Keep him still, keep him close, we'll send people to take care of it, and if you do that for us, you can take over his turf.' The attack goes wrong – it's a kill squad from Japan who have turned up and taken out the Gotos. Goto has no idea that this right-hand man has betrayed him and set him up for the ambush."
After surviving the cold open car attack, Goto would have headed off into the Indonesian jungle, where the franchise would have taken some inspiration from the 1987 action classic Predator. "Goto arranges to meet up with this old mafia boss (played by) Christine Hakim, who has trained killers in her jungle retreat," Evans continued. "She's providing protection for Goto because they go way back, she's the one who introduced him to Jakarta in the first place. The idea is this Japanese kill squad that's used to the streets of Tokyo suddenly have to deal with the terrain of a jungle-hunt, a bit like Predator in a way."
Evans says he didn't work out the entire plot (though he certainly has an impressive amount figured out), but after Goto's son is killed, Goto would realize that the right-hand man was the one responsible for this situation, "and they'd have some real gnarly tribal way of dealing with him. And Goto and this guerrilla gang of Indonesian killers would then go back to Tokyo in order to f***ing take care of the people that ordered to kill him."
That sounds pretty awesome to me, especially the Predator-inspired jungle angle, which would have been a whole new type of setting for this franchise. And while some people weren't thrilled with The Raid 2's long runtime, this one would have only run about 95 minutes long. Evans knows this sequel would have been controversial among fans. "Maybe now they know what I had planned, people will be like, 'You know what, don't worry about The Raid 3, we're good!'" he said. You can read the rest of his comments over at Empire.
We may never see this story play out, but at least we'll always have the first two movies, which are two of the best action films ever made.