The Raid: parents' guide
Best for ages 17 and up. Rated R for strong brutal bloody violence throughout, and language.
An Indonesian martial arts siege movie that is essentially one long, nonstop brawl, suited only to mature older teens. A police squad storms a crime boss's high-rise and gets trapped floor by floor, and dozens die by gun, knife, machete and hammer in close, bloody detail. The English subtitles are full of f-words. A young boy acting as a lookout is shot, bound prisoners are executed, and a cornered officer tries to shoot himself. Age 17 reflects violence that is graphic and almost continuous.
What's in it
Violence
StrongExtreme and close to constant. Characters are shot, stabbed, hacked with machetes and axes and smashed through walls, with spraying blood and snapping bones. A crime boss executes bound prisoners, one with a hammer, and a young boy serving as a lookout is shot.
Language
StrongFrequent in the English subtitles. One count found close to 40 f-words, nearly 10 s-words and a c-word, plus other crude terms. A rap song with strong lyrics plays over the end credits.
Sex and nudity
NoneNothing sexual. The hero says goodbye to his pregnant wife, seen in bed in a fitted camisole, and kisses her belly.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
ModerateThe tower is a drug operation. A long fight unfolds in a lab full of equipment for processing drugs, and brief shots show strung-out residents in their apartments.
Scary or intense scenes
StrongUnrelenting dread as officers are picked off and hunted through the building with no way out. A wounded man is tortured while hanging upside down, and one cornered officer puts a gun to his own head, stopped only by an empty chamber.
Sensitive topics
- Suicide
- Death of a child
Worth talking about
The officers follow orders into a mission they know little about, and most of the squad pays with their lives. When should people question the orders they are given, and who they come from?
On our lists
Similar picks around 17+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, Wikipedia, bbfc.co.uk, the MPA. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.