Keanu Reeves may be the unquestionable star of the “John Wick” franchise; Heck, it’s named after his character after all. Yet, Reeves is hardly the only one who impresses in the series, with fellow names like Willem Dafoe, Ruby Rose, and Halle Berry getting in some impressive licks. Martial arts star Scott Adkins played a key role in “John Wick: Chapter 4”, and in 2025, the actor appears in what is already being labeled as one of the best action movies of the year: “Prisoner of War.” 

A jaw-dropping fist-first action film, “Prisoner of War” has a fascinating behind-the-scenes story: It’s directed by actor Louis Mandylor — best known as Nick Portokalos in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” — from a story by Adkins himself. The film puts Adkins in the role of James Wright, a British pilot flying in the Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II. After being shot down behind enemy lines, Wright is taken prisoner and held in a Japanese POW camp. There, he is forced into life-or-death hand-to-hand combat with his fellow POWs before they are sent on a final death march.

The film is inspired by the harsh realities of the Bataan Death March, where an estimated 2,500 Filipinos and 500 Americans may have lost their lives. A heavily fictionalized tale that serves as a backdrop for martial arts action while capturing the harsh realities of POWs in WWII Japan, many are hailing “Prisoner of War” as a standout experience, such as UPI which called it, “a full-bodied throwback to physical action movies where the heroes really get their hands dirty.”

For those intimately familiar with the martial arts action subgenre, Scott Adkins’ name is one of the best well-known in the business. Audiences who are fans of the wider genre or big action franchises like “John Wick” and “Mission: Impossible” may not realize just how prolific Adkins’ career has been, with appearances in many major blockbusters, even if he didn’t get top billing.

Perhaps most famously — or infamously, depending on your point of view — is Adkins’ role in 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” Believe it or not, Adkins is the first man to ever play Deadpool, stepping into the role after Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson underwent the experiment that turned him into the Merc Without a Mouth — a very different version of the character that Reynolds plays in his own movie series. That’s right: Adkins played the notorious mouthless version of Deadpool at the climax of that film, with giant swords coming out of his wrists and shooting laser beams out of his eyes.

Beyond playing “Deadpool,” Adkins also had roles in “Doctor Strange” as a follower of the villainous Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelson). He also appeared in “Expendables 2,” Donnie Yen’s “IP Man 4,” the Oscar-winning “Zero Dark Thirty,” and “The Bourne Ultimatum.” Though Adkins has yet to become the superstar many may have predicted early in his career (he never did get the chance to play the Marvel role he thinks he’d be perfect for), he’s carved out his own legacy in the action genre as one of the best Western martial artists on film.