GENSOCIAL
Are you ready to learn about alien politics? Following the recent release of the life-changing poster last week, the first trailer for the Nicolas Cage sci-fi actioner Jiu Jitsu has now been released. No doubt bringing tears to your eyes, the trailer gives us our first glimpse at Cage and his cadre of martial arts warriors throwing down against extraterrestrial invaders, which the Face/Off star describes gloriously as “a poet-warrior in the sci-fi sense.”
Jiu Jitsu looks like the ultimate B-movie escape, and could only have been sent here by Earth’s protectors to shield us from the horror that is 20202. The plot of Jiu Jitsu reads like a sci-fi action movie dream; When Jake Barnes (Alain Moussi), a celebrated war hero and master Jiu Jitsu fighter, refuses to face Brax, the indomitable leader of the invaders, the future of humanity hangs in the balance.
Injured and suffering from severe amnesia, Jake is captured by a military squad unequipped to fight the merciless intruder who has descended upon the planet. After a brutal alien attack on the military squad, Jake is rescued by Wylie (Nicolas Cage), and a team of fellow Jiu Jitsu fighters who must help him recover his memory and regain his strength in order to band together and defeat Brax in an epic battle that will once again determine the fate of mankind.
Based on the comic book of the same name by Logothetis and Jim McGrath, Jiu Jitsu stars Alain Moussi (Kickboxer: Retaliation, Kickboxer: Vengeance), Frank Grillo (The Purge: Election Year, Captain America: Civil War), Rick Yune (Alita: Battle Angel, Olympus Has Fallen), Marie Avgeropoulos (The 100, 50/50), Juju Chan (Wu Assassins, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny), and Tony Jaa (Ong-Bak, Furious 7) alongside Cage.
Cage is clearly doing exactly what he was hired to do, devouring every scene likes it was his last meal and providing the science fiction ludicrousness with the cheesy gravitas that it needs. While it’s likely Cage won’t appear in the movie all that much, we still have the awe-inspiring martial arts prowess of the likes of Tony Jaa and Alain Moussi to look forward to, as well as the always reliable charisma of Frank Grillo. If it isn’t already, Jiu Jitsu should now be sitting comfortably at the tippy top of your “must watch” list.
Director Dimitri Logothetis, who previously reignited the Kickboxer franchise with Kickboxer: Retaliation and Kickboxer: Vengeance), is at the helm. Logothetis, who has worked with actor, stuntman, and martial artist Alain Moussi before on 2016’s Kickboxer: Vengeance has said previously that Jiu Jitsu is sure to satisfy genre fans. “After we successfully reintroduced the Kickboxer franchise to a new generation of martial arts fans with the sixth and seventh entries in the series, we set out to up the ante with a sci-fi martial arts franchise that could bring the same kind of intensity and longevity to a new arena,” Logothetis said of his aspirations for the movie. “Jiu Jitsu is guaranteed to satisfy the millions of martial arts and science fiction lovers across the globe with world-class martial artists, stuntmen go-to expert Alain Moussi joining superstar Nicolas Cage for some formidable, no holds barred fight sequences set in exotic Burma.”
Jiu Jitsu battles its way into theaters, on-demand, and digital on November 20, 2020. This comes to us from IGN’s official YouTube channel.
