“Hydra” Japanese Theatrical Poster
Director: Kensuke Sonomura
Cast: Masanori Mimoto, Miu, Tasuku Nagase, Takaya Aoyagi, Takashi Nishina, Satoshi Kibe, Kensuke Sonomura, Tsutomu Uchigasaki, Naoki Hayashida
Running Time: 75 min.
By Paul Bramhall
Ask anyone about the best martial arts movies from Japan during the 2010’s, and chances are the unanimous vote would go to the Rurouni Kenshin trilogy, the adaptation of the manga that spanned 2012 – 2014. The reason for why these movies are so revered is interesting, in that their aesthetic completely disregards the traditional chambara conventions, in which one swift thrust of the sword would end a duel in an instant, and instead looked towards the Hong Kong action aesthetic for their inspiration. This was due to the presence of Kenji Tanigaki as the action choreographer, a long-time member of Donnie Yen’s action team, and while purists may have cried foul, it was also a reminder of how the rhythm and speed of the Hong Kong action style is a joy to watch. Tanigaki isn’t the only one with a love of Hong Kong action though, and at the tail end of the 10’s, another little seen contender arrived in the form of Hydra.
While it marks the directorial debut of Kensuke Sonomura, similar to the likes of Sam Hargrave, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, Sonomura has an extensive background in fight choreography and stunt work. Fans of Japanese action may recognize him as the kung-fu fighter from 2013’s Bushido Man (which he also choregraphed), however for most they’ll have likely experienced Sonomura’s work behind the scenes as the choreographer on the likes of Alien vs. Ninja, The Warriors Way, and most recently on John Woo’s Manhunt. Personally I’m always a fan of when an action director decides to helm a movie, as regardless of how good or bad the final product turns out to be, usually there’s at least some knock out set pieces to enjoy.
However Japanese indie action has hardly had an easy ride. In a country where action is at the very bottom of the list of genres that bring in the bucks, most productions that market themselves purely on their action content usually come hamstrung with a microbudget which would hardly cover the cost of a California roll on a Hollywood filmset. Anyone who’s seen a Seiji Chiba flick will feel like they’ve visited the cave where half of most of his movies seem to play out in themselves, and the fact that it seems a struggle to even properly light it doesn’t do the action any favors. So understanding that Hydra was a similarly budgeted production, regardless of Sonomura and his casts talent, expectations were understandably set low.
I refer to the cast, because Hydra features some of Japan’s best action talent in front of the camera. Masanori Mimoto is probably the hardest working guy in Japan’s action scene, and if you’ve seen even a handful of action orientated Japanese movies made in the last 15 years, chances are he’ll pop up in them somewhere. From the aforementioned Alien vs. Ninja, to playing the yakuza in Bushido Man, the frog (you’ll know what I mean if you’ve seen it) in Miike Takashi’s Yakuza Apocalypse, and alongside Tak Sakaguchi in Re:Born. Mimoto has also dabbled in Hong Kong work over the years, from a minor role in the Michelle Yeoh action vehicle Silver Hawk in 2004, to more substantial roles in recent efforts like God of War and Enter the Fat Dragon.
Mimoto plays the main character in Hydra, named after a small snack bar he works in as a chef. His occupation is significant, as it plays to one of Hydra’s biggest strengths, in that it doesn’t feel like an action movie at all. After a strong opening which sees a character brutally assassinated in the middle of relieving themselves (as messy as it sounds), and a pulsating synthesiser soundtrack which plays over the neon lit credits, Hydra settles itself into a low-key slice of life played out through the microcosm of the snack bar. With the bar acting as a self-contained environment, conversations play out over glasses of whisky between the customers and the 2 staff – the bar owner, played by newcomer Miu, and the waiter played by Kamen Rider regular Tasuku Nagase. Mimoto plays the cook as mostly silent and slightly awkward, but the trio are clearly close, with the added element of Nagase harbouring a crush on Miu.
