Ghost Killer
“Ghost Killer” begins with a hit man’s murder. No dialogue during the initial fighting, and it happens when he is trying to relax. A bullet casing holds his spirit, encased in his blood. We watch as- like the feather at the beginning of “Forrest Gump”- it makes its way around the city, to the place where Fumika (Akari Takaishi) will find it. She picks it up, and soon, she is seeing Hideo’s (Masanori Mimoto) spirit. From that point on, their lives are intertwined.
A film like this is dependent on the dynamic between the main characters, and I’m completely on board with both of them. As Fumika, Takaishi (the “Baby Assassins” movies) proves herself adept at handling toxic men even before she finds herself having to fight them, as controlled by Hideo. The more we get to know of Hideo, we start to get a feel for the actual individual, and not just the man of action. He first shows up in Fumika’s life when she gets to her apartment, where her friend Maho (Ayaka Higashino) is waiting for her. They soon become an unlikely pair- a mismatched buddy team that is entertaining to watch, especially during a post-fight scene with Maho at a diner. That’s where the dynamic forms, and it just goes from there
Kensuke Sonomura’s film is written by Yugo Sakamoto, who’s also written and directed the “Baby Assassins” movies, and that makes sense, as this has a smartass sense of humor that goes well with the brutal action in this film. Sonomura builds each sequence with energy and strong choreography. Ultimately, the “why” of Hideo’s “haunting” of Fumika- if you can call it that- is not as compelling as seeing them work together. It’s crystalized during a sequence where she meets up with a couple of guys- one of whom we’d seen her drinking with earlier that was uncomfortable- and he knows something about them that she doesn’t. The following action scene is as good as anything in the “Baby Assassins” movies, and a great showcase for Takaishi as Fumika is going through her first real moment of violence with Hideo. The climax gets to the challenge of this dynamic- Hideo is a trained killer, and Fumika is anything but. Their connection is what keeps our interested in the film moving forward. “Ghost Killer” as a title sounds like a horror movie, but it has some feelings at its center that are hard to deny. I enjoyed watching this film play out.
