The ghost of a killer.
An ordinary woman picks up an empty bullet shell, which she shouldn’t have done, because the ghost of an assassin has some unfinished business. Someone killed him, and he wants to find out who did it and get his revenge. He can possess the girl if they hold each other’s hands to help him get that revenge, but it also puts the girl’s life in danger. Drama!
After watching the first three Baby Assassins movies, I noticed that one of the actresses who plays a protagonist in Baby Assassins also starred in Ghost Killer. Her name is Akari Takaishi, so I had to check it out since I find her interesting. The director of Ghost Killer is also the action director in the Baby Assassins movies.
Ghost Killer is a low-budget Japanese action movie that has something in common with Baby Assassins: a lot of talking. The girl and the assassin talk a lot, and that can be a turnoff if you didn’t like the Baby Assassins movies. But the point of all the talking is that the two central characters are bonding and getting to know each other better. Still, don’t expect many action scenes in Ghost Killer.
Speaking of action scenes, they didn’t impress me. The action in Baby Assassins is much better and more varied. In Ghost Killer, the action scenes, especially the fight scenes, feel repetitive. The showdown doesn’t offer much variety either. It’s not fun to watch a five-minute fight scene where the characters move in a way that feels so choreographed and stiff. I guess they thought the movement looked cool, but the grappling style and half-running get stale pretty quickly.
The characters aren’t fleshed out, so even though the two leads talk a lot, I never felt like they had much character depth. The movie tries to be emotional at times, especially when the woman wants to help the assassin become a better man, even though he’s dead. But it feels cheesy, because you really don’t care. He’s dead!
I like Akari Takaishi, and I hope to see more of her in the future. She’s the one who saved the movie for me. She has that special charm—she’s cute, funny, and she can show a lot of different emotions. But I wish she’d step up and act in some movies with bigger budgets. I think she deserves that now.