“Baby Assassins: Nice Days” Theatrical Poster
Director: Yugo Sakamoto
Cast: Akari Takaishi, Saori Izawa, Sosuke Ikematsu, Atsuko Maeda, Atomu Mizuishi
Running Time: 112 min.
By Paul Bramhall
Whatever your opinion of director and writer Yugo Sakamoto, what can’t be denied is that few filmmakers are keeping grounded martial arts movies alive quite like he is. In the 4 years spanning 2021 to 2024 his Baby Assassins trilogy has cemented a modern-day iron triangle of action goodness – with the other key players represented by co-star Saori Izawa and fight choreographer Kensuke Sonomura. That’s not counting The Janitor (which provided the assassins their first appearance) and the 12-episode mini-series. Admittedly, everything in-between the action is more of an acquired taste. The first Baby Assassins was an unsuccessful mix of forced quirkiness and abrasive characters, while the sequel struck a much more palatable balance. At the heart of every entry is the pairing of leads Saori Izawa and Akari Takaishi as the assassins of the title, and 2024 saw the release of the third entry, Baby Assassins: Nice Days.
Ditching the more episodic nature of the previous 2 entries, BA: ND (as I’ll refer to it from here on in) opts for a more linear narrative that does wonders for the pacing. For a start we don’t spend any time on the couch of their Tokyo apartment this time around, with the pair enjoying some downtime in the beachside town of Miyazaki, in-between a contracted hit the guild has assigned them to in the nearby locality. Problems arise though when they bust in on their target, only to find another assassin about to pull the trigger and beat them to it. Played by a scene stealing Sôsuke Ikematsu (Shoplifters, Death Note: Light Up the New World), he plays the classic renegade assassin with a passion for killing. His freelancer hitman proves to be a formidable opponent for the pair, resulting in him walking away unscathed, and their target managing to escape.
Displeased with their employee’s performance, the guild sends a pair of senior assassins to join Izawa and Takasihi, played by Atsuko Maeda (Before We Vanish, Masquerade Hotel) and newcomer Mondo Otani, with the foursome’s mission being to kill Ikematsu, and then finish off the original job. As expected, the socially awkward and carefree attitudes of Izawa and Takaishi soon start to clash with the no nonsense approach of their new colleagues, but when it turns out Ikematsu also works for the hilariously named Agricultural Assassin Co-Op, they realise they’ll need to work together to survive.
Sakamoto seems to have realised with the third entry that the recipe needed to be changed up to stay fresh, and by putting Izawa and Takaishi up against the wall from the beginning, it delivers the intended narrative thrust that gradually builds in momentum across the 112–minute runtime (marking the longest of the trilogy). The initial confrontation between Izawa and Ikematsu (which takes place as Takaishi attempts to chase down their target) is both brutal and innovative, with the pair literally fighting as they run, desperately trying to reach a handgun that’s constantly kicked or thrown further out of their reach. It shows all the signs of a collaboration between director, fight choreographer, and star who’ve worked together long enough to start pushing each other’s abilities to the next level, and it’s a delight to watch.
The decision to switch from CGI blood to fake blood is also a commendable one, with the makeup department not shying away from showing the damage that Ikematsu’s barrage of fists and feet take on Izawa, particularly when she’s left a bloodied heap on the floor at the end of their initial confrontation (and this is even before the title has appeared onscreen, which eventually arrives over 20 minutes in!). For the first time in the series there’s a tangible sense that one of them may possibly not make it to the end credits (even though the fact the TV series is set after this instalment acts as a minor spoiler that they both do).
Events transpire to give BA: ND somewhat of an Accident Man: Hitman’s Holiday vibe through the direction the plot takes, with the actual target (played by the singularly named Kaibashira – Koji Shiraishi’s Never Send Me, Please) eventually falling under the protection of Izawa and Takaishi. Hunted by members of ‘The Farm’ – the nickname for the previously mentioned Co-Op – the situational humor around the fact those who end up protecting him also plan to kill him once they’ve offed the troublesome Ikematsu delivers the intended laughs (much like the situation Scott Adkins and Perry Benson find themselves in!). In fact it’s fair to say that with this third outing Sakamoto shows a level of maturity when it comes to both the characterisation and the humour, with the latter no longer feeling as forced as it did in the first instalment.
While anyone clocking into any of the Baby Assassins movies (and now TV mini-series) will be doing so for the action, the investment in Izawa and Takaishi’s relationship feels much more relatable this time around, with the danger they’re in allowing both actresses to display a genuine concern for the other. The shift away from the cutesy and quirky actually allows both characters some breathing space to feel more like people the audience should care about, and by the time the end credits roll for the first time I was left wanting more.
However the most important aspect of BA: ND is, expectedly, the action. As mentioned earlier proceedings start off with a bang, and choreographer Kensuke Sonomura does a stellar job of building on the action as the plot progresses. In the same year he’d direct Ghost Killer, which starred one half of the Baby Assassins in the form of Akari Takaishi, for which he also handled the action, and while the fight action was of the usual high quality, one of my complaints was that the gunfights felt uninspired and flat. Not the case here, with a bullet riddled finale executed with creativity to spare, and while no one is ever going to mistake these movies for coming with a high budget, the kinetic energy of the scenes does enough to overlook any minor misgivings.
Where the action truly shines though is when the cast are left empty handed, or at least, armed only with a knife. Stuntman Santoshi Kibe not only clocks in an assistant action coordinator credit, but also makes one of his rare front of camera appearances (the last time was in 2019’s Hydra), playing the most feared assassin from the Agricultural Assassin Co-Op. Given the opportunity to bust out some monkey kung-fu against Mondo Otani in a basement carpark, his agility mixed with the fact he’s fully suited and booted make his brief appearance a memorable one. We need more monkey kung-fu in contemporary action movies (caveat: no references to Steven Seagal’s 2003 masterpiece Out for a Kill allowed)!
Of course the heavy lifting is given to Izawa in the finale, who after taking on a group of assassins in a frantic melee, is finally given the opportunity for a rematch against Ikematsu. Both know how to make Sonomura’s choreography shine, with the fight ensuring we understand she’s the underdog from the get-go, once more clearly being overpowered and outdone by the latter’s aggressive attacks. It’s a knock down drag out affair, and there’s some genuinely hairy moments when it seems a certainty the end is near, which only makes the way Iwatsu and Akaishi end up teaming up all the more satisfying. The culmination of everything the narrative has been building to so far, it ranks as one of the most satisfying final fights in recent years.
The expression goes that the third time’s a charm, and with Baby Assassins: Nice Days director and writer Yugo Sakamoto has very much proven it to be true. At the end of my review for Baby Assassins I concluded that “It’s really not an action movie, so at the end of the day, it’s both ironic and a little sad that there’s not much to recommend outside of it.” Just 3 years later, and the 3rd instalment not only delivers on the action, but remembers to make us care about everything else as well. Recommended.
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8/10
