“Jiu Jitsu” is a goofy yet enjoyable sci-fi/action flick that feels like a combination of “Predator” and “Mortal Kombat”. This very silly movie features Nicolas Cage (“Ghost Rider”, “Vampire’s Kiss”) and Tony Jaa (“Triple Threat”), two actors that I never expected to see together onscreen. Despite its name, nobody ever does any jiujitsu fighting.

In this movie, a group of ‘jiujitsu’ warriors are assembled every six years when a comet is seen. A gateway at a temple in Myanmar is opened and out comes Brax, a powerful alien. Now, the group must battle the extra-terrestrial hunter using all their fighting skills in epic battle to save mankind.

Cage has been used extensively in the marketing but it doesn’t show up for the first third of the movie. He’s really good here and makes this a really fun film to watch but don’t expect him to be the star. Tony Jaa also is not the star despite being featured prominently in promotional material. He’s obviously a very skilled fighter and one of the best guys in the modern martial arts film industry. The real star is Alain Moussi (“Kickboxer: Vengeance”) as Jake. He’s pretty forgettable. The alien is very similar to Predator with his cloaking technology and use of weapons. The martial arts on display is actually very good from pretty much everybody.

“Jiu Jitsu” combines the hunter alien from “Predator” with the whole plot involving a group of fighters defending Earth from “Mortal Kombat”. It’s silly and never pretends to be anything more than that. This was actually based on a comic book so some of the transitions use comic panels (a bit like “The Warriors” did). This is a funny and entertaining movie that has some hilariously dodgy camerawork at times. It seems to have received bad reviews but I don’t really know what people were expecting to see.