Sonomura proves surprisingly capable for a first-time director, with a solid understanding of how to create a slow-burn narrative. With a punchy 75-minute runtime, the opening 10 minutes are entirely dialogue free, relying purely on the visuals to tell the story, and for the first 45 mins we spend it mostly in the bar, establishing and understanding the relationships between the trio. Crucially, we learn that Miu was left the bar by her father, who disappeared 3 years ago, and was acquainted with Mimoto. It’s revealed Mimoto used to work for a clandestine group of assassins, their mission to right the wrongs of the world, but due to a promise he made he’s been living a peaceful life as a chef. It didn’t work out for Steven Seagal, and it won’t work out for Mimoto either.
While the plot of a former assassin being brought back into the game is as clichéd as it gets, having been used in everything from ancient China in Wu Xia, to contemporary America in Broken Path, the unassuming nature of Hydra and Mimoto’s performance make it work. Most importantly, the set-up leads to 2 blistering one on one fights that populate Hydra’s final 30 minutes. The action comes with a triple threat of choreographers, with both Sonomura and Mimoto pitching in, along with Naohiro Kawamoto (who, keeping with the Bushido Man theme, played the Bojutsu Master). Kawamoto gets to play the villain of the piece, a rival from a not so righteous group of assassins, and he features as an opponent in both fights.
The fights are some of the best I’ve seen since The Raid 2. What’s even more amazing is that they feature one of my pet hates – the ‘soft’ sound effect which mostly sees the sound design use realism over exaggerated hits, an element I usually find problematic, see City of Violence as a classic example. However here it doesn’t act to the fight’s detriment at all, partly because the pace is so fast it’s impossible to take in all of what’s happening on an initial watch, and that’s with no undercranking. These guys move like lightening, and the throwdowns incorporate everything from knife fighting to jiu-jitsu, in some cases even a screwdriver. The exchanges are lengthy in a way which recalls the golden era of modern HK action flicks in the 80’s, but given a contemporary touch that arguably owes a nod of gratitude to the work Donnie Yen did incorporating MMA with the likes of SPL and Flash Point.
When Mimoto goes up against Kawamoto in the finale, it’s an exhaustive uninterrupted 4-minute showdown, and acts as a healthy reminder that it’s still possible to create a fight scene in 2019 that gets the adrenaline pumping. In a way it reminded me of the no frills confrontation in the finale of Revenger from 2018, which saw Bruce Khan go up against Park Hee-soon. If the current trend is heading towards fights which are lengthy, feature long takes, and rely purely on the performers physical skill to pull them off, then count me in.
For some Hydra will definitely be a headscratcher. It’s best approached as a low-key slice of life drama, one that just happens to have a couple of awesome fight scenes thrown in, than an out and out fight flick. The latter will inevitably result in disappointment, but the fact that Sonomura seems to understand how much more rewarding action is when it has a slow lead-up, means that despite its low budget Hydra feels much more like a real movie than many of its indie peers. It may not have been by design that the time spent between the characters in the bar turned out to be more interesting than the plot about assassins, but in a way that makes Hydra a happy accident. A reminder to any action filmmaker that a solid narrative combined with a couple of high-quality action scenes, is always going to trump one which aims to assault the audience with constant action and little else. Hydra comes with a strong recommendation.
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7.5/10
Look interesting, how did you watch it? I cannot find any VOD source.
yeah how do we see this movie?
This review, especially the last sentence, summed up the film beautifully. It struck me so much when I saw a screening last year. The low-key and somewhat intimate aspects of the film are what I fell for the most. The badass action scenes are almost like the icing on the cake. I really do hope this gets the wide release it deserves
‘Hydra’ screened at quite a few film festivals last year, although as far as I’m aware it hasn’t been picked up for distribution yet. Well Go USA, are you reading this!?
Ah man! Hope this doesn’t join Truy Sat as yet another terrific action movie which doesn’t see the light of day outside limited screenings. Which is a bit of a head-scratcher given the wide choice and availability of Digital Streaming Platforms nowadays.
