Now 27, Yugo Sakamoto announced his arrival as an action movie wunderkind in 2021 with four low-budget, high-body-count films. One of these, the action comedy “Baby Assassins,” played widely on the international festival circuit.
Now, Sakamoto is back with the entertaining yet verbose follow-up “Baby Assassins 2 Babies.” Though much is carried over from the first film, with Saori Izawa and Akari Takaishi reprising their roles as a pair of bickering hitwomen, it can be enjoyed as a stand-alone flick.
The fight scenes have the sort of dynamism, invention and impact that are trademarks of Sakamoto’s work, though on both “Assassins” films he collaborated with veteran action director Kensuke Sonomura. Also, while some battles and brawls have a comic vibe, when things turn serious they develop a gut-punch realism missing in many Japanese action films, which are choreographed more like dance routines than street fights.