Stuntwoman Saori Izawa anchors an often hysterical, occasionally pointed action comedy about surviving the soul-killing grind of modern work—whether mascotting or assassination.

This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the works being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Yugo Sakamoto’s Baby Assassins 2 Babies is a glorious hat trick of a movie. It’s a reliably funny, sometimes downright hysterical character comedy. It’s a thrilling action film, proof that Kensue Sonomura (director of Hydra and this year’s excellent Bad City) is one of the best action choreographers working. And it’s a darn effective character study of young people living with ennui amidst the merciless fangs of the 21st century’s obsessive grind.

For Mahiro (stuntwoman Saori Izawa, who doubled Rina Sawayama in John Wick: Chapter 4) and Chisato (Akari Takaishi), life is about having fun. There are movies to watch, giant stuffed animals to track down, and elaborate desserts to eat. Work is a way to facilitate the parts of life that matter. Not to say they don’t make a point of doing their jobs well or take any pleasure from it, but it’s not the end-all-be-all. Their employment? Assassination. Goofy and easy-going though Mahiro and Chisato are, they’re master killers—equally lethal with weapons, martial arts, and good old improvisation. Death pays for life.

Or that was the case until a combination of unpaid gym fees, a genuinely staggering late fine on a bill, and a bank robbery at the exact worst moment landed the two with a guild suspension from any assassination work (barring a member of their guild subcontracting them, but that is not likely to happen). Thus, Chisato and Mahiro must screw up their courage/swallow their boredom, and venture into the terrifying world of part-time jobs. They stumble—with boredom, adjusting to a vastly reduced food budget, with a band of little shonen manga-quoting hellions who have no time for cute mascot costumes, and how stress makes them chafe against each other. Sometimes, there’s nothing to do but go at it—leading to a be-costumed duel between its anti-heroines that stands as one of Baby Assassins 2 Babies‘ highlights.

There’s also the matter of the two dorks out to kill them. While Mahiro and Chisato are (suspension aside) the elite of the elite, they are not the only fresh-faced killers in town. Tatsuomi Hamada’s Makoto and Joey Iwanaga’s Yuri may be part-time contractors who can only afford the most budget of diner food and live out of a car. They may be total goofballs (Makoto’s crushing on a cute waitress to the point that he can’t talk to her at all, and Yuri’s apathetic to the point that he has to be talked through a high school pep cheer he once led as a sports ace). Still, they’re not at all bad as killers go—and adequately motivated, they can be extremely dangerous. And the possibility of (alleged) full-time employment with the assassin’s guild if they can take out Mahiro and Chisato? That’s a powerful motivator.

As a choreographer, Kensuke Sonomura excels at using his sets and props as storytelling tools. Baby Assassins 2 Babies sees him apply that skill both comedically and dramatically. During Mahiro and Chisato’s costumed fight, their giant character heads act as both protection and a hindrance. On its own, two mascots brawling is funny. Sonomura’s taking the mechanics of the costumes’ design—especially the sheer cumbersomeness of their giant heads—into account for the fight’s narrative elevates it to full-on hysterical. Dramatically, Sonomura crafts his fighters as ruthless, skilled, and tough but far from invulnerable. When Makoto and Yuri get dogpiled by goons, they have to scramble to get away and find an angle in the tiny apartment they’re brawling in from which they can strike. When the assassin duos face off during the climax, their shooting is precise, and their evasion is a scramble to make the other party exhaust their ammo first—Baby Assassins 2 Babies‘ guns are guns. They are absurdly dangerous lethal weapons; taking them off the table is as vital to winning the fight as the fighters’ respective martial abilities.

And oh, those martial abilities. All four of Baby Assassins 2 Babies‘ leads acquit themselves well (speaking as someone who has not seen the first film as of this writing, I want to see it—Izawa and Takaishi are terrific), but Izawa’s the standout. She’s a high-speed blitzer whose punch-heavy fighting style intersects with Sonomura’s emphasis on positioning and constant adjustment in fun ways. Her duel with Iwanaga pits her ferocious combinations against his comparatively restrained kicks, and their grappling is a contest between masters. It’s an absolute treat, a fight scene on par with Iko Uwais and Cecep Arif Rahman’s showdown in The Raid 2.

In addition to Sonomura’s choreography and Izawa and Iwanaga’s martial ability, the sequence also boasts some fun acting on their parts—they are dead serious about trying to kill each other, and they’re kindred spirits having a ball. Likewise, Sakamoto’s skills as a storyteller and filmmaker are at their height during the showdown. There is a crucial moment where he hops from the shocking and dramatic to a guffaw-worthy punchline that simultaneously highlights the sharper side of Baby Assassins 2 Babies‘ storytelling. And oh, the costumes. One surefire way to bring some life to a grey warehouse? Give the players fun, colorful, character-filled wardrobes.

Between its best-in-class action (of what I’ve seen this year, only Sonomura’s own Bad City comes close), its four leads’ incredibly charming performances, and director/writer Sakamoto’s deft weaving of comedy, drama, and pointed poking at the idea that work should be the A-Number One priority in life, Baby Assassins 2 Babies is a treat. It’s one of my favorite movies of 2023, and I cannot wait for more folks to see it.