When Indonesian pencak silat master and action movie star Iko Uwais first shattered the silver screen in his hard-hitting debut film “Merantau” and its smash hit follow-up “The Raid”, he was often compared to Tony Jaa, the Muay Thai stunt artist who revolutionized Southeast Asian action cinema with his first martial arts masterpiece “Ong Bak”.
Many martial arts film fans have dreamed of the two extreme action stars teaming up on the big screen, and their wish has finally been granted with the announcement that they are both joining the cast of “Triple Threat”, a Hollywood production that will be helmed by director Chad Stahelski.
Joining the dynamic duo of Iko and Jaa will be Tiger Chen, who previously starred in the Keanu Reeves helmed “Man of Taichi” (which also featured an unfortunately brief appearance by Iko).
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the story of “Triple Threat” will revolve around “a Chinese martial artist who goes to Mexico to rescue his ex-wife and their son after they are kidnapped by a drug cartel.” Presumably that will mean that Chen will be in the protagonist role, but it is not clear if Iko and Jaa will be playing his adversaries or comrades.
We just pray that Iko and Jaa get at least one fight scene in the film so that we can finally see which martial arts style reigns supreme – pencak silat or Muay Thai?
At the very least we are confident that director Stahelski has the action movie chops to use all three stars to their full potential. His last film, “John Wick” starring Keanu Reeves, was praised by audiences and critics alike as one of the best and most original action films in recent memory.
As the project has just been announced there is no news yet on when we can expect “Triple Threat” to hit theaters. In the meantime, we can look forward to Iko’s next film, “Headshot”, which is scheduled to be released in Indonesia in December.
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