By For over 20 years now, action director Kensuke Sonomura has been rising up the ranks of both video game and film choreography to create a wholly unique and grounded style of action that incorporates both real-world tactics and flashy fisticuffs. While the average filmgoer in the States likely hasn’t heard of him, they may have actually seen or played some of his work. From games like Devil May Cry 3, Metal Gear Solid 4, and even the recent Resident Evil 3 remake to films such as Versus, Resident Evil: Vendetta, and Jigen Daisuke, the man has carved out a niche that has quickly taken over modern choreography. The likes of John Wick, for instance, owe a lot to Sonomura’s style.
Over in Japan, Sonomura recently started directing films of his own. Both Hydra and Bad City put his style front and center and can sometimes feel like demo reels for his particular brand of on-screen brawling. Then you have his collaborative efforts with director Yugo Sakamoto, namely the hugely popular Baby Assassins films. Featuring two perfectly cast leads in the form of Akari Takaishi and Saori Izawa, these movies take a ridiculous concept, mix it with slice-of-life anime comedy, and top it off with Sonomura’s intricate and flashy action to create a triple-layer cake of cinematic goodness.
Baby Assassins: Nice Days is the culmination of that formula. The third film in this loose trilogy (following 2021’s Baby Assassins and 2023’s Baby Assassins: 2 Babies) features everything that made the previous entries such big hits mixed with possibly the best execution of Sonomura’s style yet. While I certainly enjoyed the previous two films for their oft-kilter personality and solid battles, Nice Days ends things on a high.
Baby Assassins: Nice Days
Director: Yugo Sakamoto
Release Date: July 27, 2024 (NYAFF), September 27, 2024 (Japan)
Country: Japan
For anyone unfamiliar with Baby Assassins as a series, know that you could go into this third film without having seen the first two. This movie does make reference to the previous one and there are obviously the years of character growth on the part of its two leads that highlights some of the tension, but these films have always been more episodic rather than serialized. Surprisingly, this third outing is the most straightforward in terms of story, with a consistent “villain” and constantly evolving stakes that keep you invested in the outcome.
Starting in media res by following two young boys, Baby Assassins: Nice Days kicks things off by showcasing the antagonist’s point-of-view first. We don’t know exactly what he is doing in the forest, but we soon see Kaede Fuyumura (Sosuke Ikematsu) gunning down a child and setting the tone for this movie. There is still comedy abound, but Nice Days is a bit darker and more serious than the last two outings. Soon after, we flash over to the babies, Chisato (Akari Takaishi) and Mahiro (Saori Izawa) kicking back on the beach and having fun. They’ve never taken a vacation before and now is their time to finally forget about their assassin gig and just be friends.
After some incredible bonding and character moments, the two look at the time and realize they need to get back to their boring job. As their handler explains, this will be an incredibly easy job. They need to locate a man named Matsuura (Kaibashira) at the passport embassy and assassinate him. Everyone is off duty on this day, so the babies will simply need to waltz in and kill him. The assassin’s guild’s cleanup crew will be ready to take care of the rest. As Chisato and Mahiro find, though, a freelance assassin is holding their target as they enter and the duo are nearly killed in the process.
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It’s a stark opener that, for fans of the series especially, kicks things off brilliantly. It sets up a sort of revenge angle for Mahiro, adds emotional tension to Chisato’s relationship with her best friend, and gives you a centralized force to root against, that being Kaede. It doesn’t hurt that the opening action sequence feels like a Mission: Impossible set-piece turned up to 11, with characters kicking off walls to shift their weight and dodge bullets, some incredible dirty boxing and wrestling moves, and a lot of impressive parkour.
From there, the babies meet up with Iruka Minami (Atsuko Maeda) and Riku Nanase (Mondo Otani), two more senior assassins who have been sent in as backup. While Chisato and Mahiro aren’t particularly happy with their new arrangement, the doubling of manpower not only gives them a better chance of defeating Kaede but adds an extra layer of interpersonal drama to the mix. Chisato and Iruka, for instance, are practically the same person and often butt heads over inconsequential stuff.
It’s really their interactions that hearken back to the previous Baby Assassins films the most. The duo doesn’t necessarily hate each other, but have different philosophies on how to tackle this job and will antagonize each other for comedic effect. During scenes where everyone is investigating or laying out their plans for action, we get talky bits that are loaded with non-sequiturs and idiosyncratic humor. Chisato and Mahiro also still have some of their lackadaisical hangout sessions, though these are more integrated into the overall plot.
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That’s the aspect I enjoy the most about Baby Assassins: Nice Days. While the previous two films were certainly fun and an interesting way to mix up the typical action movie, they could feel episodic. It was really no surprise that earlier this year, a Baby Assassins TV series was announced as the films felt tailor-made for that format. With Nice Days, though, you get the sense that Sakamoto wanted this to be the biggest, baddest, and final entry in the film iteration of The Babies.
The comedy is still present, but Nice Days is absolutely the darkest of the three movies. The tone can be heavier at times, but it gives way to some truly beautiful interactions between Chisato and Mahiro. I was hooked from the intro, but the babies show a more emotional and vulnerable side to their friendship. In some ways, this feels like a callback to the “heroic bloodshed” films of John Woo, or even the “yanggang” movies that Chang Cheh was putting out. Some may see their relationship as bordering on romantic, but we’re really getting to see how irreplaceable Chisato and Mahiro are to each other.
Where this maybe stumbles a little is with regard to two characters from the previous movie, Mana Miyauchi (Tomo Nakai) and Mamoru Tasaka (Atomu Mizuishi). Part of the guild’s cleanup crew, the two had a touching romance blossom during the course of Baby Assassins: 2 Babies. Here, we already have that history and the couple are mostly in support roles. There’s a fun speech Tasako gives Chisato, but it works to further her relationship with Mahiro more than divulge anything new about Tasaka.
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Apart from that, any of the faults I have with Nice Days are really just down to editing. I won’t fault the film for having some incomplete special effects as I saw a fairly early version of the movie. What does hurt a little is some of the transitions and pacing, which don’t feel finalized. Certain moments drag on a few seconds longer than they probably should (we don’t need to see a person’s body flop on the floor and then hold for five seconds) and some of the establishing shots repeat themselves. The movie is also close to two hours long, which is certainly hefty for a series that is often very light in tone. Still, these are nitpicks more than anything and are aspects that may not even wind up in the final cut.
What it comes down to is that Yugo Sakamoto has evolved so much as a filmmaker over his career that he has finally crafted a movie that contains all of his peculiarities with almost none of the faults. Action director Kensuke Sonomura has also fully realized his vision for modern action here in a way that trounces everything he has done in the past. You will certainly need to have a suspension of disbelief with the way guns are used, but I haven’t been this thrilled with an action movie since possibly The Raid 2 a decade ago.
Baby Assassins: Nice Days is the film I feel will put Sakamoto and Sonomura on the map. Whatever you may have thought about the previous Baby Assassins movies, this one is better. It has incredibly tight action, a more consistent and organic tone, and some truly dramatic and well-acted character moments. For me, this is going to be the highlight of this particular series for many years to come. It will take something truly monumental to top this, but I do have hopes that the TV series will continue the legacy of the babies in an enjoyable fashion.
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For now, make sure you see Baby Assassins: Nice Days if it is playing in your area. The film will be making its worldwide debut at the 23rd New York Asian Film Festival before going into wide release in Japan this September. Well Go USA will be distributing the film in the US, though there are no confirmed dates for when that will happen.
