Jiu Jitsu (2020)
From the Darkness the Ultimate fighter rises.
Real talk, with it being Thanksgiving and having the day off I totally forgot it was Thursday, and am now rushing to get this review completed before the clock ticks over from Thursday. Look man, it happens sometimes - I could have just abandoned all hope and bailed on the review “because holiday,” but that’s not me. So I scrambled - I need something to watch! Should it tie in with the holiday, should I just pick whatever is laying around and short? Wait, didn’t that one movie come out - yes, yes it did. Tonight, it’s going to get real Mortal Kombat X in here, as we make note of our leverage and take on the fighter from across the sky with Jiu Jitsu.
This is gong to be confusing if you watch the trailer and it set’s your expectations in a specific way. See, I looked and made two notes for this movie: Martial Arts Predator and Nic Cage. Both of those sound awesome, but one of them isn’t entirely correct. Our story centers on a main character who - if you are like me - you won’t like. Honestly, he’s kind of useless and the crux of the main dilemma in the movie - or consequences if you will. The story goes like this - once every six years, an alien pops out of a portal in a temple and fights nine folks to the death. If he doesn’t get to fight his nine people - like one of them perhaps turns tail and runs - then it’s free roam to wipe out every and any person or thing he sees. Our hero? Yeah, he ran like a wuss, and now there’s all sorts of extra cannon fodder to get murdered off while the alien tries and claim the fight hes owed.
Alright, there is some more nuance in there then what I’ve lain down - like apparently how the alien gave the world Jiu Jitsu in the first place. There is also some distinct Predator vibes from the movie - an invisible, strong, high-tech alien that wants to kill the best of the best? Yeah, that’s pretty Predator. Here’s the thing though - if you expect predator, you expect certain notes, machismo, super duper high tech but totally defeat-able foe who really pushes the hero to the limit. What you get instead is indeed an alien that can go invisible, but instead uses swords and spears and martial arts, while also cheating with an unlimited supply of wrist-launched ninja stars and some totally sometimes used but never explained hot-hand attack with the capability of total regeneration from it’s wounds. Point blank mag-dump an M249 SAW into it? Eh, it’ll zip back together in a few and get up to kill you anyways. This is more like some hybrid of Mortal Kombat and Predator, where a being from another realm comes over to fight a tournament of people, except if it wins it goes home and if someone flies the coop it goes on a planetary murder rampage.
Yeah, by now you might be questioning this movie - but don’t. The best way I can describe this movie - and I’m sure maybe it’s an actual phrase somewhere that maybe I’ve heard someone say - is that this is totally a Stunt movie. You may know what I’m talking about - think like any movie where you see a big name you knew for doing stunts, but suddenly they are the star of the movie. The plot is kinda weak or just there to get the movie from A to B, the acting is usually pretty average at best with some poor jobs cropping in, but the action and stunt work is stellar. That’s this movie - it’s got pretty average acting with one stand out and some weaker performances, the plot is just there to give a reason for things to happen, and there is a constant pace of talk, big action scene, transition, repeat. If you are in for an action movie, you’ll enjoy. If you are in for a genre-twist survival action like you might be inclined to think given those first glance Predator comparisons you are in for a shock.
Your guess is as good as mine with this vision.
As mentioned, acting isn’t really the movie’s strong point. Many of the side actors can pop off average or pretty decent jobs - but most the poor side actors really get one, maybe two lines to do before it’s just action scenes anyways. The main character is bland as heck, perhaps more of the fault lies with the writing here as warrior with memory loss doesn’t really offer up a ton of performance options unless someone has really sat around to make a character-driven script with depth (which this is not). The alien is purely body movement, and given that ninety percent of it’s movement is fight scenes the only real emotions you can get out of it is honor and rage, even if most the time that honor doesn’t feel like it has a foundation to walk on given the dang this is practically immortal. This leaves the one other thing that drew me into the movie: Nic Cage.
Sweet Sally is that man a treat. I won’t tell you he’s the best actor to ever exist, but even so he’s a real treasure that I don’t think gets super appreciated. He does crazy well, he can do sane well, but most of all he just bring such life to lines that can be so, so garbage at times. I’d say he’s more crazy than sane in this one, but it’s not amped up to lunatic levels or anything so it does fell slightly more sane - but the lines can be pretty crazy. In a movie filled with actions scenes and what feels like alright enough for the movie characters, his light only blazes that much better - and you’ll find yourself regardless of desires wanting him to be on the screen more. The other nice part is they actually do something with his character, and that character is in the movie for a good amount of time (unlike some movies that will put a big name in there and then just kill them off early or throw them on for the last line).
To the point you’d want to know though, yes the movie has great action. I could lodge a few complaints about the shakey camera work at times, but despite letting those complaints known it’s not horrible. They really try some interesting camera stuff in the movie with a few POV shots and the likes - and it can feel a bit out of place. It’s neat, I like it sometimes, but other times the swapping back and forth with the camera feels a little disconnected. Effects are a mixed bag - again, stunt work is great. The physical objects - such as the alien suit, the weapons, the costumes - all look quite good. Some of the digital stuff doesn’t look bad either, such as the invisible effect or the lightning-speed running, heck, even the hot hands and most the healing animations look pretty good. Some of them - a few explosions, a bunch of the blood, some digital effects, the aliens face - don’t look as good. Sometimes the alien face isn’t bad, other times it doesn’t look right - like it’s a bad photoshop job or something and the perspective of it is just off. It also has these comic-panel transitions, which cut in every time the movie feels it want’s to start a new “chapter” - which can also translate to changing locales most the time it happens.
MORTAL KO-err, He’s here?
If you want a good stunt movie type of flick with plenty of action, this one’s not a bad choice. The plots pretty meh, but the premise is cool enough and sets up the action. There’s some mixed bags in here, but you get largely what the trailer shows: Nic Cage, and alien fighting martial arts people, good and bad effects with plenty of kicks and punches.