Yesterday Gareth Evans, maker of Merantau, The Raid, and The Raid 2, hit up Twitter to reveal that he had made a short film in Wales with some of his Raid 2 co-stars. The film is a black-and-white propulsive samurai short that finds a woman (Hannah Al Rashid) beset by two swordsmen (Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman—the former of which should have had more screentime in Star Wars: The Force Awakens). As Evans wrote on Twitter,
Here’s a little something we made… #samuraisilat https://t.co/1IUzsVEZcZ @YayanRuhian @HannahAlrashid @Cecep_Ar pic.twitter.com/irihDMyn8C
— Gareth Evans (@ghuwevans) January 25, 2016
While the short certainly isn’t non-violent, it’s definitely not the intense bloodiness that was found in Evans’ Raid work. Instead it’s a classical looking short that’s very well shot and shows how accomplished the director is at choreography and dynamic shot composition. Even though there’s no dialogue, there’s never any confusion about what’s going on or the stakes, all thanks to the excellent editing and cinematography. There’s a reason that Evans’ work is always anticipated by fans of action films, and in just a little over five minutes, he showcases his immense talents very well.