Novel in its premise and approach to action, Baby Assassins was right up my alley.
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Action movie fans are a funny bunch. In some ways we're always looking for our next high or new obsession that can show us something fun and new. Basically seeing the same kind of fighting gets old after awhile. As great as Jackie Chan's best films in terms of choreography and stunt work, if you see 10 in a row they can run together. That's why movies like The Raid break through. You show us a martial art we've never seen on-screen before and do it well, well now you've got our attention. I bring all of this up because there's a trilogy of films that have brought something different to the proceedings, the Baby Assassins franchise. So today I thought I'd look into the first film and see what's so special about these movies.
The Setup
The film centers around two soon-to-be high school graduates...that are also contract killers. With their handler wanting to maintain appearances, the two girls are forced to do the unthinkable: room together and find part time jobs. But as the young ladies adjust to cohabitation and the doldrums of regular work, one of their most recent targets is piecing together who killed their dealer and hunting the girls down...
Baby Assassins is a funny movie because the reasons why action fans like it so much and why the movie itself works, is the inherent juxtaposition in the premise.
The movie-long joke here is that these incredibly lethal assassins are teenagers and that somehow apartment living and part-time jobs are more difficult for this duo than merc'ing a room full of heavily armed thugs.
There's no change in their outlook towards anything and they either act or are completely oblivious to how out of bounds their existence is. See scenes where the girls realize the washing machine broke because they loaded up pants that still had a fully loaded gun in it or they get the wrong kind of attention at work because their lunch costs the same as a coworker's entire paycheck.
They also act like kids, with Mahiro acting like a broody youth who keeps quiet in the corner and Chisato being perpetually bubbly when the self-described sociopath Mahiro tries to be more "human."
This outlook also applies to the action scenes where Chisato portrays getting to an assassination the same way someone would treat almost arriving late for their shift.
The action itself though? That's a different beast.
Crunchy/Close Quarters
The main appeal of Baby Assassins for action fans is the fight choreography which looks and feels unique in the genre. Most on screen fights and martial arts, and even mixed martial arts, there's an emphasis on going style for style. This is the grapple portion. This is the exchanging strikes portion.
Usually with a lot of wideshots with characters in form fitting clothes so you can take in everything they're doing.
In Baby Assassins grappling and striking all blend together fluidly and our combatants are in baggy clothes. This is especially the case for our antisocial assassin Mahiro who dresses like a tomboy in big pants and big shirts.
But that's part of it. Because those big sleeves and pant legs help her obscure strikes, deflect blows, and move fluidly around her opponents without intense close ups on grips.
A great example is the first portion of a bigger fight later in the film. Mahiro is surprised by an attack. Her attackers gets in close and controls her arm to make Mahiro attempts to shoot him moot. He then knocks then gun away and gets Mahiro on the ground.
A great example is the first portion of a bigger fight later in the film. Mahiro is surprised by an attack. Her attackers gets in close and controls her arm to make Mahiro attempts to shoot him moot. He then knocks then gun away and gets Mahiro on the ground.
Nine times out of ten this is where the attacker moves Mahiro into a takedown or Mahiro does a simple counter and gets free.
Instead, this is an enitre sequence where the attacker is dragging and trying to bring in Mahiro, while Mahiro keeps changing her body position by flipping over, rotating around grips, and beyond. All in fluild motions. It's like someone took the ground game portion of MMA fighting and did it standing up with more flair. It's also all rapid fire.
My biggest complaint about mixed martial arts choreography in movies is that the grappling portions can be really boring. Because much like MMA bouts, it's too two men rolling around on the ground for position, nearly being choked out/tapping out before making a big push to reverse the situation. As much effort and atheleticism that's required to do that well, it can be very slow and not cinematic.
Whereas every fight in Baby Assassins might feature grappling, but it's quick movements and counter movements moving up down and all around versus the same two feet of the mat. This also makes the moves much harder to predict and adds a lot of drama to these fights.
Do I wish the first film had more of this? Yes. But the anarchic energy of the premise helps sort things out and delivering in the action beats that are there are how you get two sequels.
The Verdict: The Right Kind of Novelty
Novel in its premise and approach to action, Baby Assassins was right up my alley. 8/10
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