INTRODUCTION
"Hydra" is a low-budget action film that is a project that means a lot to its creators and that can give the viewer much more than many big-budget films. This action film marks the directorial debut of one of Japan's best action directors - Kensuke Sonomura, in which the actor Masanori Mimoto (“Silver Hawk”, “Death Note”, “Bushido”, “Enter the Fat Dragon”) plays the main role.
Personally, I became acquainted with Sonomura's talent as an action director after watching "Bushido" (2013), which for me is an immortal masterpiece of the martial arts film genre, which at the same time few people love and understand, judging by the rating. IN "Bushido" Kensuke played a kung fu master and choreographed all the fight scenes. IN "Hydra" he also played the role of one character and directed all the action. Masanori Mimoto previously also starred in "Bushido" in the role of the Yakuza and even then he showed himself to be a good screen martial artist. The film features another fighter from the 2013 film, who played the guy with the pole - Naohiro Kawamoto. In "Hydra" he plays a silent killer. So the team came together well. Actually, I became especially interested in this film when I found out who the director was, but before that, I didn’t arouse much interest.
I am not an expert on Japanese cinema, but at the same time I am a big fan of it. I haven’t watched many martial arts films made by Japanese, but almost all of them are in my personal top list of favorite films of the genre of all time. In addition, the Japanese combat choreography has reached a completely new level of quality. Take, for example, a series of films about To the tramp Kenshin. If we take specifically the genre of martial arts and action, then for me Japanese films stand above the rest in my own ranking of modern Asian and combat cinema.
The old school of Hong Kong has long gone into the shadows, films are rarely released and none of them are even close to what they made before, and they failed to prepare a new school. And, frankly speaking, the genre of martial arts has long been rotten with self-repetition, and no one dares to offer bold creative ideas. The Chinese are mired in copying themselves, exploiting the same heroes like Wong Fei Hong, Ip Man и Chen Zhenya, they film everything monotonously, relying not on good choreography and plot, but on technical and visual effects: chromakey, cables, slow-mo, constant cuts, lack of individuality of fighting styles, etc. and so on. Not to mention the overall quality of the films, which have lost their former charm.
South Korea is not famous for the martial arts genre, although there are a lot of fights in their films and the choreography is of a single realistic type, it is only indirectly related to martial arts.
India... this is India. He makes films in a clip style, the action is always exaggerated and fantastic, and the films last two hours.
Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia place all their bets on bloodiness and cruelty, but the cinema itself does not have any artistic value, and they make films about senseless violence without any idea, with poor acting and uninteresting plots. Tony JAA - the once revolutionary of the genre got married, got fat, became lazy and bought into Hollywood cookies. Now no one expects anything from him.
America has long exhausted itself in the martial arts genre, although many great choreographers work in Hollywood, but this movie has nothing to do with the martial arts genre, even though we constantly see these elements in films. That’s why Japanese martial arts films are a good outlet for me, and besides, they know how to make movies, not movies “about fights.” So, Hydra!
PLOT
In a small bar in the center of Tokyo, chef Takashi works - a reserved guy who hides his other identity as a professional killer. But his peace is short-lived: soon he will have to participate in a brutal battle for survival, when he himself is chosen as a target, and the daughter of a former ally, whom he secretly cares for, is in danger.
REVIEW
I immediately liked the style and individual manner of narration of the picture. Starting with the credits in the retro style of the 80s and the corresponding retrowave music, as well as the fact that in the first 10 minutes of the film the viewer sees that a lot is happening. And not a single word is uttered. This is why I also love Japanese cinema - for the absence of chatter, unnecessary words, for the harmonious and unhurried pace of the narrative, which allows you to get used to the atmosphere of the film. Viewers accustomed to the American rhythm of storytelling, where all thoughts are conveyed through words rather than visuals, may find the film slow and tedious. And while watching it, I rested every minute. At first the film looks like a tough and gloomy thriller about a maniac, then it smoothly flows into the “everyday” genre with elements of comedy, and then into a crime action movie. And all these components are mixed very harmoniously.
I liked absolutely everything: all the actors, including the secondary ones, and the dialogues, and the unobtrusive dosed humor, and the musical accompaniment throughout the film (which is generally rare), and the main character, who is both funny and dangerous like the character Stephen Chow of "Kung Fu Showdown" (2004), - even outwardly somewhat similar from some angles. The hero speaks only a few lines during the film, but to me his character seems much more interesting than his colleague in the “killing” - wooden John Wick (wooden in terms of characterization).