I’ve been eagerly anticipating for such a long time and its great to hear that lives up to expectations. I think Kensuke Sonomura deserves bigger recognition than he gets. His work as your aforementioned films are great especially impressed by his work on Manhunt. Then there’s Resident Evil Vendetta which has some very impressive fight scenes, a bit exaggerated and ridiculous but its very creative. Another film that I really wish to watch is Nowhere Girl which checking the action on Youtube its is absolutely insane and creative.
Awesome review Paul ! once again articulate, personal, funny and enlightening, been waiting a looooooooooooong time for this one actually :O wondering how you got to see this dude ? did it have a secret official release ? also glad to hear the Re: Born guys made a modern Japanese martial arts action movie you enjoyed dude ! can’t wait !
Thanks Andrew! ‘Hydra’ did the rounds on the festival circuit last year, but hopefully it’ll be picked up for distribution soon. It’s not your typical action movie, but I think it deserves an audience. (PS Oh, and sorry about ‘Seized’ :-P)
No, you DID NOT SEE THAT TOO AND REVIEW IT NEGATIVELY, PAUL I AM COMING AFTER YOU WITH EVERYTHING I GOT ! after I read your review, cause you might make some good points that’ll save your life dude ! but if not you’ll be seeing me very soon.
JK lol 😀 gonna check out your review now !
Reading reviews of this and seems like people are pretty mixed on the slower sections but definitely hoping that there will be a DVD/Blu-Ray release. Do Japanese Indie films generally have a hard time finding global distribution?
Absolutely, considering how lively the Japanese indie scene is, I’d say less than 1% of them get global distribution (and English subtitles). It’s a shame, as there’s a lot of original and interesting indie productions, but outside of the stellar work that the likes of Third Window Films put in we rarely get to see them.
Ah okay, I hadn’t realised how little of the scene managed to actually get distribution. Judging by the trailer it seemed like it had enough of a budget to get at least a DVD release. Well done for managing to see it! Also thanks for the review although it hypes me up for a movie I might not see for a few years!
Good news fellas, Hydra’s official instagram page announced a DVD release for the film on February 3rd 2021, available on amazon, HMV and others, so finally we get to see this beast !
AAAAAAAAND Hydra is now available on DVD through Amazon, HMV in Japan, don’t know when it’s gonna reach stateside but I hope it does.
You conned us all Andrew, how could you not mention in your December post that it was a Japanese DVD release that you were referring to!? 😛 No English subtitles as usual, and since the majority of the (admittedly short) runtime is dialogue driven scenes, that leaves me on the fence. Plus, where’s the Blu-ray!?
🙁 oh well I’ll just get it for the fights I guess, LOL Paul you’re the one with a screener link with ng subs bro, SHARE THE WEALTH ! 😀
Enjoy a full minute clip of Mimoto and Kawamoto going head to head in the final fight of the film on Twitter, many people have tagged, Mimoto himself has retweeted and @-ed WELL GO USA to get on this and distribute it worldwide ! Let’s get this show on the road gents !
https://twitter.com/HeadExposure/status/1360397534317998080
They listened 🙂 –
https://cityonfire.com/watch-the-brutal-trailer-for-kensuke-sonomuras-hydra-starring-masanori-mimoto/
LET’S FUCKING GO PAUL !
ALRIGHT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE TIME HAS COME ! I have finally seen “Hydra” (don’t ask how, just listen), Paul is not overselling this movie, it truly is fucking amazing, however I do have some gripes with it, mostly to due with the narrative and a couple of creative decisions made for certain character arcs, let me start from the top.
