Nicolas Cage has already enjoyed success on Netflix this year as the host of foul-mouthed docuseries History of Swear Words, and the actor will be looking to keep up his hot streak on the world’s biggest streaming service now that his bonkers martial arts-sci fi actioner Jiu Jitsu has been added to the library.
The movie initially debuted on VOD last November, where it was hardly greeted with widespread enthusiasm from critics, and it’s currently sitting on a weak Rotten Tomatoes score of just 26%. That being said, fans will have already more than made up their minds about whether or not they’re going to check it out on Netflix based on the synopsis alone.
Seeing Nicolas Cage show up in a bargain basement genre film wearing the latest in his long line of ridiculous wigs, spouting nonsensical exposition as an elite team of soldiers, mercenaries and fighters battle against an extraterrestrial threat hunting them for sport is just about as preposterous in execution as it is on paper, so at least Jiu Jitsu can’t possibly disappoint anyone seeing as people should be fully aware of what to expect from the second they push play.
Luckily, nobody takes anything in the pic seriously, least of all Cage, who fully embraces the notion of the paycheck gig by at least lending every single one of his line readings the expected eccentricity. It’s not a good movie by any means, but it’s definitely an enjoyable one under the right circumstances, and there’s every chance it could end up troubling the Top 10 most-watched list, because there’s no better time than the weekend to kick back and watch Nicolas Cage chew the scenery in a cheesy actioner.
Published: Mar 20, 2021 11:27 am