I also liked the fact that the film does not reveal all its cards for a long time, creating the effect of unpredictability, giving the viewer information consistently, in the right portions, holding attention throughout the entire film due to competent direction and action. With all this, I cannot say that the plot of the film is extremely original. No, there are many recognizable patterns and patterns, but this is an example of how a rather banal story can be told artistically, interestingly and with intrigue.
And it’s especially joyful that when reviewing an action film, one has to talk about the action not as the only advantage, but as an accompanying one. I believe that a good action film should be exactly like this - when you don’t expect action because you got bored while watching it, but when it fits clearly and appropriately into the narrative of the story. "Hydra" This is the case where action scenes are invented to suit the plot, and not vice versa. There is not a lot of it and not a little of it, there is just as much of it as is needed, since the film looks interesting and does not need to artificially attract attention in the form of meaningless action, blood, nudity and other elements of manipulating the audience’s attention.
ACTION
"Hydra" does not contain shooting, car chases, explosions or massive battles. This is a story about fights. There are only three one-on-one fights in the film, one of which is quite short but capacious. That is, in fact, only two significant action scenes. But the directors put all their efforts and talents into these fights. For me, they are some of the most dynamic, technical and best scenes I have seen in recent years. And I've seen a lot of films in this genre.
Director and director Sonomura takes a gritty, realistic approach to the interesting, exciting, brutal and emotional fight scenes in this film. But I’ll say right away - you won’t see any show-offs, dazzling aesthetics, beautiful cinematic leg swings, tricking, taekwondo, unrealistic contrived kicks, huge scenery, slow/fast frames or endless frames with the operator’s shaking hands, no cables, CGI, ragged editing and unclear camera work. Just masterfully staged, very kinetic fights, with many mixed MMA style techniques, filmed without any tricks to mask the amateurism of the performers, as in many films.
The fighters are so skilled with their weapons that you feel the slightest mistake can actually turn deadly, raising the stakes. This aspect reminded me of the last fight in the second part "Reida" (2014) or duel Donnie Yen против Jackie Wu in the alley in "Stars of Destiny" (2005). The fluidity and speed with which every strike occurs, every parry and every attack launched is stunning. The battle sounds are made just as realistically, to fully comply with the style of realism. All this combines to make the fight scenes hypnotic and memorable. It also helps that Masonori Mimoto (Takashi) is a gifted and charismatic martial artist with a subtle yet powerful screen presence that is fun to watch.
SUMMARY
Kensuke Sonomura demonstrates that martial arts cinema can fully integrate a solid story with great fight and stunt choreography. "Hydra" does just that. It's not just a movie with great fight choreography, it's just a great movie where all aspects work together without any glaring gaps.
У "Hydra" it has its own manner of storytelling, its own style, atmosphere, and the low-budget nature of the film is especially admirable. For many, low-budget is synonymous with the word “bad,” but not for me. This is a good example of how you can make films simply, cheaply and with good artistic taste, such as "Paper Tigers" (2021)
"Hydra" lasts only one hour and 17 minutes and by today's standards this is a rather short running time, but this is another advantage of it, since you don’t feel that the film is drawn out or, on the contrary, went by quickly. For an action movie, this is the ideal length.
The network already has a trailer for the second directorial work of Kensuke Sonomura - "Bad City", which fans of hand-to-hand action films should take note of. A "Hydra" for me personally, one of the two or three best martial arts films in 2022, and one of the best of the last 20 years. Why waste time on trifles - of all times. But judging by the rating of 5.90 on IMDB (oh, uh, moron) I won’t be able to share my impressions with anyone. On the other hand, this film is really not for the masses, but only for connoisseurs of both combat cinema and Japanese cinema. It remains to wish the film good luck in summing up the year at FFI, since for the Russian-speaking viewer "Hydra" appeared only in 2022.
PS But the only thing I don't advise anyone to do is to expect something amazingly amazing from the film, because the review may seem extremely laudatory, and the opposite effect may happen. However, I immediately said that the movie was low-budget, but I’ve already watched it twice, and some "Faster than bullet" (2022) I don’t even want to remember.
5/5
Yuri Dudin
Especially for fight-films.info
Where can I find it in more or less acceptable quality?
On torrents it was in a good BD rip.