Introduction

There are many movies I’ve seen in my life but I won’t deny many have escaped my knowledge. Case in point, the Baby Assassins series. Released back in 2021 and written/directed by Yugo Sakamoto, Baby Assassins has garnered quite a bit of fanfare for fusing comedy with high-octane action and starring two female protagonists. Chisato and Mahiro (played by Akari Takaishi and Saori Izawa respectively) seemed to be normal teenage girls who just so happened to live together as roommates. But beneath their playful and cute banter lies two assassins for hire who take their work quite seriously—most of the time at least. The first movie and second explored the two as they adjusted to living life in Japan despite their dark past all while escaping various threats and fellow killers gunning for them.

Baby Assassins 3: Nice Days, our focus today, continues following the girls in yet another mission that challenges them to face one of the biggest threats to date. Can these two girls keep their friendship alive and blooming, or will they finally face a killer even greater than them? More importantly, should you even care to worry about these two oddballs? Let’s find out in our review of Baby Assassins 3: Nice Days! Huge thanks to Well Go USA for the early reviewer copy!

Story

Mahiro and Chisato are enjoying their lives as still free-spirited girls who just so happen to be contract killers for the guild. After facing off against their last threat, the girls are just trying to keep things simple once more and hope their next killings go smoother. Unfortunately for them, fate has other plans. When the two go to a scheduled hit, they run into a strange event—another killer? This freelance killer, Kaede Fuyumura, seems to have his own agenda and as per usual, Mahiro and Chisato are about to land smack dab in another fight for survival.

As I mentioned earlier, I had previously never heard of Baby Assassins so I had some homework to do before jumping into this third outing. One of the things I learned almost immediately is that the plot for Baby Assassins 3 seems pretty identical to the last two movies in the series, which makes sense since these films are more style over substance. I didn’t think either of the previous movies had much “plot” and really just screamed girls kicking butt and shooting guns ala John Wick. It works, but one can’t deny this third movie doesn’t try to change the formula. In its nearly two-hour runtime I wasn’t complaining, and I think there’s just enough plot to keep the story going—but don’t expect high levels of storytelling here. Baby Assassins 3 holds true to the theme: if it isn’t broken, why fix it?

Acting and Cast

Almost immediately when I met Chisato and Mahiro, I fell in love with these two girls. That isn’t just because their goofy and playful nature strangely works with their killer personas, but because their actresses are perfect in their roles. Akari and Saori really dive deep into their characters, making their on-screen performances shine even better than the action. How they can discuss getting haircuts one minute and then worry about killing a target is incredible, and I find it hard to believe many actors in the world could pull off their performances so flawlessly. There are several recurring actors in the movie but I won’t spoil who appears, as it adds comedic flair and story elements when they do pop up. Regardless, everyone did a fabulous job with their roles and I will say it was the best part of Baby Assassins 3: Nice Days without a doubt.

Cinematography and Direction

Here’s where I’m kind of mixed with Baby Assassins 3. When the action hit hard in this film, I was floored. There are some big scenes in Baby Assassins 3 that mix martial arts with kung fu—Gun Fu as it’s called—that locked me in. Then there were some fights that felt so staged and obviously choreographed I was laughing, but not because they were intentionally like that. I can never tell when Baby Assassins 3 wants to be a serious action movie or just pure comedy because it does tend to thread the needle in that regard.

I never once thought even the bad scenes weren’t enjoyable, but they were just off-putting and that did affect my enjoyment a bit. Still, I think fans of Baby Assassins at this point will know that this is never meant to be a deeply directed movie with Hollywood-perfected cinematography. There are for sure those moments in this film, but they come and go, which might be an issue with the direction this franchise takes in the future.

Conclusion

Baby Assassins 3: Nice Days might not be a perfect movie by any stretch of the imagination and I could harp on a lot about this film, but I equally don’t want to. I’m not saying that as a reviewer but as someone who just enjoyed the movie more often than not. The comedy often made me smile or chuckle, even when it fell flat, and the action was eye-grabbing a majority of the time. Those who think the highest of the Baby Assassins story will feel this third outing is excellent and probably won’t notice the flaws.

Even though I came into this franchise late, I find myself understanding why for four years this series has released three movies and even a TV show! Baby Assassins 3: Nice Days gave me a nice day watching it and I’d highly recommend buying it when it releases digitally and physically on August 26th! Once more, we’d love to thank Well Go USA for the review copy and wish you success with the film’s physical worldwide release!

—Aaron