If you are an action film fan, you already know Iko Uwais is not your typical martial artist. This is the man who brought Indonesia’s Pencak Silat onto the big screen for the entire world to witness. His battles are not merely impressive punches and flashy kicks; they’re raw, innovative, and brutal in a good sense. Every strike hurts like crazy. So let’s go through his best scenes from the action battles that are just cool as hell, to the ones that made him an instant modern martial arts legend.
12. Stuber (2019)
Cast Dave Bautista, Kumail Nanjiani, and Iko Uwais in a buddy-cop action comedy, and what do you have? Mayhem. Uwais is a bleach-blond biker-drug lord, and already during the initial raid, he announces his arrival, knocking Bautista’s glasses right off and dispatching Karen Gillan’s character. The final battle is sloppy and hilarious, with Nanjiani uselessly in the way as Bautista attempts to fend for himself. It’s more silly than slaughter, but Uwais still manages to impress.
11. Man of Tai Chi (2013)
Keanu Reeves’s directorial debut pits Silat from Uwais against Tiger Chen’s Tai Chi. The confrontation is brief, but it’s a delicious tease of what might have been an amazing extended battle. It’s more of a setup to showcase Chen’s arc than a full-blown brawl, but Uwais delivers that real, rugged Silat taste we’re familiar with.
10. Mile 22 (2018)
Hollywood’s effort to make Uwais a star anointed us with a memorable fight in a medical laboratory. Handcuffed to a hospital bed, he converts all the objects within reach, scalpels and knives, furniture, into weapons against several assassins. The editing leaves it choppy more than it needs to be, but the imagination and viciousness still register.
9. Snake Eyes (2021)
As the Hard Master in this G.I. Joe spin-off, Uwais does not completely go all-Silat mode, but his involvement makes the training sequences better. The cup challenge with Henry Golding’s Snake Eyes is a clever one, learning restraint over violence. It is more of a “thinking man’s fight” than a full-on throwdown, but Uwais brings some gravitas to it.
8. Beyond Skyline (2017)
Aliens, temples, machetes, and Frank Grillo, this ride’s a wild one. Joined by Yayan Ruhian, another Silat powerhouse, Uwais unleashes a rage of fury in the climactic battle. The choreography is excessive, gory, and entertaining, with alien limbs in mid-air everywhere. It’s gory, but in a good way.
7. Wu Assassins (2019)
In Netflix’s martial arts fantasy show, Uwais is a chef turned mystical assassin. The fourth episode treats us to the genuine gem: a blazing duel with Byron Mann, whose Wushu mixes well with Uwais’s Silat. The supernatural abilities embedded within the fight make the fight flashy but not overpowering of the martial arts. And double bonus points, Katheryn Winnick gets her own badass hallway battle.
6. Triple Threat (2019)
Martial arts film buffs were given their ultimate team here: Uwais, Tony Jaa, Tiger Chen, Scott Adkins, and Michael Jai White in one movie. Uwais’s duel with Tiger Chen inside an underground ring is a highlight of Tai Chi and Silat, blending beautifully in a marvelous, high-octane duel. The choreography is precise, technical, and breathtaking.
5. Headshot (2016)
A gritty crime thriller of revenge where Uwais goes up against a crime syndicate after awakening with amnesia. The climactic fight with Sunny Pang doesn’t feel like choreography but rather a genuine fight to the death. Pang’s tight grip and ferocity test Uwais to his limits, and the camera work turns with the mayhem, so each impact feels bone-crunching.
4. The Night Comes For Us (2018)
This Netflix cult hit is probably one of the bloodiest action films ever created, and Uwais has a highlight reel-worthy battle with Joe Taslim. Their garage fight is Silat vs. Judo in the most violent way imaginable. It’s relentless, brutal, and exquisitely choreographed evidence that when Uwais and Taslim meet, things become unforgettable.
3. Merantau (2009)
Uwais’s first movie, Gareth Evans’s The Raid: Redemption, showed us his flair. The climactic battle he fights on top of shipping containers against two foes is the finest demonstration of Silat. His hand and foot movement keeps the traffickers stumbling, and the consistent camerawork allows us to savor each vicious blow.
2. The Raid 2 (2014)
The kitchen knife battle with Cecep Arif Rahman is among the greatest martial arts movie battles ever. Months of preparation went into it, and it shows. The fight goes from standing warfare to grappling to knife-to-knife mayhem, all staged with precision. It’s brutal, technical, and unwatchable.
1. The Raid – Redemption (2011)
The machete gang fight in the hallway is the sequence that made Uwais a world action star. With ample space for no one, and wave upon wave of foes, Uwais takes down all of them with Silat’s ruthless effectiveness. It’s dirty, cramped, and iconic, the fight that revolutionized martial arts cinema anew.
From Hollywood side films to blood-drenched Indonesian blockbusters, Iko Uwais continues to demonstrate why he’s the best in the action universe. His battles aren’t about flash; they’re about punch, rhythm, and the sort of agony you can sense through the screen.