Starpower may be an ephemeral and difficult-to-define quality, but I dare anyone who watched “The Raid: Redemption” to say they didn’t think Iko Uwais was going to be one of the biggest action stars of his generation. Uwais is the complete package; not only does he possess an unparalleled physical ability, but he also has genuine gravitas as an actor. This is no stuntman-turned-performer – his character work in the ‘Raid’ franchise, even independent of all the fight scenes, should have been enough to make Hollywood take notice.
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Maybe they finally have. On Friday, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Uwais was in negotiations to star in “Snake Eyes,” the ‘G.I. Joe‘ spinoff from toy manufacturer-turned-filmmaker Hasbro. Uwais would star alongside Henry Golding (“Crazy Rich Asians“) in a film directed by Robert Schwentke (“R.I.P.D.,” “RED“). Snake Eyes is one of the more popular characters from the franchise—or so the internet tells me, anyways—and his origin story should give the third big-screen ‘G.I. Joe’ movie a decidedly martial arts bent.
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While Uwais’s talent has been evident to action fans ever since the original ‘Raid’ film, American filmmakers have never quite understood how to make the most of his considerable talents. For every collaboration with Indonesian filmmaker Timo Tjahjanto on his resume, Uwais has been crammed into secondary roles in mediocre action movies like “Beyond Skyline“ and “Mile 22.” That last film was a particularly egregious use of his talent; who casts Ido-freaking-Uwais in a film and then proceeds to chop all of his fight sequences into two-second bursts? And while the track record of director Schwentke doesn’t precisely instill us with confidence, let’s hope that Uwais will finally get the spotlight he deserves from American audiences.