Yayan Ruhian makes a threat credible with little need for dialogue. We rate his physical authority and his skill in shaping fights; the reservation is how often films ask him to be dangerous and little else.
Fi1m perspective
Ruhian does not need much dialogue to make violence seem imminent. As Mad Dog in The Raid (2012), his physical authority gives us plenty to watch in a film with thin characters. We were exhilarated by the fighting because Gareth Evans gives its punishing exchanges such clarity. Iko Uwais supplies extraordinary speed, while Ruhian gives the film a physically formidable opponent. The repetition is a fault, but Evans understands how much an action performer can communicate without stopping to explain himself.
He also helps devise the violence. In Merantau (2009), his first film with Evans and Uwais, he played Eric and worked on the choreography; he returned to both acting and choreography for The Raid. That credit matters when judging the performance, since the fighting we admire is partly work he helped construct. The Raid 2 (2014) gave him more dramatic material as Prakoso, though he has described the acting between fights as a greater challenge than the fights themselves.
The international turn included a Hollywood debut as Tasu Leech in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). His recurring villains and supporting fighters leave less evidence of what he can do outside the action, and that limits how far we can judge his dramatic acting. We would like to see him asked for more than menace more often, without treating his physical performances as something he needs to graduate from.
The Furious (2026), with Ruhian as Tak, earns our recommendation for much the same reasons as The Raid. Kenji Tanigaki makes the fights inventive and punishing without sacrificing the clarity that lets us appreciate the performers’ work. Its thin kidnapping story and awkward dialogue are real drawbacks, even if the action seldom leaves them much time to irritate. Start with The Raid, provided thin characters are a price worth paying for fighting staged this well.
Biography
Yayan Ruhian is an Indonesian actor and martial artist, born on 19 October 1968 in Tasikmalaya, West Java. He trained in pencak silat from the age of 13 and later worked as an instructor and choreographer.
Ruhian made his acting debut in Merantau (2009). He is known for his performances in Gareth Evans' films The Raid (2011) as Mad Dog and The Raid 2 (2014) as Prakoso, in which he also contributed to fight choreography alongside Iko Uwais. His other credits include Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) as Tasu Leech, Beyond Skyline (2017), Boy Kills World (2024) and The Shadow Strays (2024). He is cast as Tak in The Furious (2026).
