What Martial Arts Style Iko Uwais Uses In His Movies

Indonesian actor Iko Uwais has one of the most extraordinary fighting styles used in modern martial arts movies. Gaining popularity from Gareth Evans’ gripping The Raid movies and being seen as a wasted martial artist in The Expendables 4, Uwais has started to become a household name in action films. Over the last decade, Uwais, alongside his often-on-screen fighting partner, Joe Taslim, has delivered some of the most fast-paced, brutal, and satisfying fight scenes throughout the genre. Though he broke out in 2011’s The Raid: Redemption, he’s just now starting to appear in major Hollywood films.

Without Uwais’ unique fighting style, films like Headshot and Triple Threat would be somewhat mediocre. His talent doesn’t stop with his martial arts, either, as Uwais has recently started moving outside the comfort zone of good guy roles and playing the villain in Netflix’s The Night Comes for Us and The Expendables 4. After appearing in those roles, it’s not difficult to see him fighting Donnie Yen’s Caine in the upcoming John Wick spinoff. By the end of Uwais’ career, he’ll easily be seen at the level of martial arts greats like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Chuck Norris.

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Iko Uwais Is Famous For Using Silat In His Movies

Gareth Evans Discovered Him While Filming A Documentary

Iko Uwais was a delivery driver at an Indonesian telecom company when Welsh filmmaker Gareth Evans discovered him in 2007. Evans was deeply interested in the Indonesian martial art known as pencak silat, and was doing research to create a documentary about the fighting style. Silat is a brutal, full-body style that incorporates grappling, throws, hard strikes, manipulation of the joints, and uses every part of the body in full force. Uwais has been practicing the art of silat since he was 10 years old and became National Champion in Silat Demonstration in 2005 at age 22.

Uwais was teaching silat at his school when Evans asked him to quit his day job and make movies. The two collaborated, signed a five-year contract, and released Merantau in 2009, a film about a man who uses silat to fight against his oppressors and avoid enslavement. Evans and Uwais then released the extremely violent The Raid: Redemption in 2011 and The Raid 2 in 2014, which are arguably Uwais’ best movies. Silat’s forceful strikes and quick movements, particularly from a defensive stance, translate visually on film as well, if not better, than any other martial arts style.

Iko Uwais’ Fighting Style Came From His Grandfather

Uwais Learned Silat At Tiga Beranti

Iko Uwais learned pencak silat from his grandfather, Haji Achmad Bunawar, who founded the Tiga Beranti Silat School in 1974. Tiga Beranti is a specific style of silat that translates to “three chains,” for the three streams the martial art consists of. The three streams signify The Tiger, The Shoot, and The Rubber. The Tiger stands for the use of claws and a deep base power stance. The Shoot stands for the quick, repeated, open-palmed strikes, and The Rubber stands for the elasticity and quick reflexes of the style’s defense. This particular branch of silat was inherited from a 16th-century Indonesian ruler by Uwais’ grandfather.

While Haji Achmad Bunawar passed away in 2013, Tiga Beranti is still a well-respected martial arts school and invites Uwais and other silat masters to regularly give presentations at events. In an interview with Kung Fu Magazine, Uwais described how difficult mastering silat is, comparing the art to China’s Kung Fu because of its combination of many different fighting styles into one. Silat is extremely important to Uwais; he sees it almost as a religion. He plans to continue bringing the underseen style to the movie world, even if his characters aren’t from Indonesia.

Source: Kung Fu Magazine