Jiu Jitsu

Released: November 2020

Director: Dimitri Logothetis

Rated R

Run Time: 102 Minutes

Distributor: Highland Film Group

Genre: Action/Science Fiction

Cast:
Alain Moussi: Jake
Frank Grillo: Harrigan
Rick Yune: Capt. Sand
Nicolas Cage: Wylie
Myra Averopoulus: Myra
Tony Jaa: Kueng
Marrese Crump: Forbes

2020 has been absolute grinder of a year.  Between this being an election year coupled with the worst pandemic in a century, it’s been incredibly brutal.  The film industry has gotten torn to shreds.  Movies have been pushed back months, with some being knocked into next year, while others have been pulled entirely from the schedule until the pandemic is over.  While theaters have reopened to a certain degree, the stuff that’s been put out over the past couple of months have either been older movies like Empire Strikes Back or really weak movies like Ava.  Most of the movies that been released this year have been direct-to-video, be it Premium Video on Demand or on standard streaming services like Netflix or Amazon.  There were quite a few movies that were released over the past few months like I Am Vengeance: Retaliation and Tremors: Shrieker Island.  As with most direct-to-video movies, the quality runs the line between fantastic and awful.  That brings me to Jiu Jitsu, a movie that was hyped over the past year because of its cast, and why it’s awful.

Jiu Jitsu follows Jake, a warrior on the run from a mysterious alien threat when he’s knocked unconscious and wakes up with amnesia.  As it turns out, the alien that Jake encountered shows up on Earth every six years to take on 9 of the world’s best warriors.  If they refuse, the world dies.  That’s the story in a nutshell.  It’s a meager thread tying all the action sequences together.  In certain cases, I’m okay with that.  Sometimes all I want is people beating the living daylights out of each other.  If I had to compare this movie to something, it would be Enter the Dragon meets Predator, but worse than both.  There’s this ridiculous idea in the film that it was aliens that gave us jiu jitsu.  For those of you not in the know, jiu jitsu is a style of Japanese martial arts that involves kicking, striking, immobilization, joint-locking and forms of grappling.  I’ll get to that in a moment, but let’s just that some of the ideas in this film are absolutely ridiculous.  You’ve got a guy that has amnesia but still knows how to fight, but not much else, strikes me as a little odd, but whatever.  You’ve also got this group of fighters trained in jiu jitsu that find Jake and end up running afoul of the United States Army.  The purpose of the US military is waved away by a single line of dialogue towards the end of the film, so the entire subplot of the Army is just nonsense.  Yeah, don’t go into this movie for the story.  It’s bonkers.

For fans of action movies, Jiu Jitsu sports a pretty decent roster of action stars.  Tony Jaa, who you might recognize from Ong-Bak has a decent presence here.  You’ve also got Marrese Crump, who made his debut on Protector 2, also with Tony Jaa.  Frank Grillo is pretty good as Harrigan.  Unfortunately, Rick Yune is largely wasted in a thankless role as a US soldier.  He doesn’t even throw a punch.  Jake is played by Alain Moussi, who played Kurt Sloane in the new Kickboxer movies.  I’ll get back to him in a moment.  Last, but not least, we have Nicolas Cage as Wylie, a crazy old hippie.  I have to give credit where it’s due.  Nic Cage is one of the most spectacular actors alive.  When he gives it his all, you really can’t take your eyes off of him.  He plays crazy like it’s nobody’s business, and he can switch on a dime from calm to berserker without much warning.  Cage has put out some pretty good movies lately, including Color out of Space and Mandy.  So, when he’s given the right material, you’re along for the ride.  Let’s get back to the main star of the film, Alain Moussi.  Look, the guy is a talented martial artist and stunt-man, but an actor he really is not.  He was passable in the Kickboxer films, but here he’s completely wooden and one note.  Normally, that wouldn’t bother me in a movie like this, but his character has the personality of a rock.  The only reason that I see that he’s passable is because of the people he’s surrounded by.  Outside of Nicolas Cage, the acting here isn’t that great.

For a movie called Jiu Jitsu, you don’t really see a lot of it’s namesake in the movie.  No, you see a lot of taekwondo, muay thai, and capoeira.  There IS some jiu jitsu, but it’s used at a minimum.  Aside from that issue, there is definitely a lot of talent on display here.  Alain Moussi can handle the action with the best of them, despite his acting ability, Tony Jaa is always fun to watch.  Marrese Crump is constantly surprising me with how fast he is.  Most of the folks here are martial artists of one sort or another.  The one that surprised me was Nicolas Cage himself, who actually has a black belt in jiu jitsu.  He does most of his own fighting in the film with some stunts he had to be doubled for.  Unfortunately, there are issues with the action.  There’s a point in the film where some of the fighting takes place in first-person perspective, and it really doesn’t work.  You can’t see what’s going on.  On top of that, a lot of the action is tempered with slow motion.  I don’t mind slow motion when it’s used properly, but when it’s used to THIS extent, it’s usually to hide bad choreography, kind of like shaky-cam.  It also pads out the film quite a bit.  A lot of the action is grounded, with most of the fights being wireless, which is a good thing.  Sadly, it’s not enough to save an action film from action that feels….well….pedestrian.

Jiu Jitsu reminds me of an older DTV action flick called Ninja Apocalypse, and not in a good way.  For one, the visual effects are awful.  I haven’t seen DTV CGI this bad in years.  These are PlayStation ONE level visual effects.  Again, I have to credit the film-makers of actually having a guy in a suit for the main villain, Brax.  But the suit is lame and the design is weak.  The costume designs are really bizarre.  The army uniforms don’t look like army uniforms.  They look like something you get from the discount rack at Kohl’s.  The stuff that the fighters wear is equally strange.  The wear a kind of hoodie/cloak that can hide them from the alien.  Alrighty, then.  There’s some decent cinematography, but this is not a great-looking movie.  There are scene transitions here that are basically ripped from a comic-book, which is ironic, because this movie is based on a comic book that was co-written by the film’s director.  It just one of the many elements that take you right out of the film.

Jiu Jitsu is NOT a good movie, by any standard.  There are elements here that could have worked, but are hampered by some really questionable decision-making, especially in terms of the action.  There’s a lot of action, but the constant slow motion almost ruins it.  Is this the worst movie I’ve seen this year?  Not really, but as far as action movies go, it’s nowhere near as good as something like Triple Threat.  Alain Moussi has yet to prove that he can carry a movie, while Nicolas Cage steals the show from anybody that might have a chance.  Honestly?  Skip this one.

My Final Recommendation: 3/10.