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Posted in: Movies, Review | Tagged: Akari Takaishi, Baby Assasins 2, Baby Assassins, comedy thriller, japanese movies, mma, Saori Izawa, Yugo Sakamoto
Baby Assassins 2 Babies: Killing is Easy but Adulting is Still Hard
Baby Assassins 2 is a fun if less complex sequel but still hilarious and with an even bleaker story lurking underneath the comedy
Article Summary
- 'Baby Assassins 2 Babies' returns with Gen Z slacker assassins facing new challenges.
- The film satirizes gig economy capitalism with a comedic yet dark tone.
- Innovative low-budget action scenes outdo Hollywood with unique choreography.
- The sequel carries a social commentary on generational struggles under capitalism.
They're back, the freelance killers for hire in Baby Assassins 2 Babies, because we can't get enough of those Gen Z slacker girls who are great at killing but absolutely suck at adulting. And this time, they have a problem. Mahiro (Saori Izawa) and Chisato (Akari Takashi) have been suspended from their regular jobs as well-paid assassins for beating up some would-be bank robbers for interrupting their attempts to pay their power bill on time to avoid the late fee. While they're in their suspension period, they can't take any contract jobs, nor are they allowed to kill anyone, which becomes inconvenient when a couple of wannabe slacker dudes come gunning for them.
Baby Assassins 2 Babies is a Satire of Gig Economy Capitalism
Baby Assassins 2 Babies continues the first film's slice-of-life comedy dynamics where Chisato and Mahiro would love nothing more than just chill out in their cramped apartment eating ice cream and snacks in between hit jobs. Still, here they're forced to take crappy dead-end jobs again to pay their bills during their suspension. The whole story hinges on their odd couple dynamic with Mahiro, the antisocial coiled spring who expresses herself best with physical violence (Izawa is a highly-accomplished MMA fighter and stunt performer), and happy-go-lucky Chisato, whose cheerful goofiness flips into a homicidal rage if you really piss her off, with Takaishi's comic timing bouncing off Izawa's deadpan. The sequel also spends more time with the other workers in the assassins association's bureaucracy: the girls' supervisor who has to read them the rules and keep them on the straight and narrow like a high school counselor on the verge of exasperation, only this is about jobs involving murdering people, and the service crew who have to clean up the blood and bodies from every job but need the necessary paperwork first. It's an obvious satire on the nightmarish bureaucracy in all aspects of life in Japan.
A Unique Action Movie That Beats Hollywood
Baby Assassins 2 Babies and its predecessor were made on tiny budgets but features action you haven't seen before. The best action movies need to show the audience something new. Writer-director Yugo Sakamoto effortlessly comes up with scenes that meld comedy and action, like two people in furry animal suits in an MMA fight and some unique gunfire choreography in single takes, not to mention Izawa's fights that are always the highlight of the movie.
Still Funny but Bleaker than the First Movie
The first Baby Assassins was one of the best action comedies of 2021, and Baby Assassins 2 Babies has a simpler plot. It is just as funny but might carry a bleaker message underneath the laughs. The wannabe hitters Makoto (Tatsuomi Hamada) and Yuri (Joey Iwanaga) are guy versions of Mashiro and Chisato who would also like to be able to live lives as slackers, crushing on the girl at the ramen restaurant and hanging out but have no other prospects to move up except by killing Mashiro and Chisato so they can take over their rankings in the Association. They might have been friends or at least acquaintances if they weren't trying to kill each other, and Mashiro and Chisato despise their wannabe ways on sight. These kids were screwed over by their elders and the crappy system they were born into. Unlike Hollywood fun like John Wick, this is an action movie with social commentary and on a fraction of the budget.
Baby Assassins 2 is out on Blu-Ray and VOD on April 5th.
Baby Assassins 2
7.5/10
Baby Assassins 2 is a fun if less complex sequel but still hilarious and with an even bleaker story lurking underneath the comedy
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