A look back at the classic films that had it rough when they debuted on the big screen

If you've paid much attention to film festival coverage over the past few months, you've probably heard a thing or two about a film called The Raid (it was later given the rather silly subtitle, Redemption, though I'll be damned if I recall anybody being redeemed in it). It screened at Toronto, Sundance, and SXSW, and it is a knockout—a powder keg of pure action, done with deadpan humor and hyperkinetic style. I saw it at an all-media screening at Sundance, and even among that jaded group, the audience literally gasped at loud at several points, and burst into applause at the end. It's terrific cinema.

And that's why so many people who have seen it are flipping out over Roger Ebert's inexplicable one-star review of the movie, which went online last night. He complains about the film's "wall-to-wall violence," cracks that "if I estimated the film has 10 minutes of dialogue, that would be generous," and says that the picture is "almost brutally cynical in its approach." This coming from a guy who gave three stars to Transformers and most of the Fast/Furious franchise.