Director Gareth Evans has been keeping a low profile since the extraordinary, bloody double-punch of The Raid and The Raid 2. But he's now surfaced in intriguing circumstances, posting an intense, untitled five-minute black-and-white samurai sequence on his YouTube channel. Yayan Ruhian, Cecep Arif Rahman and Hannah Al Rashid are the fighters. Check it out below.
There doesn't yet appear to be a film that goes with this footage. Rather, it's a test action sequence designed by Ruhian, Rahman and Evans. The agenda was to "create choreography that maintains the style and rhythm set out in their prior work while staying within the parameters of a PG-13/12A audience friendly certification." Designed in under a week, it was shot over the course of three days on location in Hirwaun, Wales. The Raid's Fajar Yuskemal and Aria Prayogi did the music.
"Had the pleasure of having Yayan Ruhian, Cecep Arif Rahman and Hannah Al Rashid visit me in Wales over the summer holidays for a week or so," explained Evans on Twitter. "While here, we made the following little short sequence; partly to test out some choreography ideas I had, partly to see if we could create something non-violent my kiddo could see, but mainly [because] I really needed to fucking shoot something after 2 years without picking up a camera. The four of us made up the entire cast and crew. We shot in the Valleys. Nothing more bizarre than being at old places I used to play as a kid with Mad Dog and some plastic swords."
We're loving his concept of "non-violent" there. Whether this elaborate pre-viz ends up lending itself to a larger project remains to be seen. It's certainly a tantalising glimpse of something that could be expanded upon, but as a stand-alone piece of work it's arguably enough in itself.
Evans remains attached to The Raid 3 and a further self-penned actioner called Blister, although neither is incoming anytime soon. Ruhian can currently be seen in UK cinemas cameoing as Tasu Leech in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.