The World War II Action Epic You’ve Never Heard of Belongs on Every ‘John Wick’ Fan’s Watchlist

John Wick fans need to be on high alert. On September 19, 2025, the highly skilled and vastly underappreciated British action star Scott Adkins dropped into select theaters as Prisoner of War premiered. The ultra-violent WWII action extravaganza finds Adkins as a Special Air Service pilot who is downed behind enemy lines in Japan and must fight his way out with ruthless guile, singlehandedly.

Although it has inferior production values due to its much smaller budget, Prisoner of War presents the relentlessly hardcore and brutally breathless action John Wick fans have come to know and crave. Even better, John Wick fanatics are sure to recognize Adkins from his role as Killa in John Wick: Chapter 4, a recent franchise sequel that, thematically, shares much with Prisoner of War’s Samurai and Bushido culture.

Who Is Scott Adkins?

Credit: Well Go USA Entertainment

Before propping up Prisoner of War’s appeal to John Wick fans, unheralded British action star Scott Adkins deserves a spotlight of adoration. Arguably the preeminent low-budget action star on the planet, Adkins is akin to the Jean-Claude Van Damme of small, independent, throwback action joints that allow him to showcase his vast array of martial artistry.

A real-life Taekwondo red belt, Kickboxing black belt, and proficient fighter in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Krav Maga, Wushu, Muay Thai, Kung Fu, Karate, Ninjitsu, Capoeira, Jeet Kune Do, Adkins does all of his own stunts and performs his own fights onscreen. With roughly 80 credits accrued since 1998, Adkins has dedicated nearly three decades to the action movie genre once popularized by Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, Jackie Chan, and others who use their fists and full bodies to engage in physical combat (as opposed to high artillery).

While less known to the public, Adkins has gained the respect of his action star colleagues throughout his career. Aside from playing the lead in countless low-budget and straight-to-video credits, Adkins raised his profile playing supporting parts in Weapon XI in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Hector in The Expendables 2, Lucian in Doctor Strange, Barton in IP Man 4: The Finale, and Killa Harkan in John Wick: Chapter 4.

Additional Adkins fight movie credits worth recommending include Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, Undisputed 3: Redemption, Avengement, Accident Man, American Assassin, Diablo, and Unleashed. If it weren’t for Adkins and dedicated action performers like him, the mainstream and independent action movie industry would be nowhere. In 2012, Adkins began producing his own material, and in 2018, he started writing scripts to star in. Prisoner of War is an example of both.

‘Prisoner of War’ Is a New World War II Action Flick

Credit: Well Go USA Entertainment

Co-written by Adkins and Marc Clebanoff, Prisoner of War is a classic one-man-army action blitz. Directed by Louis Mandylor (The Blackout), the story centers on James Wright (Adkins), a decorated Special Air Service soldier whose plane is downed in Japanese territory during WWII. Given an opportunity to free himself by fighting for his life against the most skilled and highly trained Japanese soldiers, Prisoner of War becomes a full-fledged battle royale for James when he puts his Hong Kong martial artistry to work.

Ferocious fisticuffs, scintillating swordplay, and garish gunbattles ensue as James takes on one soldier after another in a Japanese military camp with few allies to rely on. Set almost entirely in the outdoors in the woods, there are shades of Commando and Predator as James evades his captors and brutally eviscerates his enemies. As for Adkins’s past, Prisoner of War fits perfectly with Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, one of the most unrelentingly gruesome action films on record that co-stars Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren.

While light on plot, Prisoner of War is heavy on visceral bouts of intense one-on-one melees. Yet, for John Wick fans, the most appealing aspect of watching Killa Harkan (Adkins) from Chapter 4 is the slick swordplay and the Samurai and Bushido honor code of conduct.

How ‘Prisoner of War’ Will Appeal to ‘John Wick’ Fans

Credit: Lionsgate

Hardcore John Wick supporters will get a kick out of Prisoner of War, namely for its parallels to the most recent franchise installment, Chapter 4. Granted, the entire franchise has always adopted noticeable samurai movie influences and Japanese traditions, but Chapter 4 goes much deeper. Between the Osaka Continental, its strict code of honor and conduct, the inclusion of skilled fighter Shimazu Koji (Hiroyuki Sanada), and the importance of the Wakizashi sword to the plot, it’s easy to see how the movie pays homage to Far Eastern culture.

Of course, with Scott Adkins stealing scenes as the German antagonist Killa Harkan in John Wick 4, Prisoner of War becomes all the more enticing. Killa was the leader of the High Table’s German branch, who ran the Berlin nightclub Himmel und Holle, where he and Wick got into an epic clash under neon lights and rain sprinklers. An apt foil for Keanu Reeves, Adkins plays Killa, the man responsible for killing the father of John Wick’s de facto sister, under unrecognizable makeup and prosthetics that allow him to disappear into the character like never before.

For John Wick enthusiasts who enjoyed the nightclub showdown between John Wick and Killa Harkan, Prisoner of War promises to deliver the same bruising punishment. Adkins plays a more recognizable lead, as he’s used to, in a movie that compensates for its simple story with relentless sparring, explosions, gunfights, and hand-to-hand barbarity. Even more appealing, at 110 minutes, Prisoner of War is a far shorter affair to endure than the near-three-hour-long John Wick: Chapter 4.

One epic fight scene in Prisoner of War finds James facing an enemy, using Kendo sticks (Shinai), traditional Japanese bamboo swords used in martial arts training. It’s a bone-shaking melee that not only reflects Japanese culture but also delivers one of the most intense moments in the movie. If nothing else, John Wick fans will come away with a much greater appreciation for Scott Adkins, arguably the most underrated action star of the past two decades. Prisoner of War is in theaters now.

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