5 Dave Bautista movie deep cuts you need to watch

Happy “Dave Bautista has a new movie out” week, Polygon readers. We’re extremely excited about the new M. Night Shyamalan movie Get in touch with the CabinThe movie starred Bautista and Jonathan Groff as well as Rupert Grint. What better time to look back at one of WWE’s most successful alumni actors and his best roles?

We know you’re familiar with his turns as Drax in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or as the Extremely Dad Scott Ward in Zack Snyder’s casino-heist-meets-zombies thriller Army of the Dead, or as the men’s rights influencer Duke Cody in Glass OnionOr even the frightening assassin Mr. Hinx. Spectre (which resulted in a broken nose for ol’ Dave).

(And don’t come at me with Dune. The movie is certainly good enough to make the cut here, but Bautista’s barely in it.)

What about the rest? Bautista was a director of many low-budget action movies before his big-budget films. Many of these movies are well worth the effort.

We’ve wrapped up the best of the best of Bautista’s under-the-radar roles. They each capitalize on his charisma and charm. Many also use his fighting skills. (Like Dave, we’re waiting for his rom-com role.)

Let’s get into it!

Master Z: Ip Man Legacy

Image by Well Go USA Entertainment

For my money, this is Dave Bautista’s best movie, and one of his very best roles. For many Western action actors, the chance to be the bad guy in Hong Kong is a right to passage. It’s even better to get to do this under Yuen Wooping, legendary director and fight choreographer. He told EW he felt “completely lost” at the start of shooting, but quickly adjusted.

I was struggling at first, and they wanted to kind of adjust things and I said, ‘Don’t! You can adjust because this is what I want. I’m here to work with Woo-Ping, and watch him, and study him, and see how he works.’

Spinoff from the Donnie Yen -led Ip Man franchise in which every entry is a joke Master Z focuses on Max Zhang’s character, Cheung Tin-Chi, from Ip Man 3. You don’t have to see Ip Man 3 to follow this, although you should, because it’s great. Zhang plays a young father who is humiliated at his loss to Ip Man. Bautista portrays the bumbling owner of a restaurant. Michelle Yeoh is the leader of an organised crime syndicate that now wishes to become legitimate. It is important to stress that: Master Z rules. —Pete Volk

Master Z: Ip Man LegacyYou can stream it on PeacockHi-Yah! is available free of charge with ads on Tubi TV, Pluto TV and Plex. Also, Freevee Channel and Crackle. Get a Kanopy library card or Hoopla digital rental/purchase on for free. Amazon, Apple TVGoogle Play Vudu.

Kickboxer: Vengeance

Image by Radar Pictures

Relaunch of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Kickboxer franchise. Vengeance This movie is almost a remake. Alain Moussi, a young man travels the globe to exact revenge on his brother’s fighter.

Vengeance is filled with DTV martial arts stars — Moussi (Jiu Jitsu) is one of the best cinematic kickers working today, and the movie also features Darren Shahlavi (Ip Man 2Pro fighters such as Georges St-Pierre, Cain Velasquez and Van Damme, who are all wearing fedoras, have been featured.

Vengeance is solid DTV martial arts revenge fare with good fights (the movie’s fight choreography was done by the very talented Larnell Stovall) and great fighters. Moussi is one of the best actors working in DTV, and he’s also one of the most skilled kickers. Moussi is skilled at drawing dynamic and perfect lines using his kicks. This makes the show visually appealing. There’s also a post-credits dance sequence where Moussi imitates JCVD’s famous dancing from the original Kickboxer.

It all ends with Bautista who portrays the role of Tong Po, the villain in Muay Thai. This is the same role Michel Qissi also played in the original. Tong Po is a brutal Muay Thai expert, and Bautista is fierce and intimidating — amid a stable of incredible fighters, he stands out because of his massive frame and his intense stare. Bautista flexes and throws great elbows. He has no mercy. It’s a departure from many of Bautista’s recent roles as a big guy with a heart of gold, letting him flex some of his other acting muscles instead. Seemingly invincible, he’s a lethal killer in the ring, setting him up perfectly for a final showdown with our hero.

