by Joseph Perry
Normally here at “The Good, the Bad, and the Verdict”, both Joseph and Mike give their thoughts on a slice of cinema. However, here and there they will be taking the reins in a solo outing. For this installment, it’s Joseph with a solo review of Yugo Sakamoto’s Japanese action comedy Baby Assassins: Nice Days.
Synopsis
Young assassins and roommates Chisato (Akari Takaishi) and Mahiro (Saori Izawa) go on vacation to Miyazaki, Japan, and face their biggest opponent yet.
(I haven’t yet seen Baby Assassins (2021), so I’ll be reviewing this sequel on its own merits and on that of the first sequel in the series Baby Assassins: 2 Babies (2023), reviewed here.)
The Good
With this third entry in his Baby Assassins series, writer/director Sakamoto tones down the annoyingness of its two main protagonists, arguably making Chisato and Mahiro more accessible to viewers who may have been put off by their previous wackier antics. There’s still plenty of comedy on tap, and it balances well with the more serious tone of Baby Assassins: Nice Days, which includes a darker take on the main villain than previous, that being Sôsuke Ikematsu as freelance killer-for-hire Kaede Fuyumura, who is more than slightly unhinged and looking to make the girls’ next assigned target his 150th kill. As with Baby Assassins: 2 Babies, action director Kensuke Sonomura deserves high praise for his stunning fight choreography, which again includes absolutely jaw-dropping, mesmerizing set pieces such as close-quarters martial arts inside a tight hallway to wide open gunplay sequences. Baby Assassins: Nice Days is worth recommending for the action alone, but the performances from Takaishi, Izawa, Ikematsu, and the fine supporting players are all top notch as well, and Sakamoto invests the relationship between Chisato and Mahiro with real dramatic weight. The stakes are higher for the duo this time around, as Mahiro should be celebrating her 20th birthday but instead might not make it to see her 21st.
The Bad
For my Baby Assassins 2 Babies review, I wrote “It's hard to knock much, but for the sake of mentioning something in this section, I would imagine that viewers unfamiliar with sullen and hot-tempered characters not far removed from a comedy anime might not be entirely enamored with Chisato and Mahiro’s antics.” Well, I can’t say that this time, as the pair are much more likable this time around. So honestly, I don’t have any quibbles with this excellent sequel.
The Verdict
Baby Assassins: Nice Days is a blast. Whereas in many action sequels we can expect the protagonists to live to fight another day, making viewers less invested in fight scenes because of predictable outcomes, Sakamoto had me chewing my fingernails and leaning toward the screen with tension multiple times in this entry. Action film and action comedy fans and Japanese comedy aficionados should put this film on their must-see lists. It is one of my favorite genre films of the year.
Baby Assassins: Nice Days
Directed By: Yugo Sakamoto
Written By: Yugo Sakamoto
Starring: Akari Takaishi, Saori Izawa, Sôsuke Ikematsu
Run Time: 1h 43m
Rating: NR
Release Date: September 27, 2024 (Japan)
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