Baby Assassins: Nice Days (2024) – Review

Quick Thoughts:

1. I love it
2. It features several beautifully staged action scenes from Kensuke Sonomura
3. Director Yugo Sakamoto is becoming more confident
4. Saori Izawa and Akari Takaishi are the best. I want 30 more of these films
5. Baby Assassins 3 features the most action in the franchise. This might disappoint fans who love watching Mahiro and Chisato being slackers

Baby Assassins 3 (or Baby Assassins: Nice Days) rules. Director/writer Yugo Sakamoto and action choreographer Kensuke Sonomura make the most of their increased budget by crafting a more action-oriented Baby Assassins film that focuses on what happens when Mahiro (Saori Izawa) and Chisato ( Akari Takaishi) are forced to battle a brutal assassin on the island of Miyazaki, Japan. The new action-first direction might annoy fans who love the slacker vibes of the previous two films, however,  the new phase is smart because the professional murderers need to grow up and leave the safety of their apartment couch as they get older and become more effective murders That being said, a lot of screen time is dedicated to their friendship and the addition of two older agency assassins (Atsuko Maeda and Mondo Otani) allows them to be sassy to their elders. 

After watching Mahiro and Chisato assassinate people for years (and eat food on their couch), it’s easy to forget that they are still teenagers. In the film, Mahiro celebrates her 20th birthday by drinking warm beer inside the home of one of their targets, and it’s a good reminder that they are psychopathic teenagers who became contract killers after graduating from high school a couple of years prior. Also, because their employers are worried about Japanese tax officials, the baby assassins have to work day jobs to prevent audits. Typically, forcing legit maniacs to blend into modern Japanese society isn’t wise, but it’s what makes the franchise great. In Baby Assassins 3, it’s fun watching them battle more experienced villains and teaming up with adult assassins who are flummoxed by their teenage coworkers. 

The villain in the film is  Kaede Fuyumura (Sosuke Ikematsu), an assassin who is close to completing a years-long assignment that saw him murdering 150 people. Before he can kill his final victim, Mahiro and Chisato interrupt the milestone and a beautifully staged battle takes place in the hallways and offices of a government building. The highlight of the action scene is a fight between Mahiro and Kaede that shows what happens when two elite Japanese assassins engage in hand-to-hand combat (some gun stuff is thrown in as well). The two actors bring it, and their 5-minute battle is a marvel of action choreography, inventive staging and lightning-quick strikes. 

In the script stage, Kaede wasn’t too violent, but Sakamoto, a fan of violent movies, went overboard and created a maniac while filming. What’s nice is that Kaede never earns sympathy, but you understand his character via flashbacks and his interactions with the equally deadly Mahiro. There’s a moment when he’s waiting for a kill order, and he spends the time hitting a punching bag while the victim lies tied up on the floor next to him. It’s a startling image, which is surprising because despite all the carnage in the franchise, it’s never been something cruel. With villains like Kaede, the two baby assassins need to grow up because as they make their way up the hitperson ladder, their competition gets much deadlier.

Final thoughts – Baby Assassins 3 is one of the best action films of recent memory, and the 13-minute final fight in an abandoned warehouse is one of the best fights of the decade.