Jiu Jitsu (film)

In a jungle of Burma, Jake is running away from flying stars. He ends up on an oceanside cliff, where he is hit by the stars and falls into the ocean, hitting his head and blacking out.

Wylie sees Jake in the water and he is left in the care of two Burmese fishers. They stitch up the cuts Jake sustained from the shurikens and bring him to a nearby military outpost assuming that's where he came from originally. After a foreboding miscommunication between an inexperienced translator and the fisherwoman, Jake is left at the outpost and starts to come to. Puzzled by words of a comet that comes every 6 years and a hole in a temple opening, the operatives get to work on figuring out where Jake came from. A talented Intelligence Officer, Myra tries to interrogate Jake but it appears he has no recollection of the events which led to him ending up in the water where he was found.

After a fight sequence Myra hits Jake with a truth serum, but this has little impact on what he divulges. She decides that it's more likely than not that he actually doesn't remember, but just as this is being discussed with other operatives, Keung begins to work his way through the base, besting fist and gun alike with advanced Jiu Jitsu. As man after man in balaclavas and fatigue uniform is laid flat by an unphased Keung, the noises of gunfire and feet making contact with chests, heads and the like alert Myra and the others that something is indeed up. After more fighting, Keung approaches Jake who he recognizes with a handclasp that appears to come naturally to Jake. "We gotta go" is the only direction Keung has time to offer, and Jake accepts the first opportunity to leave behind those who interrogated and beat him. While we had seen a glimpse of it in the previous fighting, their departure from the base confirms that Jake, too, is skilled in the art of using his limbs to prevent others from doing the same.

• Alain Moussi as Jake Barnes[10]
• Frank Grillo as Harrigan[11]
• JuJu Chan[11] as Carmen
• Tony Jaa as Keung[11]
• Nicolas Cage as Wylie[10]
• Rick Yune[11] as Captain Sand
• Marie Avgeropoulos as Myra[11]

In March 2019, it was announced that Cage and Alain Moussi were cast in the film.[12][13][14][15]

Filming occurred in June 2019 partially in Cyprus and included a glimpse of ancient temples of Bagan in Burma.[16]

Jiu Jitsu was released by The Avenue Entertainment on November 20, 2020.[17] In its debut weekend, the film was the eighth-most rented title on Apple TV and ninth on FandangoNow.[1]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 26% based on 43 reviews, with an average rating of 3.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Jiu Jitsu pits an ancient order of warriors against an alien invasion -- yet despite that appealingly bizarre premise and a cast that includes Nicolas Cage and Tony Jaa, it's the audience that loses."[18] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 28 out of 100, based on reviews from 11 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."[19]

Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com awarded the film one and a half stars.[20] John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a negative review and wrote that it "has all the barely-motivated action and sci-fi trappings of a middling videogame and, well, at least a little of the dramatic value."[21] Tambay Obenson of IndieWire graded the film a D.[22] Jeffrey M. Anderson of Common Sense Media awarded the film two stars out of five.[23] Steven Scaife of Slant Magazine awarded the film one and a half stars out of four.[24] Chris Bumbray of JoBlo.com awarded the film with a 5 out of 10.[25]

Fortress of Solitude praised the film describing it as: "An action-packed, 90s-style camp film that’s all about entertainment".[26] Also Flyckering Myth had a positive reaction, with Tom Joliffe writing that: "With a stellar cast, non-stop fights and stylish direction this proves to be an enjoyable throwback that will please genre fans".[27] Polygon defined the film: "extremely satisfying".[28] Dan Jackson of Thrillist gave the film a positive review and wrote "Luckily, Jiu Jitsu gets the most important aspects of a junky movie like this right."[29]

Darren Murray from Martial Arts Actions Cinema gave a rating of 3 out of 5.[30] Brent McKnight on Giant Freakin Robot gave a positive rating to the film.[31]

Rob Hunter from Film School Rejects promoted positively the film noting as: "[...] while it neglects to include any jiu-jitsu (more on that later) it does give viewers plenty of action beats and a few fun thrills".[32]

Kristy Puchko of IGN gave it 6 out of 10 and wrote "Jiu Jitsu feels like a deeply 2020 movie in that it is a barrage of WTF choices that hit without mercy until you either give in and go with the flow or just go mad. Or, hey, maybe both." She also questioned some of the visual design choices in the film, such as the use of animated comic book panels and the saturated color scheme.[33] J. Hurtado of Screen Anarchy gave the film a negative review, calling it "an Adderall addled mess of a film that attempts to scratch a gonzo action itch that would be better served by hitting up a playlist of stunt demo reels on YouTube."[34]

Jiu Jitsu earned $51,131 at the global office.[2]

• Jiu Jitsu at IMDb