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Jiu Jitsu (Blu-ray)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - Signature Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Rick Curzon (16th February 2021). |
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The Film
 NICOLAS CAGE is back and this time he's got a sword and an alien invasion knocking at his door! The future hangs in the balance as a being from another world returns to Earth to face off against the best warriors the human race has to offer. From special ops soldiers to the best in MMA, this epic battle for the survival of Earth will place humanity on the brink of extinction. An all-star action packed cast lead the fight. JIU JITSU stars FRANK GRILLO (Captain America: Winter Soldier), ALAIN MOUSSI (Kickboxer: Retaliation) and TONY JAA (Ong-Bak).
Video
Flashy, action-packed sci-fi flick featuring lots of martial arts action that mixes up with some elements that reminded me of Predator. It's framed as a comic book in the way that Walter Hill's revised version of The Warriors (1979) is. Three types of image here. Firstly we have the comic book panels seen at the beginning and throughout introducing scenes which are blue and purple heavy but have a generally rich colour palette. Darker scenes favour greens, blues, blacks and greys with orange highlights; the dreaded orange and teal which is essentially the grade this film has been given, albeit fairly mildly. Flesh tones are warm with good delineation. Finally we have daylight scenes which favour warmer palettes with the occasional strong primaries (red monks robes et al). These outdoor moments have a naturalistic palette albeit through the mild orange and teal grade. Black levels are deep and rich and contrast is supportive allowing detail to shine. The image has been shot to a certain extent with a contrasty aesthetic and this gives the digitally lensed image a fair amount of depth. The encode gets the job done well although being digitally lensed there's no grain. Detail is adequate, strongest in brightly lit, more contrasty scenes. Overall this is a very strong presentation of 1080/24p / AVC MPEG-4 / 2.4:1 / 102:29
Audio
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English LPCM 2.0 Surround Subtitles: None Home cinema enthusiasts will want to choose the lossless 5.1 which obviously has greater depth and range. A very active soundtrack with plenty of surround activity and healthy LFE response; the subwoofer kicked in frequently in the action scenes of which there are plenty. Dialogue is always very clear and the score never got in the way. Ambiance and score fill the surround field. A strong near-demo level soundtrack. Obviously, the lossless 2.0 gets the job done and is encoded for surround but lacks the warmth, depth and range. Not in the same league overall as something like a Marvel, DC or a Bond film that has ten times the budget and a much longer production period but still damn sweet as is represented here as good as it's possible to be given the original sound design. Subtitles: there are none for the English language dialogue, nor for the hearing impaired, but there are stylised, burnt in, richly coloured subs for the Burmese language scenes.
Extras
Start-up Trailers - The Rising Hawk (retitled Fall of a Kingdom) (1:24) - Possessor (2:10) Standard promos for other releases. Card Slipcase Initial pressings come with this but it just repeats the sleeve art.
Packaging
Standard blue BD Keepcase.
Overall
Efficient straight to video sci-fi actioner gets a strong visual and aural presentation on Signature Entertainment's fine region 'B' locked Blu-ray release. No extras worth mentioning in this agreeably priced bare-bones release.
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