Ghost Killer

Story: Fumika Matsuoka (Akari Takaishi) is just a normal college girl. One day, on her way home, she finds a bullet casing and shortly after that she starts to see the ghost of Hideo Kudo (Masanori Mimoto). Kudo was a hitman who worked for a gangster organisation but later fell from grace and was murdered. Matsuoka refuses to deal with anything like ghosts, and after her initial shock, she tries to ignore Kudo. However, she discovers that Kudo can take over her body if she allows it. An oversight that must not be repeated under any circumstances, but then Matsuoka's friend seeks help from her because her boyfriend has beaten her. When the boyfriend shows up and continues to abuse the girl, Matsuoka lets Kudo take over her body. The hitman is an excellent martial artist and can easily take out a supposedly stronger opponent, even in a woman's body. A short time later, the girl hopes that a meeting with an influencer will give her a boost to her career as a freelancer. Kudo warns her that he knows the man and that he uses knockout drops to make girls submissive. Matsuoka doesn't believe him, but he turns out to be right, and the girl can only escape the dangerous situation by allowing Kudo back into her body. When they call in Kagehara (Mario Kuroba), an old friend of Kudo's, to help clean up the mess, the problems really begin to pile up.

Review: If you want hard-hitting action from Japan, you can't go past Kensuke Sonomura. His choreographies are breathtaking because of their realism and speed, while they give the viewers the adrenaline rush that would pump through their bodies if they were one of the fighters themselves. But Kensuke Sonomura hasn't just made a name for himself as an action director; he's also a director. His directorial debut, "Hydra", quickly became an insider tip among martial arts fans. That aside, he's recently enjoyed major success as an action choreographer in the "Baby Assassins" series. The director and screenwriter of those movies, Yugo Sakamoto, is responsible for the script in "Ghost Killer," and this is especially evident in the dialogue — in a good as well as bad way. The story itself is unfortunately rather lackluster and almost seems put together randomly. There's nothing here that hasn't been seen hundreds of times before. Only the twist of a killer's ghost taking possession of our heroine is an attempt to inject some originality into the story.

Unfortunately, you can't say that the premise was made good use of. We in fact care about the characters, which generally keeps us interested, but most scenes feel like they were written for a B-movie. This actually has its own charm, and you may be able to appreciate it, but as with "Baby Assassins" it means that the flow of a scene isn't always there. There are pauses, so to speak, in which the dialogue is reoriented. A unique selling point of the screenwriter that I've always had problems with. On the other hand, the humor is quite high on the agenda. Opinions probably differ on this, too. Akari Takaishi, who was most recently seen alongside Saori Izawa in "Baby Assassins - Nice Days", plays the lead role of a college girl who seems completely overwhelmed by the new situation but quickly adapts to it. However, her quick wit and pride in not taking any nonsense sometimes give the impression that she is a lemming who would have quickly met her own demise without her ghostly protector.

Akari Takaishi's role bears some resemblance to her role in "Baby Assassins", only this time not everything is turned up to 100. Nevertheless, there are a few moments where she can be tiring. This includes talking to herself, but especially her line delivery, which can be a bit over the top. As mentioned, though, she doesn't play someone who is completely out of her mind this time, and that makes her quite acceptable as a sympathetic character. Still, I was a bit frustrated that she, and not Saori Izawa, got the chance to play the lead role. It's still understandable, though. Saori Izawa is probably not on par concerning acting skills. However, the action scenes could have been very different. While the actress does a decent job in "Ghost Killer," not least thanks to her experience under Kensuke Sonomura's action choreography, she's no fighter. In shootouts, you still have confidence that she can perform well, but in close combat, things look different.

Fortunately, the film then switches – also thanks to some clever editing techniques – to Masanori Mimoto, who also played the lead role in "Hydra". The action then switches into a completely different gear, and that's probably the reason most people will want to watch this film. The action, especially the finale, is convincing across the board. You always get the impression that the fighters are actually sparring, every blow either misses by a whisker or lands with full force. There's simply never any doubt that those involved know exactly what they're doing. The showdown then fully sucks you into the film so that the finale almost seems detached from the rest of the story, resembling a dialogue about life and death. There's also a nice shootout, but somehow I would have wished for even more in this regard. There are perhaps a few slow spells leading up to the finale, but ultimately, the dedicated action fan gets everything he could wish for.

The relationship between Kudo and Kagehara is also enjoyable; although they can't communicate directly, the bond between them is still evident. Matsuoka and Kudo's relationship isn't bad either, but there could have been room for improvement. To be fair, Masanori Mimoto delivers a rather sympathetic performance as Kudo, which is a miracle, as it's never glossed over that he was a killer. However, his performance remains somewhat cold and stiff. He's not primarily an actor, but a martial artist. Luckily, the action in "Ghost Killer" just works. Story-wise, there are quite a few clichés, the villains are forgettable and introduced far too late, while the humor doesn't quite hit the mark as it was intended. Thus, as a film, this action flick is merely average and can't be recommended to everyone. That being said, if you love action and are a fan of Kensuke Sonomura's choreography, you can't miss out on this movie.

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