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Every week there are great movies released in theaters, but they get no attention and never have a chance to reach an audience. They are rarely released on more than ten screens, only in New York City and Los Angeles, and have no advertising, but they are works of art that deserve to be seen. That’s why I started this column. It’s a way for me to spread the gospel about the great independent films, foreign films, and documentaries that don’t get the attention they deserve from the movie-going public. So before you rush out to see The Hunger Games for the third time, you can find out about some great movies that aren’t getting talked about on Entertainment Tonight or, really, anywhere else… ever. Until now!

There are a lot of weird independent movies that I try and convince people to see, and I understand that a lot of the movies that I love are too slow or too weird or too soul-crushingly depressing for most people to enjoy them. My purpose with this column isn't to say “this movie is so awesome that you will definitely love it,” but rather, “this is a movie that deserves to be noticed.” But I feel comfortable saying to anybody who likes action movies that The Raid: Redemption is, in fact, so outrageously, mind-blowingly awesome that there is no doubt in my mind that you will definitely love it.

As a huge fan of '90s action movies, I feel like a grumpy old man when I talk about how innovations in CGI have made action films worse. But it wasn't until watching this movie about a SWAT Team that gets in way over its head when it attempts a raid on a tenement run by a drug kingpin that I understood exactly why I feel this way. Lately, most Hollywood action films have taken to focusing entirely on style, rather than substance. By that I do not mean complex plots and interesting characters, powerful ideas or affecting emotional drama. A great action movie doesn't need any of those things. But what I look for in a great action movie is creative, inventive, exciting action sequences. Movies that rely too heavily on CGI, especially the Transformers movies, think that big explosions and amazing visuals are enough to achieve that level of excitement. This idea of spectacle as action loses its luster quickly, resulting in dull, languorous fight scenes that go on far too long. Bigger is not always better.

When I said that plot, character, and drama is not the driving force behind a great action movie, I meant it, and The Raid: Redemption has none of those things. It feels very much like a generic Hollywood action movie except for the fact that none of the characters speak English. The plot is extremely straightforward, basically serving as a flimsy excuse for lots and lots of fighting. And the characters? Well, in the opening scene we learn that Rama has a pregnant wife. That is the only thing we learn about any character for almost the entire film. On top of that, for the first hour we have no idea which character is Rama because everybody looks the same when they are running around in SWAT gear. Eventually, though, enough people die that we can effectively use process of elimination to figure out who is the protagonist.

What we get in that hour is some of the most mesmerizing, jaw-dropping action sequences in cinematic history. Writer/Director Gareth Evans has found a way to push every limit of what we might expect from two people trying to kill each other, or ten people trying to kill other people, with guns, knives, fists, or whatever happens to be lying around. Like many action films, The Raid often stretches the boundaries of logic, giving us scenes that, if we stopped to think about them, wouldn't make much sense, but which we are far too caught up in the spell of to think about. Is it strange that all of the drug addicts who live in a ghetto tenement are martial arts experts? I have never been to Indonesia, so I can't say for sure, but it certainly seems unusual.

Yes, more plot develops as the film continues, and a fairly generic story about police corruption emerges, but really, that's not what this movie is about. With The Raid, you come for the totally awesome ass kicking and stay for the holy crap that really is totally awesome ass kicking. Does it achieve the transcendent levels of Hanna or The Dark Knight? Not even close. It is more in line with Crank or Con Air, content to tell its story in as explosive a way as possible. Everything from the superb sound mix to the pulsating score bring us into this claustrophobic world in which around every corner somebody is waiting to chop your head off with a machete.

This movie is certainly not for everyone. My grandmother is the biggest fan of foreign films I know, and usually the first person I recommend non-English films to, but I'm going to recommend she skip this one. Her sensibilities aren't quite in line with what this movie has to offer. But if you like your fists flying, your machetes sharp, and your piles of bodies towering, you will love The Raid. Lately, foreign action films have been showing up American films, giving us a lesson on how to make great action. First England gave us Attack the Block, then France brought out Point Blank. Argentina upped the stakes with Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, and now Indonesia and Gareth Evans have brought action to its logical extreme. Where can it go from here? I'm excited to find out.