Jiu Jitsu opens up with some comic book imagery before taking us into the action straight away as Jake (Alain Moussi) is being chased by an invisible foe before jumping from a clifftop into the ocean to escape, then the comic book style credits kick in.
When Jake is taken to the nearest army base he has no idea how he got to Burma and during what seems like a routine interrogation he takes out several troops with some pretty nifty martial arts, but after being given a truth serum things start to make more sense to him as glimpses of his memory flashback and what he was being hunted by.
We are then introduced to Tony Jaa’s characters in some serious martial arts action with plenty of high kicking, back flipping, bullet-dodging and slo-mo moments from the master of martial arts, listen out for the famous “Wilhelm scream” during this rather long action sequence.
As Jake and Kueng leave the village they meet up with Jake’s team Frank Grillo, JuJu Chan and Marrese Crump before more ass-kicking during their journey to find out what is happening.
Considering that Jiu Jitsu was shot in only six weeks it certainly packs in the action and if you are a fan of martial arts then this is going to be perfect for you, the special effects from the “alien” do remind me a lot of Predator as it watches the team moving through the jungle which works well for the idea behind the film, its certainly a film that packs in the action star as they try to defend the Earth from the alien that is looking for the best warriors that the planet has to offer and then there is the wild card that is Nicolas Cage.
It has been said that he channelled a Dennis Hopper performance from Apocalypse Now for his role as Wylie, but hey nobody does crazy as well as Nicolas Cage. But imagine how different this film would have been if director, writer and producer Dimitri Logothetis had got Bruce Willis to play Wylie which was his first choice but Willis was part of three movies deal with Moviepass and couldn’t take the role.
When it comes to the alien warrior I have to say I was impressed how cool it looked, now there’s some great looking cosplay for anyone wanting a challenge at any upcoming Comic-Cons, when they are safe to return to of course.
With a great cast leading the fightback including Frank Grillo (Captain America: Winter Soldier), Alain Moussi (Kickboxer: Retaliation) and Tony Jaa (Ong-Bak) joining Nicolas Cage (Mandy) in this new franchise opener, written and directed by Dimitri Logothetis (Kickboxer: Retaliation) it’s going to be interesting to see what the next movie in the franchise will be.
There are some great moments about Jiu Jitsu that I enjoyed such as the style of the subtitles used in the early part of the film, they are brightly coloured and really give the film that comic book feel along with the comic book panels that are used as chapters, there is also some nice comedic moments from Tex (Eddie Steeples, My Name is Earl). Also, the cinematography is nicely done with many of the scenes perfectly lit and coloured to make it look great on big TV and projector.
Signature Entertainment presents Jiu Jitsu on Digital HD 21st December and Blu-ray & DVD 4th January
It's martial arts vs Predator!
Movie title: Jiu Jitsu
Movie description: A new Sci-Fi Martial Arts franchise from Dimitri Logothetis, Director/Producer of Kickboxer: Retaliation.
Date published: December 21, 2020
Country: UK
Duration: 1h 42min
Director(s): Dimitri Logothetis
Actor(s): Nicolas Cage, Marie Avgeropoulos, Frank Grillo
Genre: Action, Fantasy
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
