Baby Assassins 2 Babies

Perhaps aware that the chemistry shared by his two layabout leads far outweighed any of the first instalment's amoral appeal, writer-director Yugo Sakamoto's rapidly produced sequel, Baby Assassins 2 Babies, contrives to dispense with pitiless contract killing almost entirely. Suspended by their stickler crime syndicate bosses for their extra-curricular activities (they violently foiled a bank robbery), Akari Takaishi's Chisato and Saori Izawa's Mahiro find themselves even more cash-strapped than usual. While Chisato attempts to bolster her dwindling funds with some ill-advised gambling, attention shifts to a rival group of assassins: brothers played by Joey Iwanaga and Tatsuomi Hamada. These Kamimura lads, who have been tricked into believing they can kill their way into the good graces of the underworld and therefore secure themselves regular employment, have (given their line of work) a surprisingly sweet disposition. 

Pistol-packing murder aside, the pair largely behave like characters who have been lifted out of a high school sports serial. They jokingly repeat their basketball coaches slogans, fret about asking girls out on dates and spend most of their time dreaming about ordering the higher value items on the menu in their local café. Even their response to the weapons they are issued with is strangely appreciative. The boys noting their graduation from ancient, Soviet surplus to the more photogenic, Italian firearms you expect to see in movies like this. As with Baby Assassins, 2 Babies is as much a jaundiced look at freelance hardship as it is a piece packed with martial arts throwdowns or shrieking shoot-outs. This sequel narrows its focus further, taking aim at the complete lack of opportunities available for underqualified school leavers in the overly regimented workplaces typical of a stagnant economy. Often, it seems, the next rung up on the corporate ladder is really only available to you when your (equally trapped) superior dies. So, do you wait them out or bumble after their job, guns blazing?