The Opening: fucking amazeballs, the only thing Paul undersold in his review (which I assume is because he’s not the biggest fan of this genre of music) is the soundtrack by MOKU. This is synthgasmic perfection on a profound level, the opening drive with the neon lit credits is on par with (might be even better) than the opening drive in Ryan Gosling’s “Drive” with Kavinsky’s Nightcall in the background. It immediately sets the mood for a retro neo-noir thriller that permeates much of Hydra’s atmosphere for the rest of its runtime. The lack of dialogue in the opening 10 minutes is something rarely seen in cinemas these days, especially not from a shorter film like this that’s only 77 minutes long and coming from a debutant veteran stunt/fight coordinator like Sonomura. It is a very somber, at times existential piece with a lot of amazing nightlife photography and aesthetics that immerses in you in the world to an almost Michael Mann-like level.
This is also unfortunately where problems arise….. You see once you get settled into the film’s core narrative and characters, including the trio in the bar aptly named “Hydra”, the more cliché and at times superficial writing and character work rears its ugly head. I am a big fan of Masanori Mimoto, I think he’s an excellent physical lead and handles his action sequences with aplomb (this has some of the best action he’s ever done), and I’m always really interested in seeing how he can evolve as an actor too. Sadly Jiro Kaneko’s script simply doesn’t give him much to play with, if Takashi’s not moody, quiet or anti-social, he’s weird, awkward and confusing, some might like this character design as realistically someone with Takashi’s past, upbringing and trauma would be quite desensitized from the society, however that is simply not that interesting to observe or even be interested in, even Vincent from Mann’s “Collateral” had implications of a very harsh childhood/upbringing, but he just oozes charisma and is very talkative, now I know and fully-well realize I’m comparing Mimoto to Tom Cruise, which might be unfair, but rather I am comparing the writing of Stuart Beattie and Jiro Kaneko, and how these two have approached a similar character archetype with polarizing degrees of success. The other two primary characters don’t fare off too well either, Rina’s the generic young teen running the bar, Kenta is a waiter that has a crush on her (the romance could’ve had potential if it wasn’t like COMPLETELY ABANDONED by a certain point in the story). The villains are much better however, Naohiro Kawamoto absolutely nails the new top dog assassin role as a rival assassin to Mimoto’s former clandestine group of assassins known as “Tokyo Life Group” his setup, buildup and character work is brilliant, remember how I said the quiet, loner type feel of Mimoto’s Takashi was simply not interesting or entertaining to follow ? Yeah Kawamoto does the exact same thing, except HE’S FUCKING BADASS to watch, this is a guy that never changes clothes, stinks like hell, fights like a demon and his sole existence in life is to bring death, some might call it an edgy portrait of a soulless shell, but that’s precisely why it works, there’s a lot of great subtext at play in Kawamoto’s acting, be it his piercing gaze that is the first strike against his opponents’ confidence and later terrifies them when the odds don’t shift in their favor.
I would actually argue the opposite was true for me from Paul’s review: The story around the ASASSINS was FAR MORE INTERESTING than the story about the bar and the inner workings of it. Hydra builds a sort of great mix of a world of assassins, corrupt policemen and criminal enterprises that’s somewhere between the glossy, glamourous outreach of the John Wick universe and the smaller, contained, mundane “9 to 5” job style portrayal of hitmen companies in the Korean actioner “A Company Man”, in fact Sonomura’s portrayal of how “everyday” murder, cleanup and operations of these companies take place is really profound, quite tragic and provides a worldview that is seldom seen in action crime thrillers of this nature/premise.
