Blu-Ray Spotlight: Baby Assassins 2
The sequel releases on Blu-Ray and digital in April.
Following the success of the first Baby Assassins, this follow-up delivers on what the first did so well. By focusing on scatter-brained professionals who truly are good at their job (but nothing else), there’s plenty of potential to explore with our favorite slacker hitman duo. This second feature eases up on the conflict between Chisato and Mahilo and the film is much smoother for it.
After getting along and signing a contract with their agency, Chisato and Mahilo find themselves suspended after thwarting a bank robbery attempt. Meanwhile a couple of struggling part-time killers target the girls, in the hopes that they will inherit their full-time positions to earn more money. In the middle of this Chisato and Mahilo try to keep their head above water and manage their debt and play by the rules in the midst of their suspension.
Video
Baby Assassins 2 doesn’t look much different than the first image wise, and as the first was presented in scope, so too is the sequel (2.39:1 to be exact) in an AVC encode from the digital source. The film looks quite good for the most part, but when more information is flurrying across the screen, like during fight sequences, the extra data can bring about some slight artifacts on screen. However, the fights are the most engaging part about these films and the artifacting is so slight it would virtually go unnoticed if not for those who review video releases like this.
There are a couple instances of banding that I noticed in more well-lit scenes but it doesn’t present as a consistent issue. During the first portions of the film there is a yellowish tint to how it looks that drops off later in the same setting, so it’s unclear if this was intentional for some reason and was dropped in post or if it was something in-camera. Despite these small issues the majority of the film looks nice and clean, giving way to details that enhance the enjoyment of the film.
Audio
Just as the first film offered, Baby Assassins 2 is presented in its original Japanese language track both in stereo and 5.1 DTS-HD surround, with optional English subtitles. The sound mixing is extremely satisfactory, the surround track offering a dynamic picture of speeding bullets, fist & foot impacts with a real feeling of harm, and a sneakily omnipresent score that creeps in and out nicely to sell the film’s important moments. Dialogue always comes through nice and crisp, with no issues in intelligibility whatsoever.
Special Features
The only extras available on this disc are trailers for other Well Go USA titles, which will play on bootup, and the trailer for Baby Assassins 2 itself. Selecting the trailer from the menu will trigger a play all feature for the other trailers on the disc once the first one ends.
Final Thoughts
Baby Assassins 2 is quite similar to the first, so depending on your mileage on the hang-out vibes broken up by action and fight scenes this won’t differ much between films. Because these characters and their flaws have already been established, the sequel has a little more room to breathe. Some may not go for the somewhat more baked-in lackadaisical approach the script takes here, but for its ultimate potential it can be argued that this is a stronger effort that focuses more on the first film’s strengths while trying something new. It’s a fun return to the light-hearted comedic world of adolescent contract killers that act as a remedy to counteract the growing number of John Wick clones.
There’s more character work at play in this one which is a step in the right direction that helps with its minimalistic world-building. The second film is more engaging than the first, despite it having less impressive fight sequences but there are more of them which fill out the experience in a satisfactory, well-rounded fashion. For those who have seen the first and those who have not, Baby Assassins 2 comes highly recommended. The film will also be available to stream on Hi-Yah’s service on July 2nd, but based on the blu-ray’s affordable price for the quality of the experience that is certainly the best way to go.
Baby Assassins 2 releases on Blu-Ray and Digital today, April 2nd courtesy of Well Go USA. The first film is still available on the above platforms as well as streaming on Hi-Yah!.
If you’d like to purchase a copy, consider the following outlets instead of Amazon, if you will:
DeepDiscount | Gruv
Disclaimer: Well Go USA has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
