Bullet Points: Jiu Jitsu (2020)

“Who the hell is this guy?” That was my reaction when I first heard that Alain Moussi was set to star in the reboot of the Kickboxer franchise. Then I saw Kickboxer: Vengeance and my reaction was, “Can I be the president of the Ohio chapter of the Alain Moussi Fan Club?”

Moussi followed up his Kickboxer: Vengeance coming out party as a leading man with Kickboxer: Retaliation where he reprised his Kurt Sloane role. The sequel cemented Moussi as a real deal in the action game.

But in order to keep growing as an action star, Moussi was going to have to take on some new challenges and he got that opportunity with Jiu Jitsu.

• Fight or Flight: As Jiu Jitsu opens we see Alain Moussi running through the jungles of Myanmar, narrowly avoiding being hit by what appears to be a barrage of high tech shuriken buzzing towards him. Moussi finds himself at a precipice with a decision to make, stand and fight whatever it is that is chasing him or jump into the water below. Moussi jumps and ends up hitting some rocks below the surface, knocking him out and that’s when the opening credits start to roll.

• Fishing for Information: Moussi’s lifeless body is recovered by a fisherman, who takes him home where the fisherman’s wife stitches Moussi up, but she makes it clear to her husband that they don’t have room for this guy at their house, so she is going to take him to the US Army base and let them deal with him. When the fisherman’s wife drops him off, she is talking in her native tongue about the comet that is currently in Earth’s orbit, a hole in a temple wall and a Warrior of Death, Tex, the Army interpreter, isn’t particularly good at his job so her ramblings seem even more nonsensical than if he fully understood what she was saying. Once he is at the base, Moussi is questioned by Army Intelligence officer, Myra (Marie Avgeropoulos, Tracers) and it as this point we learn that Moussi has amnesia, so he can’t even tell her his name let alone why he is in Burma.

• What’s My Name: Myra is getting nowhere with the amnesiac Moussi and decides some fresh air and visual stimulation may do him some good and the timing couldn’t be better for Kueng (Tony Jaa, Skin Trade). Kueng is there to bust Moussi out (we soon find out Moussi’s character is named Jake). The action really picks up when Kueng shows up as he has to fight his way into the base and then out of the base with Jake. Once Kueng and Jake are free and clear of the US Army, we meet some of the other characters including Harrigan (Frank Grillo, Beyond Skyline) and Carmen (Juju Chan, Savage Dog). Jake, Kueng, Harrigan and Carmen are all in Burma for the same reason, but at this point Jake still has no recollection. Before his colleagues can catch Jake up, they are all attacked by a seemingly invisible foe, who is dragging them through the field they found themselves standing in and throwing them around (Spoiler alert it is the Warrior of Death the Fisherman’s wife was talking about). While his friends are dealing with the Warrior of Death, Myra and some more Army dudes show up and Jake is once again in their custody. And while in Army custody, Jake is about to get his first good look at the Warrior of Death.

• Down the Rabbit Hole: After some action in the jungle, where Jake witnesses first hand the awesome power of the Warrior of Death, he ends up falling down the proverbial rabbit hole. And this is where he encounters Wylie (Nicolas Cage, Face/Off). Jake and Wylie’s initial interaction reminded me a lot of when Remo Williams met Chiun for the first time (although not as one sided). I would like ot point out that Jiu Jitsu had just the right amount of Nicolas Cage. There’s enough to appease the Cage fans, but not too much to chase off the Cage detractors. Anyway, after testing one another’s fighting skills, Wylie is able to fill in some of the gaps for Jake.

• Everybody Dies: Wylie tells Jake that The Warrior of Death is actually an alien named Brax (Ryan Tarran). Every six years (coinciding with a comet in Earth’s orbit), Brax comes to Earth through a portal that appears in the wall of an ancient temple looking for a fight. Win, lose or draw it doesn’t really matter to Brax, he just wants to test his skills against the best Earth has to offer… but if Brax doesn’t get the fights he craves, he will unleash his alien superpowers on the entire planet and that means EVERYBODY DIES. We then find out that Jake is one of the nine fighters who has been tasked with fighting Brax this go around and that it was Brax that Jake was running from at the beginning of the movie. But in order to save the world Jake is going to have to join his fellow fighters and battle Brax!

Jiu Jitsu was a very different movie for Alain Moussi… in fact, Jiu Jitsu was a very different movie period. Martial artists clashing with a super advanced alien warrior has certainly not been done to death and in this case it was done well… not surprising given the amount of skilled martial artists involved in this film.

The Brax character would make a kick ass action figure and had elements of the Predator mixed with Spider-Man foe, Mysterio. And Alain Moussi is such a likable hero, you can’t help but want to see him save the world. I can’t wait to see what’s next for Moose in the world of action entertainment.

I know what’s next for this review, some Bonus Bullet Points…

• Complaint Department: I had two gripes with Jiu Jitsu worth mentioning… my major gripe being the “Go Pro” style camera work that was used at points in the movie. It was an artistic choice I could have done without…. A more minor gripe would be the use of CGI blood in a few scenes. If it were up to me, I’d rather have no blood at all if using practical fake blood was not an option.
• Familiar Faces: Tex, the Army interpreter and comic relief for the movie was played by Eddie Steeple of My Name is Earl fame… Captain Sand was played by Rick Yune (The Fast and the Furious and Die Another Day). Sand confides in Jake that the US Army has known about Brax for decades and he himself has been hunting Brax for 24 years and he imparts Jake with some valuable intel if he has any hope of defeating Brax.
• Comic Book: The movie features comic book style transitions, which is appropriate since Jiu Jitsu is based on a 2017 comic book of the same name that was written by Dimitri Logothetis and Jim McGrath. Logothetis and McGrath wrote the screenplay for Jiu Jitsu and Logothetis also served as the movie’s director.