Donnie Yen

Donnie Yen sits down to eat noodles between fights in John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023), and the pause tells us why he is worth watching. His Caine has a job to do and despises it; Yen makes that reluctance matter as much as his skill. He fights without sight, using door chimes, motion sensors and a blade, with choreography that makes each adjustment intelligible. We laughed with relief at the noodles: among so many men solemnly explaining themselves, here was someone who wanted his dinner.

His breakthrough came opposite Jet Li in Once Upon a Time in China II (1992), after starting in Hong Kong action films. In Hero (2002), Yen plays Sky, again facing Li, within Zhang Yimou's carefully arranged sword fights. Christopher Doyle's colour photography gives those fights force, but the characters remain distant enough to limit our involvement. We recommend the film for those fights, with less enthusiasm for the people caught up in them.

Ip Man (2008) gave him the starring role in Wilson Yip's four-film series, which ran through 2019 and made him a major star. His work as an action choreographer combines traditional Chinese martial arts, especially Wing Chun, with mixed martial arts elements. We take that work seriously as acting, since the way a character fights can tell us as much as dialogue. His Hollywood work included another blind warrior, Chirrut Îmwe in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), before Caine.

Caine is the part we would send someone to first. Dan Laustsen's lighting keeps the rooms and opponents legible in John Wick: Chapter 4, giving Yen's movements the attention they need. Yen makes us believe that Caine's connection with John matters to both men, which is more than the film manages for most of its relationships. The film spends too long explaining its rules, despite the clarity of its action. Be prepared to wait through the talk for the next fight.