It's David Belle VS Darren Shahlavi In JAYA. Watch The New Trailer For Philippe Tullio's Sci-Fi Action Proof!
Lee B. Golden III
Late actor Darren Shahlavi will always be remembered for the 25 years in which he’s lit up the screen, and largely as a prominent baddie for martial arts fans in films like Tai Chi II, Ip Man 2 and Ernie Barbarash’s 2015 thriller, Pound Of Flesh. Moving onward into the new year though, we have at least a few more appearances to expect of Shahlavi including John Stockwell’s Kickboxer: Vengeance which opens this Fall, and soon enough, that courtesy now extends over to the latest efforts from shortfilm director Philippe Tullio, from whom the new sci-fi action proof-of-concept, Jaya, now circulates online featuring our main villain opposite parkour extraordinare, actor David Belle of Banlieue 13 fame.
SYNOPSIS:
Semerkhet, a cruel and seemingly unchallengeable master, reigns as King over the Three Kingdoms. But when his little brother Jaya, learns that Semerkhet has forced princess Cassiopeia into marriage and that she is still alive, he makes it his mission to escape the prison his brother put him in and return balance to the kingdoms.
The trailer is currently online and certainly guarantees Belle another potential property to lead for someone of his caliber. He’s currently the star of the upcoming action series, Brutal: A Taste Of Violence and Xiao Song’s upcoming heist action comedy, Super Express, while Hollywood remains mum on paying him any attention beyond reprising him in the lackluster Banlieue 13 remake, Brick Mansions. Perhaps Jaya will be the project to help get the conversation going in Belle’s favor, because he clearly hasn’t missed a step and Tullio definitely has something going here with a 41st century-set dystopian tale and vision that sticks Belle right in his comfort zone of heightened, kinetic inversion and doing what he does best, here and now with the aid of fight coordinator Jean Frenette (Lucy, Pompeii).
All in all, Belle is a ripe talent and deserves every opportunity that comes his way, and if one doesn’t come, one should be MADE so. To that end, humbly, I believe that if Shahlavi were still here, he would say the same.
