This year hasn’t exactly been booming with martial arts films. Except for the superb The Paper Tigers, most other films have been mediocre at best. I had really high hopes for the Japanese-language film Hydra from director Kensuke Sonomura; sadly, it was another letdown.
Well Go USA Entertainment is delivering the film to Digital, DVD, and Blu-ray on July 20, 2021, but it can currently be seen on the martial arts streaming service Hi-YAH! While the movie does have positive aspects, it’s seriously lacking in what the film has been using to sell it, which is action.
Takashi (Masanori Mimoto) is a retired assassin. He’s given up the life to live a quieter, more relaxed existence. He’s taken a job as the cook of a tiny bar, and with his two co-workers, they keep it up and running. The bartender, Rina (Miu), is the daughter of an old acquaintance, and Takashi has sworn to take care of her.
The demons of his former life soon arise to threaten the new life he’s grown accustomed to, as well as his new friends. Takashi will have to decide if he’s just going to turn and walk away or, one last time, dust off his tools of the trade and prove to the yakuza why he was always considered the best.
I’m not sure what happened here. All the elements were in place for something special, but in the end, everything seemed to fall flat. The main issue is that Hydra runs a very trim seventy-nine minutes but seems to last twice that long without much happening. It’s being touted as an “action-packed, martial arts extravaganza” with only two major fight scenes.
One scene is over far too quickly, while the second illustrates just how great the entire film could have been. This is why I’m so frustrated. The one-on-one brawl is exactly what I was hoping to see throughout the film. It’s fast-paced, brutal, and realistic, adding layers to the characters and thrilling the audience.
Sadly, that was all; one instance of brilliance just isn’t enough to save it. I wanted to love Hydra so badly, but I didn’t enjoy it. I did, however, appreciate what was done, and everyone involved showed so much promise.
While Hydra may not have been what I was looking for, there’s a chance, sometime in the future, this team could go the distance and bring home a film we all can go nuts about.
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