He starred in five films in 2020, and four the year before. That said, whereas Van Damme seems to split the difference between beauty-in-motion and beauty-in-stasis-between dynamic physicality and the static, sculptural grandeur of the bodybuilder’s pose-Adkins’ stardom has primarily revolved around a workmanlike doing: ambitious stunts, complex choreography, a headlong rush into brute force movement.Ī workman’s dedication characterizes Adkins’ career as a whole, which, despite never quite achieving mainstream recognition, has nonetheless thrived on the direct-to-video (DTV) circuit. In that film-as well as the two, even better sequels-we see the Adkins appeal distilled into its purest form: insane athleticism that mixes the fleet-footed acrobatics of Hong Kong greats like Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, and Jet Li with the ’80s hard-body aesthetic of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. In many ways, Adkins is comparable to Jean-Claude Van Damme, who also married muscles with martial arts. Although he technically plays the villain in that film, Adkins is the one who commands the screen as Russian prison fighting champion Yuri Boyka. In the years immediately following this debut, the actor slowly but surely worked his way into the spotlight, demonstrating his physical prowess on the sidelines until his role in 2006’s Undisputed II: Last Man Standing, which jump-started the Adkins cult in earnest. Although Adkins’ role is of the in-the-background, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it variety, this early instance of getting-one’s-foot-in-the-door proved to be historic, as it kicked off the film career of one of contemporary cinema’s greatest screen fighters. Within star Jackie Chan’s illustrious filmography, the film is usually considered a minor entry, but it’s momentous for an entirely different reason: it marks the film debut of English martial artist and actor Scott Adkins (Stephen Tung Wai’s Extreme Challenge was technically filmed first, but Accidental Spy had the earlier world premiere). 20 years ago today, Teddy Chan’s The Accidental Spy hit theaters.
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