Bullet Points: Hydra
After thoroughly enjoying my first experience with a Hi-YAH! original movie when I checked out Silat Warriors: Deed of Death… I decided to double down and check out another Hi-YAH! original movie currently streaming on their service, 2019’s Hydra…
- Meeting in the Men’s Room: The action in Hydra is almost instantaneous as we see a guy enter the men’s room, go to use the urinal and get attacked from behind… which means there is now piss and blood spurting everywhere… moments later the clean up guy arrives, the killer wipes the blood off his face and changes his jacket and makes his exit. We then get glimpses of the clean up process… it is a dirty job, but somebody has got to do it. There are some key details revealed in these opening scenes… one, the guy that was killed was a cop… two, the killer and the clean up guy work for a company called The Tokyo Life Group.
- Iron Chef: We are then introduced to Takashi (Masanori Mimoto, Yakuza Apocalypse)… there’s a lot of mystery surrounding Takashi. What we do know is he is working at a chef at a bar named Hydra run by a young woman named Rina. Takashi was friends with Rina’s father and has taken it upon himself to watch over her now that her father is out of the picture and she has inherited the bar. But even Rina doesn’t know much about Takashi… one of the regular patrons believes Takashi is psychic, while Takashi’s co-worker, Kenta, believes Takashi is a quiet old fart.
- Dirty Cop: One of the regulars at Hydra is Hasegawa. Hasegawa is an Assistant Commissioner with the Tokyo Police, but he is also into slipping women date rape drugs. When he tries that move on Rina one night, we get to see Takashi in action as he removes Hasegawa from the situation and warns him to stay away form Rina forever. More details soon reveal themselves as we find out Takashi once worked for the Tokyo Life Group, a group that was put together to eliminate police corruption. The killer at the start of the movie who took out the cop at the urinal, was actually Takashi’s successor at Tokyo Life but the police corruption business is booming and Tokyo Life wants Takashi back in the fold.
- Just When He Thinks He’s Out: Takashi turns down the offer to resume his work with Tokyo Life… that is until he can not refuse to get back to work. And that is when the action in Hydra reaches its peak… and while we may never know all there is to know about Takashi, it is clear he is a BMF!
Hydra was directed by first time director and long time stunt performer, Kensuke Sonomura. Not surprisingly Hydra really shines in the action department, but Hydra struggles a bit in the story department… specifically where the antagonists are concerned. The short 78 minute run time makes the movie fly by, but did not give much time to build a strong villain for Takashi to battle.
Long time readers of Bulletproof Action know I always give time for some Bonus Bullet Points…
- No Words: The dialogue in Hydra does not begin until about 11 minutes in, reminding me of the Charles Bronson classic, The Mechanic.
- Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You): One thing that we do know about the mysterious Takashi early on is that he has a photographic memory. It has been said that less than 100 people worldwide have a photographic memory.
- Flashback: Some of Takashi’s past, including how he got a nasty scar and parts of his childhood are revealed via flashback scenes.
- Let’s Get Physical: Well Go USA will be releasing Hydra on Blu-ray and DVD on July 20th… they will also be releasing it on Digital platforms that day too for those of you who don’t want to get physical.
