We’ll soon be seeing Indonesian martial arts star Iko Uwais (The Raid, The Raid 2, Headshot, Beyond Skyline) in Wings of Dread, an upcoming action thriller directed by Qin Pengfei (Fight Against Evil, Black Storm) and Ashton Chen (Ip Man 2, Blade of Fury), who also stars alongside Uwais.
According to AT, Wings of Dread is Iko Uwais’ first of many projects for Chinese streaming giant, iQIYI. Action choreography is handled by Rama Ramadhan, who has worked with Iko as a stunt performer since Merantau (2009) and The Raid (2011), before stepping up as fight choreographer on The Night Comes for Us (2018) and more recently, Timur (2025).
Not much is known of the film’s plot, but it’s obviously an airplane thriller in the same vein as The Delta Force (1986), Passenger 57 (1992), Executive Decision (1996), United 93 (2006) and High Forces (2024).
Wings of Dread is set to premiere on July 3rd on iQIYI.
🔥 Footnote: This isn’t the first time Iko Uwais has played a villain on screen. After his breakout role in The Raid, he went on to take on antagonist parts, some of them minor, in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), The Night Comes for Us, Stuber (2019) and The Expendables 4 (2023).
Don’t miss the Trailer below (via MAAC):
I hope Iko doing IQIYI films isn’t a downgrade for him. I don’t expect them to be like his work with Gareth, but they should be fun and enjoyable.
Iko Uwais needs Gareth Evans, or at the very least, one of the Mo Brothers to really shine. And you might be onto something Andrew. Sounds like a downgrade. But once in a blue moon, a solid Chinese web movie is born. =)
Not a downgrade at all Qin Pengei is one of the best action directors working today, Iko is blessed to be working with him, he’s better than any Jesse V Johnson, Scott Waugh or O’Donnell.
Of those 3 guys, Jesse Johnson knew how to utilize Iko the best. Even though Gareth Evans and the Mo Brothers are great, they’re not the only ones who can get the best out of him, and I want to become more familiar with Qin Pengei.
Only problem I had with Triple Threat was the same problem I had with the Expendables movies. Too many cooks in the kitchen. But I do agree, Jesse Johnson at least has consistent quality,
I think what you mean to say is that Tiger Chen’s immeasurable level of charisma and screen presence just continually distracted from everyone else who was onscreen? I feel you, same thing happened in ‘Kung Fu Traveler’, it’s why directors are fearful of casting him.
Sounds like you’re bought and paid for by the Anti-Tiger Chen movement.
You’re being a tad harsh, Paul. No other actor could have portrayed a young man being seduced by fame and money and gradually corrupting the purity of his martial arts by descending into anger and violence as masterfully as Tiger did in MAN OF TAI CHI. His complete lack of facial expressions, blank gaze and wooden delivery made you constantly guess at the inner turmoil and conflict within the character. It’s the type of internalized and nuanced performance that made the usually monotone Keanu Reeves into an over actor by comparison.
If you’ve seen Black Storm, Ashton Chen is more than capable of holding his own vs/with Iko. Besides its been years since Iko has been in anything that is S-tier. What was that trash tv show he was in with a ghost force Mark Dacascos
First it was Tony Jaa and now Iko went to work in China. Looks like it will go straight to online in china.
I tried to watch Wings of Dread, but the English dubbing for Iko Uwais was terrible and distracting. I don’t know why they couldn’t have him speak English on his own. He’ll, It would have been less distracting if he was dubbed in Mandarin.
The action is well choreographed, so it’s a shame. Although the fight scenes had a tendency to intercut too much with each other to where it looked scattered and unfocused. In better films where fight scenes intercut with one another, it’s utilized better when there’s a pause in a fight or the plot
Is moving forward, but no such luck here.
The dubbing situation in the China Web movies are hilarious. Andy Onn speaks excellent, slightly American-accented English (as you would see in SPECIAL ID). But in the IQIYI flicks, he’s dubbed by some dude who sounds like he speaks English on average 3 times in the last 4 years, most of them in sound booths.