Re:Born is almost a video game in movie form.

 

Tak is back! That was the simple, yet effective tagline used in the marketing for the subject of this blog post. That subject is of course the action thriller Re:Born. The reason for the focus on Tak Sakaguchi in the marketing stemmed from the fact that he had previously announced his retirement from being in front of the camera in 2013. He had wanted to pursue work behind the camera, as a director and as a fight choreographer. Due to the reaction of his many fans wanting him to return to being a leading man or a large on-screen presence, Tak was startled and humbled to the point where he co-wrote Re:Born for them. In an interview he stated that he wanted to create "The ultimate action masterpiece one last time." For Tak, this would signify a good retirement by leaving his fans happy. 

The movie begins with an atmospheric, glorious opening sequence that follows a special forces unit as they embark on a tactical training exercise in the facility of the National Defence Force. Unfortunately for these poor soldiers, the training exercise is infiltrated by an extremely skilled assailant known only as Ghost. Ghost is like a shadow and swiftly takes out the entire special forces' unit. The poor guys don't even have live ammunition because of the training they were in the middle of. The sequence is shot beautifully and there's a great tension as the soldiers are picked off. Shout out to Masaya Kato who delivers a solid performance as the commanding officer despite not having a whole lot to do.

The rest of the movie's plot or what there is of it follows Toshiro, a former legendary mercenary who is living a quiet, unassuming life as a small store clerk along with a young girl by the name of Sachi. Underneath the surface, Toshiro struggles with his inner beast. We see this in a couple of therapy sessions with a pretty psychologist. These sessions get tense as he mentions he has had dreams of missions in which he killed a great number of people. He unsettles the psychiatrist when he mentions that he holds no feelings of guilt or remorse for killing and instead is simply glad to complete the mission. 

Unfortunately for our morally questionable protagonist, his past comes to haunt him. Shortly after visiting an old friend whom we learn fought alongside Toshiro and was badly injured protecting him, Toshiro is attacked by some assassins who have unfinished business with him. We later learn that these assassins were sent by the mysterious Phantom and that Toshiro was the legendary black ops super soldier, Ghost. He was said to have been almost supernatural in how he fought. 

Phantom's plan leads to a point in which this movie is comparable to Taken, The Man From Nowhere and a few other action movies. Why is this comparable to those movies? Well, the answer is simple. Sachi is kidnapped and held at Phantom's base, something which forces Toshiro to go on the offensive and rescue the girl he essentially raised despite not being a blood relative. At this point, as one could guess, the action ramps up and it's wonderful to watch unfold. 

The action is where this movie excels which is to be expected from Tak Sakaguchi and Yuji Shimomura. From the dark, horror like opening with the action being brutally swift and dark whilst special forces soldiers are being quietly dispatched, I knew I was in for a grand time watching Re:Born. I love the sequence with the mild mannered, businessman like assassin who takes pot shots at Toshiro with a silenced pistol hidden by a briefcase. Whilst it may stretch reality a little by having Toshiro dodging bullets at will, it's the spontaneity of the moment and the swift, inventive and brutal takedown that makes it a stand-out. 

There's also a scene in which Toshiro has to single-handedly take down an entire street of assassins. I love the fact that all of the assassins look like regular people rather than standing out as it feels like anyone could be an assassin and could appear at any time. The inventiveness of the kills also is a major plus as Toshiro is brutal in making sure that none are left alive. Nothing feels like it's a rehash of an earlier movie or sequence which is refreshing. 

One of my favourite sequences happens in the confines of a phone booth. Newt, a cute lady who just so happens to be a skilled killer as we found out in an earlier scene in which she economically dispatched two lecherous dudes, interrupts Toshiro whilst he's in the middle of a call with Sachi. This fight scene makes tremendous use of the limited space of the booth whilst also involving the phone itself and a knife wielded by Newt. 

Of course, I couldn't write about Re:born without mentioning the simply exquisite forest sequence. In this sequence that lasts over 20 minutes, Toshiro along with two companions who knew his injured friend, take on an entire platoon of camouflaged soldiers working with Phantom. This sequence has almost everything. From Toshiro taking people out with a foldable shovel, to silently slitting throats, to Max shooting down armed opposition, blades being wielded expertly and some good old martial arts. It's during these sequences that we get a good look at Zero Range Combat and Toshiro's unique and unorthodox fighting style. He moves in an almost disconcerting way with a lot of rolling of his shoulders that makes him look more like an animal than a human and perhaps a little drunk. It would be hard to fight someone like that. 

Without much of a pause for breath, the forest sequence in followed up with Toshiro's infiltration of Phantom's special forces base for the expertly crafted finale. The inventiveness doesn't stop as we get a unique fight scene that has a rather large psychological element to end Toshiro's mission. 

In terms of performances, Tak Sakaguchi portrays Toshiro brilliantly and with cold proficiency worthy of the character. He has always excelled in fight scenes with his physicality and pulls off every single motion almost effortlessly with machine like efficiency. He's simply a convincing lethal presence and one I have adored since Versus. Another stand-out performance for me, came from Takumi Saito, in the role of the unfortunate yet loyal Kenichi. The character doesn't have a great deal of screen time and yet, he's one of the more memorable characters in the movie. Takumi Saito brought raw emotion to his scenes with Tak Sakaguchi and managed to make Kenichi both badass and pitiable with his performance. Mariko Shinoda impressed me with her physicality as she was involved in one of the toughest sequences in the movie, the phone booth fight. Yoshitaka Inagawa, the movie's fight co-ordinator portrayed Abyss Walker and did a fabulous job which was helped by the fact that he didn't need much dialogue and instead just partook in fight scenes. The legendary Akio Otsuka stood out as Phantom, bringing a convincing, sinister presence to the role. The man is the voice of Snake in the Metal Gear series and him being in the role of the villain really made me happy as a Metal Gear fan of many years.

The camerawork is perfectly serviceable and although there are some quick cuts, most of the action and techniques used can be seen clearly. There's some beautiful cinematography near the very start of the movie when Sachi walks down a road and comes across a dead cat. The sequence makes beautiful use of a colourful yellow oilskin coat. 

On the negative side, the soundtrack of the movie is quite dull and easily forgettable which is a real big shame.

Overall, the movie can be described as being like a video game in movie form. The action is very reminiscent of video games because it's like levels in which Toshiro fights through hordes of enemies before engaging in epic boss fights. It might feel like the plot takes a back seat to the action but, that's perfectly fine as the fight scenes are inventive enough to keep the movie memorable and above mediocrity. This is a movie that I'd quite easily recommend for fans of intense action, martial arts and for those who want something exciting to watch!