Joe Taslim

In The Furious (2026), Joe Taslim makes a brawl look uncontrolled while letting us appreciate how much skill it takes. Working alongside Xie Miao, he is persuasive because the physical difficulty remains visible. Director Kenji Tanigaki gives their timing and coordination room. We were exhilarated by the fights because we could follow the skill involved, rather than merely count the impacts.

The judo training matters here: he was a member of Indonesia’s national team. The breakthrough came as Sergeant Jaka in The Raid (2011), which established his reputation for grounded action. Fast & Furious 6 (2013) took him into Hollywood, while Mortal Kombat (2021) cast him as Bi-Han / Sub-Zero. Television gave him Li Yong in Warrior (2019–2023), with dramatic work alongside the fighting. The changes of setting and medium have kept that physical ability central to his casting.

The Furious gives us both the attraction and the reservation. Taslim’s Navin joins forces with Xie’s character through a kidnapping and a trafficking network; the story is largely there to arrange the fights. The fighting is inventive enough to make that bargain worthwhile, and Tanigaki trusts the actors’ skill to hold our attention. The dialogue is less persuasive, and between bouts we can find ourselves waiting for the talking to stop.

That weakness needs to be placed where it belongs, in the writing. There is too little in this material to make a fair test of what Taslim can do when a scene depends chiefly on speech. Nor should his physical assurance become an excuse for giving him less to play. We would like a film to be as attentive to his scenes between fights as Tanigaki is to the fights themselves.