Baby Assassins

Baby Assassins is Fast and Fun! Baby Assassins is the latest release from Well Go USA Entertainment to come out of the Japanese market and it is both fast and fun. This well paced and well Directed action comedy can not help but engage you from the opening scene.

Akari Takaishi and Saori Izawa are delightful as the high young assassins who are faced with trying to balance "normal" lives with their careers as professional assassins. Their chemistry on screen with each other, and the rest of the cast make for some memorable and enjoyable moments as they recognize they may be unfit for anything other than professional "hits".

The film does a terrific job of walking the tight rope between being funny and outrageous without being silly. It also does a fantastic job of integrating martial arts action and gun play into the film. Saori Izawa clearly has some Taekwondo training in her pedigree, and her fight scenes are interesting and well choreographed.

In a market of formula driven action and adventure films it is no surprise that this original and unique action comedy is winning awards and making noise at worldwide film festivals. I expect it will explode in popularity after this year's Comic Con.

Baby Assassins may be the most enjoyable movie independent movie since The Paper Tigers. I highly recommend this film.

The film is subtitled.

Baby Assassins is a Japanese action comedy film with unconventional plot and intriguing characters that surprised me very positively. The movie is not as immature as its title or movie poster might suggest and actually has much to offer for teenage and adult audiences around the world.

The story revolves around high school graduates and teenage friends Chisato and Mahori. They have recently moved to a small but cozy apartment where they are living together in downtown Tokyo. Their characters couldn't be more different from each other. Chrisato is sociable, quirky, outgoing, humorous and adventurous as she is constantly trying to get new part-time jobs and meet new people. Mahori on the other side is unconventional, thoughtful, serious, quiet and antisocial and doesn't like getting side jobs or making new friends. However, the two young women have one thing in common: they are professional assassins. One day, they are instructed to kill a member of an infamous Yakuza family. The victim's colleagues try to find out who murdered him and soon start discovering, investigating and observing the two assassins. When two more important members of the same family are killed in self-defence, Chisato and Mahori must face off against the entire clan led by a vengeful daughter who hides sadistic tendencies under her joyful behaviour.

This unique movie managed to convince me on several levels. First and foremost, the three female lead actresses offer quite different acting skills and complement one another perfectly. Their characters are dynamic, intriguing and unique and make viewers care about them. It's also refreshing that none of these characters are dressed up in elegant ways or involved in any romantic relationships. The characters simply manage to shine brightly on their own without being associated to any sexist stereotypes or cumbersome side plots. Up next, the story might not be too complicated to follow but offers quite a few surprising twists and turns mixing hilarious situation comedy with brutal martial arts sequences. This movie feels like a rollercoaster ride as you never quite know what to expect from the next scene. The locations have also been chosen with care and vary from sinister hideouts over cozy apartments to colourful cafés. The film has a perfect length with ninety-five minutes and has entertained me from start to finish.

One could criticize that the plot needs some time to unfold and might be rather simple at the end of the day. Other people will complain that the movie is too colourful, experimental and weird. However, those elements haven't bothered me at all. I actually appreciated getting to know the two heroines and their environment before getting thrown into the main plot. The movie's quirky side represents contemporary Japanese culture in downtown Tokyo very well and makes me want to discover the country's bubbly side even more. I would even go as far to say that I would like to watch a sequel to this movie as I have grown to appreciate the two lead characters very much and think that their unconventional adventures could easily be made into a television or movie series. Coming from someone who usually despises sequels and barely watches any television series, this compliment is as big and sincere as it gets.

As you can read, my final evaluation of this film is very positive. If you like adventurous, colourful, contemporary, creative and diversified storytelling that breaks genre boundaries, then you can't get around this underrated gem that deserves more appreciation, attention and recognition. Baby Assassins certainly is one of the most entertaining movies I have watched in a long time and has left a lasting impression on me.

Deadpan hilarious and well paced, no time wasted on finicky worldbuilding, it just tosses you in and assumes you'll be able to swim based on ample context clues. I don't think I've seen a better mix of humor and action since Hot Fuzz, and Izawa Saori is probably the first actor in 2 generations to be worthy to take up the Jackie Chan / Stephen Chow / Michelle Yeoh mantle of funny martial artists.

The leads have great chemistry, and for all its absurdity, it remains surprisingly grounded. They manage to act like both snarky gen z kids AND skilled assassins without making those two things a contradiction. And all that is before the fight scenes, which put almost all modern action movies to shame by sheer virtue of believability and being able to see what is actually happening at any given moment.

All 3 movies are worth your time, but the first one is still the best.

The movie does a good job of balancing brutal action, funny moments, and some subtle social commentary to create one of the best action comedies of the past few years.

There's less action than one might expect from the trailer and other reviews but the action that we do get is very good. The climax fight in particular is S level stuff and makes the movie really must-see. The leads have excellent chemistry together. They keep the movie very entertaining during the periods without gun fights.

The social commentary is very light. If you aren't familiar with life in Japan in 2021, you won't notice it and you'll still be able to enjoy the film. If you are familiar with life in Japan in 2021, you'll have a deeper understanding of the struggle of young people entering the workforce in a declining country. And that Maid Cafes aren't just a quirky weird Japanese trend but actually kind of horrible places to work and a means of survival. There's a brief conversation behind the scenes at the Maid Cafe that does an excellent job of briefly bringing these themes to the forefront before the movie moves on to bigger things.

Overall, this is a must watch movie for action fans, comedy fans, and fans of foreign films. It gets a lot of things right.

BABY ASSASSINS (C) is a Japanese made black comedy about two young female assassins who graduate high school, are forced to live with each other by their assassin company and are generally bored with their lives. They keep trying to find jobs but find themselves overcome with the tedium and take out their bosses. They spend a lot of time on the job searching aspect, including a good part of the movie at a maid café. As for a bigger conflict, one of the assassination jobs the girls complete puts them into trouble with local Yakuza - though it takes a convoluted and quirky path to finally have them all come together. Those expecting an action film should know it's just two action set pieces basically - an opening and closing one. The first is okay and the second comes pretty close to greatness. I recommend just checking out youtube for the two scenes and skipping the movie entirely. It's possible my disappointment can be chalked up to cultural differences here (comedy is always toughest to translate), but the black comedy here doesn't quite hit for me, the film meanders, and the action is ultimately a little too sparse.