And while Bautista Doesn’t have tiny glasses in this one, he does Take a small teacup. And what’s better than that? —PV

Kickboxer: Vengeance It is free to stream with advertisements on Tubi TV and Pluto TV. You can also get a free library card from Hoopla or digital rental, purchase, or streaming for free. Amazon, Apple TVGoogle Play Vudu.

Hotel Artemis

Image via Ink Factory

Drew Pearce’s dystopian crime drama Hotel ArtemisWhen it was first released in 2018, the film was widely appreciated for its performance and ability to build a world. One of the best of the latter is courtesy of none other than Bautista, who brings a hulking presence and acerbic sense of humor to the role of Everest, the assistant to “Nurse” Jean Thomas (Jodie Foster). Bautista is easily the breakout performance of the film, delivering hilarious one-liners (“I will hunt you down and un-heal the shit out of you”) and colder-than-ice threats (“Because Junior, you’re a slow code”) with a sense of intimidating charm and personality that is all his own. Hotel Artemis is a great film even apart from Bautista’s Everest, but it’d be worth seeing just on the strength of his performance alone. —Toussaint Egan

Hotel Artemis Available to stream online ShowtimeFor free, with your Hoopla Library Card, digital purchase or rental, Amazon, Apple TVGoogle Play Vudu.

Riddick

Universal Pictures

As I recently wrote for our list of the best movies leaving streaming in January, 2013’s Riddick is the series’ answer to Mad Max: Fury Road: a back-to-basics soft reboot that pits the film’s eponymous antihero in a battle against mercenaries and the elements of an inhospitable alien planet. Dave Bautista’s character, Diaz, a dreadlock-haired killer-for-hire, is the film’s equivalent of Pitch Black’s antagonist Johns: a corrupt, self-serving bounty hunter who double-crosses Riddick in the hopes of killing him to claim his bounty and securing his own escape off-world. Where Bautista’s performance exceeds Cole Hauser’s Johns is in his physicality, posing a legitimate threat to Riddick as the two clash over the fuel nodes necessary to power. Riddick naturally gets the upper hand, but Diaz does manage one final “fuck you” gesture by shooting and disabling the hoverbike Riddick needs to escape before succumbing to his injuries. Now that’s cool. —TE

Riddick Digital rental and purchase available Amazon, Apple TVGoogle Play Vudu.

Bushwick

Image: XYZ Films

I’m going to be real, Bushwick This movie is terrible. In fact, I think it’s quite bad! However, this list is Dave Bautista deep-cuts. Dave Bautista excels in these areas. BushwickAnd Bushwick It is not a common movie. This movie fits perfectly! There are other good things about it, including a light but effective score from Aesop Rock, and some moments that hint at a much better movie lurking within, but this one’s for the Bautista die-hards.

Bushwick A young girl (Brittany Snow), exits a Bushwick station and discovers that there is war above. Bushwick They are human. After being caught up in the melee, she manages to find Stupe, (Dave Bautista), an elderly military vet with a complicated past and who works as a domestic janitor. They band together and cross the battlefield to reach their families and safety.

It is yet another attempt at the fake single-take trick, but it works for me. BuYou can find it herehwick’s credit, there were moments where the gimmick utilized the geography of the neighborhood and its buildings to bring the viewer further into the conflict and the precariousness of the protagonists’ situation). Critically, the movie’s attempts to examine the “human element” of crises fall quite flat (there’s way too much focus on the “horrors of looting” for a movie with the compelling “unknown invasion force in Bushwick” logline).

But the highlight here is Bautista, who plays Stupe as simultaneously eerily calm and on the verge of total collapse, like he’s fighting off tears at every moment. The sense that he’s being given someone to take care of gives him the motivation he needs. It’s a very difficult ask, but Bautista delivers.

Also, for gamers: Bushwick Graham Reznick co-authored the game’s script. Up to Dawn Quarry. —PV

Bushwick You can stream it for free on Tubi with the ads, free with a Library Card on Hoopla or to digitally rent, purchase or rental on Apple TVGoogle Play Vudu.