Now the action, if there ever was a more perfectly applicable instance of the phrase: “Short but sweet” THIS IS IT ! It comes fast and hard, directed with a lot of sleekness, minimal use of shaky/handheld camerawork and choreography that’s multi-layered, dynamic and tremendously exciting. There’s a fantastic buildup to the final confrontation between Mimoto and Kawamoto as both get their own isolated fights independently with other assassins, and seeing how skilled the both of them are, makes you all the more excited for that final showdown that you know is coming and MY GOD, HOLY JESUS, what a final showdown it is, nearly 4 and a half minutes of relentless, uninterrupted fighting that just never ceases to amaze and get the adrenaline rushing. The fighting ranges from classic HK style choreography to the more grounded MMA brutalism of Donnie Yen’s recent contemporary actioner output, to Re: Born style signature lighting fast knife fighting, it is just incredibly fucking DYNAMIC. There’s a great progression in the sense of new threats and obstacles getting constantly shifted in and around, between characters, such as improvised weaponry, knives and other objects. When MOKU’s badass synth score kicks in during the finale, and all the elements of tension, character work and action choreography come together, HYDRA FUCKING FIRES ON ALL CYLINDERS ! And it is quite possibly one of the best action experiences you’ll see in….. 0_0 whatever year you see this in ! 😀
However it is almost immediately after this fight that nearly everything plot, character or narrative-wise falls apart, the main central villain is revealed with questionable superhuman abilities that feel tonally jarring to the more grounded action design of the rest of the film, not one, BUT TWO characters’ fates are just abandoned with only an inkling of an implication as to what happened, and then the right as the film feels like it’s about to become a larger beast and setup an even more awesome third act possibly, you realize: “Oh shit -_- there’s only like 5 minutes of the film left” aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand it just ends 🙁 Probably setting up a sequel, that I am very interested and excited about, but for the time being, ending THIS film on a very sour note, that doesn’t quite deliver the sufficient payoff to truly cap off the relatively amazing work done prior in the film.
Despite all the shortcomings though, this is a fantastic directorial debut from Sonomura, who shows himself capable in not just action direction on a more universal front but also adept at storytelling and character work. If he gets a hold of a stronger script, and approaches some of the character development as well as making their arcs/fates slightly more clarified and well-defined, he’ll be a force to be reckoned with and quite possibly the leading action filmmaker in Japan with global appeal, as such I’d highly recommend seeing “Hydra” if for nothing else but for seeing a new voice being born anew in the Japanese film industry.
7/10
Great to see you enjoyed this one (almost) as much as I did Andrew!
But I mean, come on, the one we’re really all waiting for you to weigh in on is ‘Dead Reckoning’! 😛
NO PAUL NO ! Goddamnit No ! xD I have seen it but no, I will not talk about it ! NO ! I REFUSE !
-_- Alright fine ! Full review of that coming soon !
Great to hear your thoughts as well, Andrew. I just watched HYDRA last night and am going to have to side with Paul, I think the small-scale drama of the restaurant was probably more compelling than the assassin organizations. (With the caveat that the version I watched on HI-YAH had an unfortunate delay on the subtitles, so you’d be reading the subtitles for for a previous line of dialogue right as someone new started talking, so it was often hard to tell who was saying what). I’m not sure if anyone else has played the Yakuza video game series but Takashi’s restaurant totally reminded me of the cozy and quirky little restaurants you see in those games, which are closely modeled after one of Tokyo’s entertainment districts, Kabukicho. That said, it felt a little tired that the only way the script could find to spur Takashi into action was to put the film’s only female character in danger—first with the threat of her being drugged and raped by a scumbag cop, and then later threatening her with torture and death at the hands of a paid assassin.
The pacing also was a bit slow, even at 77 minutes, but I dug the nocturnal vibe of most of the movie, and those two fight scenes we’ve all mentioned are absolutely incredible—worth the price of admission, and some of the most impressive physical displays I’ve seen in a martial arts movie in the last six years or so. For me, the film is closer to a 6.5/10 or 7/10, but would I be down for a sequel? Absolutely.
I also watched Hydra on the streaming service, and I was pleased with the results.
Although I could have done without that first killing where the victim pissed everywhere as he was stabbed, the movie had my attention. Mimoto was great as Takashi, and I was reminded a bit of A History of Violence with his role as a quiet restaurant worker being a facade.
The fights are truly fantastic, and I went crazy trying to identify the techniques being used. I did see a lot of similarities to Tak Sakaguchi’s Zero Range Combat from Re:born, but wondered if the knife usage was Kali Escrima. It was great of them to throw in some jiujitsu, and the amount of vitality the actors showed in the fights made me lose my breath!