That I’m not sure of. I actually based my statement off a comment that was made in the Kung Fu Fandom forum back at the time of the movies release, so it could possibly be incorrect?

Was all of Jaa’s English dialogue dubbed over in Skin Trade? I only remember him speaking English in sentence fragments. I figured he could do that if Furious Seven allowed him to use his own voice for “Too slow!”

He wears that motorcycle helmet for a suspiciously long time
I saw this as the director’s idea of a star reveal. Like O’Donnell really thought Iko was a selling point for the movie, some badass who you were waiting to see show up, so when that motorcycle visor rises up and you see Iko for the first time the audience cheers.

But yeah, I agree it did seem to be Iko performing his English dialogue. I thought he was very good in the film, too.

I know it’s been years since the first film and that Skyline’s rep as a “blockbuster hit” has crumbled away since then, but I wish Beyond Skyline had seen a wider release. I mean, it’s based on a successful film, it has aliens destroying the world, and it received pretty good worth of mouth at some film festivals. Plus I gotta believe Grillo and Iko have larger fan bases than Eric Balfour and Donald Faison. But whatever. It sort of seems like a film destined to find its audience on DVD and Blu-ray. And that’s okay, that happens to some of the best B-movies.

I just love the way that the film never slows down. It’s one finale-style action sequence after another. I think Liam O’Donnell’s gonna be a name to watch for future genre action movies.

Really guys, if the first film wasn’t to your liking, put it out of your mind. The sequel uses some of the same alien abduction concepts but that’s just a jumping off point. This is an action movie from word Go. And like Zack says, it’s pretty great. By the end of Beyond Skyline, I wanted something I never would’ve thought possible at the end of the original Skyline: I wanted a third Skyline movie.

Awesome, a Silat vs kaiju movie, I guess I should check this out!

I know what you mean, I was put off by that exact same clip, and I was going to delay watching ‘Beyond Skyline’ until I read a rave review from a Letterboxd reviewer whose opinion on action cinema I trust.

Unfortunately, even in the context of the film proper, that Frank Grillo and Iko Uwais fight isn’t anything to write home about; fortunately, it’s rather brief. It’s towards the climax of the movie that the influence of ‘The Raid’ comes apparent – I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Iko and Ruhian choreographed and directed those ending fights, as they feel very much of a piece with their Indonesian films…albeit with them fighting 8-foot tall aliens! [It probably helps that they’re squaring off against men-in-suits rather than CG creatures, so there’s something of a tactile quality to the battles that you might not be expecting.]

And from what I could tell, Iko performs his own English dialogue. He wears that motorcycle helmet for a suspiciously long time, making me think they were going to have him keep it on and just dub all of his lines over, but once he took his helmet off, it looked and sounded like Iko. If so, he did a great job.

(Oh, and how could you mention Uwais and Grillo’s other efforts, but leave out Ruhian’s appearances in ‘Gangster’ and ‘Satria Heroes: Revenge of Darkness’!? :-P)