King of Killers, Starring Frank Grillo and Alain Moussi

If Jorg Drakos were more like big tech or big unions, he would just bribe politicians to regulate his competition out of business. Instead, the notorious assassin plans to personally usher his rivals into an early retirement. Should any hitman survive his unlikely tournament, they win 10,000,000 dollars. That money would help Marcus Garan care for his sick daughter, Kimberly, but Drakos might also hold some answers regarding the murder of Garan’s wife in Kevin Grevioux’s King of Killers, which opens Friday in New York.

After his wife’s untimely demise, Garan walked away from contract killing, but he needs money fast for Kimberly’s heart surgery. According to mystery man Roman Korza’s initial pitch, Garan was supposedly hired to kill Drakos. Then he discovers Drakos has set up this little assassin convention for his own satisfaction, to decide who is really the best of the best. He has lured them to a Tokyo highrise (it looks more like a mid-sized building in Cleveland, but whatever), which he tricked-out with secret mirrors and traps. The idea is the draw numbers to face him, like the Minotaur in the labyrinth, one by one, but Garan quickly figures out they need to break the rules to survive.

King of Killers (that’s Drakos’s nickname) is based on Grevioux’s graphic novel, but the narrative itself is pretty straightforward, in a meatheaded kind of way. However, it builds to an improbable twist ending that implies some extraordinarily irresponsible risk-taking. Nevertheless, it clearly teases an intended sequel that I would be totally down for.

Despite its moronic attempts at cleverness, King of Killers still has some terrific fight scenes. Frankly, this is probably Alain Moussi’s best showcase since the underappreciated Kickboxer reboots. He definitely has the right chops for Garan. Likewise, Frank Grillo chews the scenery spectacularly as Drakos, who is way more amusing than most shadowy super-villains.

Jiu Jitsu: Nic Cage, Tony Jaa, and Juju Chan Fight an Alien

You probably thought Jiu-jitsu originated in Japan, influenced, by Buddhist, Taoist, and Shinto teachings, later developing a Brazilian offshoot in the 1920s. Well, how wrong you were. Actually, an alien brought it to earth through a Stargate-like portal in Burma, where he taught it to humans, so he could fight a worthy champion when he returns every six years. If no champion presents himself, the alien just starts killing people until one presents themselves. Jake, a member of the chosen brotherhood used to know that secret history, until he was stricken with amnesia in Dmitri Logothetis’s Jiu Jitsu, which releases tomorrow on DVD.

Jake nearly died fleeing the alien, but an old fishing couple patched him up and dumped him at the American military outpost. Bet you didn’t know we had troops in Burma either. The local Army Intelligence officer is suspicious, but she can’t get anything out of him, because he truly lost his memory. Nevertheless, Kueng comes to break him out, Jake instinctively goes with him.

It is hard to enjoy the first forty minutes or so of Jiu Jitsu, because Jake and his comrades of the Jiu Jitsu Brotherhood spend most of their time fighting and possibly killing American servicemen. The Yanks aren’t even supposed to be the bad guys. It is just sloppy writing from Logothetis and James McGrath (who originally conceived the story as a graphic novel). Heck, the only officer aware of the extraterrestrial goings-on, Captain Sand played by Rick Yune, emerges as a sort of martyr figure, which just proves how confused the script gets.

Of course, it blatantly “borrows” elements from Predator, Mortal Kombat, and Beyond Skyline (which also co-starred Frank Grillo, but was much better in nearly every respect). However, Logothetis (who produced the Kickboxer reboots) fully stocks the film with talented marital arts performers. As a result, the final hour is pretty entertaining, because it gives just about everyone a chance to go toe-to-toe with “Brax,” the alien warrior.

Frankly, this a better showcase for Tony Jaa than he has had in a while. (Too often, he has just appeared as a guest star in a cool fight, only to get killed off or written out of the rest of the film, as in Paradox). At least, he figures prominently in the third act here. Likewise, Juju Chan gets a chance to show off her chops. Technically, she also provides a love interest for Jake, but that is not really developed until the third act either. Unfortunately, Grillo’s big solo fight is surprisingly short, but up-and-coming martial arts thesp Marrese Crump makes the most of his duel with Brax—it is impressive work, probably making him the biggest winner of the film (if not his ill-fated character, Forbes).

Kill Order: Introducing Chris Mark

He is like a Matthew Star for generations that have no idea who that was. Unlike most teenaged boys, David Lee is not phased by girls or academics. It is the PSTD-flashbacks that trouble him. They are so bad, there is even an empty room in his uncle’s flat for his freak-outs. However, he will have a target to vent his frustrations on when agents of the shadowy cabal come kick the hornets’ nest in James Mark’s Kill Order (trailer here), which releases today on DVD and VOD.

Usually philosophy class is boring, but not when a squad of black-clad SWAT troopers comes crashing in. A special thanks goes out to Mr. Henderson for immediately ratting out Lee. Nevertheless, Lee manages to take down his would be-captors, once his special powers kick in. You can tell when that happens, because his eyes start glowing blue.

It turns out Lee was a subject in a series of experiments that used power from a different dimension to fuel Universal Soldier-style fighting machines. Lee was particularly amenable to the power in-take, but he was unusually resistant to the brain-washing. His supposed Uncle Andre Chan was in fact one of the researchers, who had a change of heart. He hoped to help Lee live a normal life, but it doesn’t look like that will happen anytime soon now that the bad guys are out to get him. It seems to be a rather factional conspiracy, with the titular head, Shiro Fujitaka openly suspicious of his underlings.

Mark hints at something downright cosmic going on, but that is only tease for what he obviously hopes will develop into a franchise. The whole point of Kill Order thus far, is the butt-kicking, which is quite impressive. It was also obviously conceived as an opportunity for top Canadian stunt talent to get a proper turn in front of the camera—although ironically, Alain Moussi, probably the best-known cast-member thanks to the Kickboxer reboots, remains faceless throughout his appearance, due to his SWAT helmet.

Kill Order is maybe not quite a breakout for Chris Mark (brother of James), but he shows plenty of potential as Lee. As Uncle Andre, Daniel Park holds up the dramatic end quite well, in a performance that is arguably much better than what he could have gotten away with. More to the point, Jonny Cairnes, Jennifer Li (Kelly Marie Tran’s double in The Last Jedi), and Adrian Persad all impress in their vigorously choreographed and nicely-framed fight sequences facing off against Lee.

Okay, so this is not a classic film that will be studied for decades to come. Be that as it may, you can tell the entire cast and crew is hungry to make it into something, which gives it more raw power than most of the self-satisfied indie dramedies we are supposed to take more seriously than a film like this. Recommended for action fans who can forgive a few rough edges to get in on the ground floor of what could be the start of several rewarding careers, Kill Order releases today on DVD and VOD platforms, including iTunes.