Coming soon from Well Go USA, Ghost Killer marks Kensuke Sonomura’s third time in the director’s chair. Of his three films to date, Ghost Killer is definitely the stand out. His directorial debut Hydra (2019) was a relatively small scale affair, feeling more like a calling card for his talents. His follow up was the more adventurous Bad City (2022), an epic homage to 90’s V Cinema. However, as good as Bad City was, the supernaturally tinged Ghost Killer manages to surpass it with its winning mixture of fantasy, humor and beautifully choreographed fight scenes.
Akari Takaishi is young college student Fumika, who one day while out walking stumbles upon a lone bullet shell. Picking it up to inspect it, Fumika nonchalantly puts it in her pocket, not giving it a second thought. What she doesn’t realize is that the shell houses the spirit of recently deceased hitman Kuda (Masanori Mimoto) who begins to haunt her. Kuda wants revenge on those who murdered him, and his only way to get it is through Fumika’s help.
Accidentally, Kuda finds out that he is able to possess Fumika whenever he holds her hand. By doing so, he is able to control her and use her body to exact his vengeance. Fumika is at first reluctant, but realizes the only way for Kuda to move on is to help him on his quest. The plot set up isn’t too far removed from the Sammo Hung vehicle Where’s Officer Tuba (1986), where Hung found himself possessed by the spirit of David Chiang in order to bring to justice those who murdered him. For a more Hollywood interpretation, there is also Heart Condition (1989), where Bob Hoskin’s cop finds himself accompanied by Denzel Washington’s ghost with the two of them working together to find out who murdered Washington. Or to be really geeky, we could go back to Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969).
Although this is only Sonomura’s third film as director, he has been impressing audiences with his action skills for decades. He has contributed fight choreography to countless Japanese actioners, with him most recently working on the Baby Assassins series as well as Tak Sakaguchi’s excellent One Percenter (2023). Ghost Killer carries over his flair for action but also shows he is more than adept at drama and comedy, elements that Sonomura combines perfectly to make Ghost Killer more than a typical actioner.
The main area that sets it apart lies in its performances. Masanori Mimoto who appeared in both Sonomura’s Hydra and Bad City returns once again, portraying the dangerous assassin Kudo. As dangerous as he is, Kudo is dead before the film has even passed the five minute mark. However, that doesn’t mean that Mimoto’s screen time is limited, with him quickly returning as a ghost to haunt Akari Takaishi’s Fumika.
The supernatural element of the film is dealt with so matter of factly which makes it all the more appealing. Initially Fumika thinks she must be going mad but she quickly accepts that Kudo is an actual ghost. Even later in the film when she is possessed by Kudo, the villains readily accept that Kudo has somehow returned in this girl’s body, with them never questioning how implausible this is.
The lack of explanation or backstory could be seen as something of an issue. We never really get to know Kudo beyond the fact he is a badass that has done some terrible things in his life. The uptight Fumika is also thinly drawn, but luckily both Masanori Mimoto and Akari Takaishi are able to bring them to life, sometimes to comical extremes. Mimoto plays Kudo as coldly as possible, playing into every stereotype of the moody hitman, whilst Takaishi at points can test your patience with how irate she gets.
Enabling Kudo to possess Fumika also allows Sonomura to have a lot of fun with the action. For the majority of the film’s runtime, the action is left to Takaishi. While her character is a meek college student, when taken over by Kudo she becomes a killing machine. Akari Takaishi will no doubt be familiar to anyone who has watched the Baby Assassins series. She may not have a martial arts/stunt background, but she proved to be more than convincing during her action scenes in those films, with Sonomura’s inventive action choreography playing a major part.
What I appreciated here is how Sonomura had Takaishi adopt the style of Mimoto rather than what we saw from her in Baby Assassins. Using the same stances and adopting similar movements, you never doubt that her character is possessed by a trained killer. Later in the film Sonomura uses a variety of camera techniques to cut between Mimoto and Takaishi during the finale, further cementing that this is in fact Kudo carrying out these violent acts.
Utilizing these techniques allows Mimoto’s involvement in the film’s fight scenes, with the end fight solely focused on him. This may annoy particular viewers, with Sonomura seemingly forgetting Takaishi to focus on Mimoto. To a casual viewer I could certainly see this being an upset, but Sonomura clearly knows his audience and what they really want to see, with Ghost Killer culminating in one of the most impressive one on one fight scenes of the year.
Similarly to his earlier Hydra, Sonomura has Mimoto face off against Naohiro Komoto, the one villain in the film that looks to be a challenge to Mimoto’s Kudo. Whereas that film had them square off in an impressive four minute bout, Ghost Killer extends it to a prolonged seven minutes. It works as the perfect finale, with Sonomura’s raising the fight choreography up to 11, with there being some expertly implemented knife work then transitioning into some hand to hand and grappling.
Of course, the fight is ridiculous. For one thing, the audience are meant to believe that it is the young Takaishi who is actually taking the punishment Komoto is unleashing. If this was the case the fight would be over in seconds. At the same time, would any audience member question how implausible these plot elements are, especially when they lead to such awesome action.
Admittedly, similar to Bad City, there are some pacing issues. After the brief fight scene during the opening, it is quite some time before we are treated to another. Your enjoyment of the time in between most definitely depends on your tolerance for Takaishi and her attempts at comedy. To be fair, the humor hits the mark more than misses, although I would be a liar to say that on occasion that Takaishi (or more so her character) got on my nerves. Thankfully, Mimoto counter-balances Takaishi’s performance with how straight he plays it. Mimoto may get second billing in the credits, but he feels more like the film’s lead than what Takaishi does, with him being the only real character given a proper character arc.
Ghost Killer is a definite recommendation. There are some issues, and many may struggle with the non-action segments of the film. Still, your patience will be rewarded, with Sonomura building up to some beautifully choreographed fight scenes that are further proof that he is one of the best action directors working today.
Ghost Killer is released digitally on July 22nd and will be available on physical media on the 23rd of September from Well Go USA.
Plot: 3.5/5
Acting: 4/5
Action: 4.5/5
Overall: 3.8/5
