Jiu Jitsu

Director - Dimitri Logothetis (Dark Realm, The Lost Angel)

Starring - Alain Moussi (V-Wars, Titans), Nicolas Cage (Mandy, Between Worlds), and Eddie Steeples (My Name is Earl, American Nightmares)

Release Date - 2020

Genre - Sci-Fi/Action

Tagline - "Out of darkness, the ultimate warrior rises"

Format - DVD (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     A few years ago Nic Cage took on a role in the movie Mandy.  Many people saw the posters for the film before it's release and the hype train started.  However, once it was released even the non-genre fans were praising it.  I was sent a copy of the movie for review and I fucking fell in love with it.  In fact, that week I watched it several times before I actually wrote my review.  I was almost obsessed.  Since then I've grabbed up every new Nic Cage movie in hopes it will be just mildly as entertaining as Mandy.  When  I heard about him joining the cast of Jiu Jitsu I was excited.  A sci-fi based martial arts film with Cage?  Fucking sign me up!  With covid and the uncertainty of everything I never thought the film would get a release.  That is until I was walking through Wal-Mart and saw the DVD release on an end cap.  I snagged it up and as soon as I had an opening to check it out I tossed it in.

     The film follows a jiu jitsu expert who finds himself injured and suffering from amnesia.  A military outpost takes responsibility of him and while trying to uncover who he is they discover that every 6 years a comet passes which opens a portal.  Through that portal comes a being who expects a fight.  If it loses he leaves but if he wins then a lot of lives will be lost.

     I went into this one really excited but it was evident fairly early on that this one wasn't for me.  The movie had some highly entertaining moments but they were spaced so far out that the build up to it was painful.  So many cool and interesting ideas were lost with a half-written film.  The acting in this one is extremely campy and reminded me a lot of those Sy-Fy movies from the mid-00s.  The action stars have the cheesy dialogue while flexing while the women show that they can be just as bad ass while looking beautiful.  The characters fit the film but they don't stand out when you compare it to other films like it.  The story for this one is Mortal Kombat meets pretty much in superhero movie.  There was a lot of interesting ideas and concepts that plays on pop culture alien conspiracies while blending it with a sci-fi martial arts film.  With that being said, it borrows a lot from Predator and Mortal Kombat without adding more to it.  Movies can be influenced by others but fans expect something new to be adding to it.  A kind of "you can copy my homework just change it up a bit."  The pacing is all wrong and a lot of the action heavy sequences are high energy but repetitive.  Finally, the film makes use of visual effects which really impressed me.  The film has an alien creature that looks pretty cool but reminded me a lot of the character from Dead Space.  With that being said, the visuals were great. There is a few death scenes but only one really counted.  It had some great practical effects which made it really enjoyable.  Overall, Jiu Jitsu was a missed opportunity.  There was some things I liked but not enough to recommend the entire movie.  If you have nothing else to watch then it might be an option but there is always something else you can watch.