Stars Of 'The Raid' To Appear In 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Devin Faraci of Badass Digest,
Twitch is reporting that Iko Uwais, star of The Raid and The Raid 2, will be joined by fellow Raid-ers Yayan Ruhian (Mad Dog) and Cecep Arif Rahman (“The Assassin” in that big The Raid 2 finale fight) in Star Wars: The Force Awakens…I do want to say that while I’m excited about this - I think Iko could be an international star, and I wish he had a real main role instead of something that gets announced after principal photography is complete - it’s worth noting that we were super psyched when martial artist Ray Park was hired for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
I consider both of The Raid movies to be the greatest hand-to-hand combat films of the past 20 years. Uwais rushed me from the gate with fine acting ability and some moves to boot. I think any of the martial artists from these movies would make fine additions to the already killer cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
I’m interested to see how they are utilized, though. Faraci was right about Menace/Park. His lightsaber battle with Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi was a sight to behold to my young eyes. I hurt myself many times backflipping off of my parents’ couch reenacting that scene. But that doesn’t a good movie make. I’ll just chalk this one up as another anticipated feature of the film until I know more.