Now that Gareth Evans’ The Raid: Redemption has arrived on home video, audiences who slept on the action extravaganza can catch up with one of the most brutal (yet entertaining) police thrillers of the past decade. And while you are waking up to the talents of Evans, Iko Uwais and Joe Taslim, Hollywood already is figuring out how to put these spectacular actor/athletes to further use.
Evans, for starters, has been hard at work on Berandal, the official Raid sequel that will move forward with Uwais' rookie-cop character on yet another crime-fighting adventure. Evans took to Twitter Wednesday afternoon to confirm that he had finally finished the screenplay. He was celebrating with a can of beer.
Taslim, on the other hand, has graduated from the Raid universe to a villainous role in Justin Lin’s still-untitled Fast Six. Though we reported on this casting move earlier, Deadline was able to confirm that Taslim will be playing Jah, a character described as “a cold-blooded killer who uses martial arts and parkour skills to fight against the Fast crew.” The site makes the inevitable connection to Jet Li transitioning from Asian cinema to a villain’s role in Lethal Weapon 4. I guess this means that Sylvester Stallone will approach Taslim for The Expendables 7 in about five years.
Taslim didn’t get into the business to be an actor. Like most of the fighters in The Raid, he was a martial artist living (and fighting) in Jakarta who was discovered by Evans. Look for both Berandal and the sixth Fast movie to compete for our action eyeballs at some point in 2013. Which one are you most looking forward to? Let us know below.
