Hydra

When I saw the title, I thought we were in for another Marvel origin movie - this time about the evil organization the Agents of S. H. I. E. L. D. spend their lives fighting. Not the case. This one's a subtitled Japanese crime flick that's long on action and short on everything else. The fight scenes will justify the time for any martial arts junkies who remember to set the rest of their expectations on low.

First-time director Kensuke Sonomura, who also appears in a substantial role, has 75 stunt gigs under his (presumably) black belt. That history allowed him to choreograph a couple of the most exciting, unique fight scenes in the genre. No wires or CGI pyrotechnics. Just a couple of foes squaring off in gritty matches of speed and agility with normal-people weapons. These scenes are akin to the cherished chase scene in Steve McQueen's Bullitt - exciting for their atypically bare-bones staging.

The plot centers around a disenchanted hitman who has secretly dedicated himself to protecting the daughter of a deceased colleague. When trouble arises from some local gangs, it's time to get back in the saddle. The details matter little, and, frankly, could have used the hand of a skilled editor to bring them into a more cohesive narrative. As it plays out now, timelines, characters and motivations are rather muddled, isolating the fights as the main, if not only, attraction.

Stunt men can ripen into outstanding directors. Clint Eastwood and Hal Needham come quickly to mind in that regard. Sonomura might get there. He's still young. If he surrounds himself with skilled storytellers to balance his wealth of action knowledge, he could be a contendah.

Should I be surprised that an 80 minutes long foreign film has more depth, story, better acting, camerawork, and action than Black Widow? No. Was I? Yes. Let's stop feeding the fuel fire that is Disney and Hollywood. They're just making a quick buck.

This? This is cinema. I loved it.

I watched "Hydra" after a fellow fan of martial arts films recommended it to me based on the strength of the fight scenes. While the sparse action scenes are indeed much better than the garbage that passes for fight scenes in the John Wick series, they are pretty lackluster and amateurish compared to classic Hong Kong cinema or more contemporary film like The Raid.

Unfortunately, the weak action scenes are still more interesting than the hackneyed, generic plot.

As far as low budget independent Japanese action films go, it doesn't get much better than this. This little gem is the directorial debut of stuntman/actor Kensuke Sonomura. Sure it wasn't perfect, but rookie filmmaker mistakes aside, it was a really well put together film. The mere 77 min runtime flew by even with the slow pacing, mostly due to the fact that each scene was relevant to the narrative, and just the right length to fill in the necessary back, current and upcoming sub-plots. I actually would've wanted more runtime to fill in some backstories more, and better character development in some of the characters. As an action film, there's really only two action scenes, but man are they choreographed and filmed exceptionally well, and are executed lightning-fast. I sure hope this little gem has some sequels in the works, because I do want more.

So Hydra is one of the movie that I'm been dying to see after the release of Re: Born (2016) Japan answer to the booming of the new gun-jiujitsu style of action movies that started with John Wick. Unlike the Western folks, the Japanese adapted to this new trend with a different approach when they complete drop the realistic aspect and amplified the wow factor with hypnotic body movement and flashy hand to hand combat techniques that look outer-worldly cool to the eyes of audience. Kensuke Sonomura who body of works already speak volume in the low-budget action movie scene of Japan teaming up with Masanori Mimoto another veteran of the scene to create Hydra a low budget action movie that clearly a passion project that mean much for these guys yet end up bitten off more than it can chew. Hydra despite the short runtime and easy to digest premise was a real snooze-fest that barely saved by the action when it not only short but also so few and far between. I'm still think that the movie is worth watching on the choreography alone but I'm you really want to see something different from the usual Hollywood stuff, check out Re: Born and hopefully Baby Assassin in the future.