Takashi Sato (Masanori Mimoto) works as a chef at a small Tokyo restaurant called Hydra. He doesn’t say much and primarily keeps to himself. He met owner Rina (Miu) three years earlier when her father went missing and she inherited the restaurant. The only other employee is waiter Kenta (Tasuku Nagase), a spirited young man who has a crush on Rina, and who is a bit terrified whenever he’s around Takashi. He would actually be even more scared if he knew that Takashi was previously an assassin-for-hire, working for a company that had been contracted to quietly purge the local police of some corrupt individuals before news of their extracurricular exploits had become public and caused embarrassment for the force. That is actually how Takashi first met Rina’s father, who had brought him into that business and helped train him. It was Rina’s father who had asked Takashi to watch over his daughter, and the reason why he now works at the restaurant.

Takashi thought he was done with that old life. He would quietly use his skills to prevent fights and issues at the restaurant before they even happened. He hasn’t killed anyone since he left his old line of work, and neither Rina nor Kenta has ever actually seen him get into a fight—they just know that he has some sort of sixth sense for dangerous situations and potential problems tend to just disappear when he’s around, and this has started some rumors and tall tales. Takashi doesn’t really have any social life—after work he goes home to his sparse apartment, and literally just sits on the couch listening to his faucet drip, as he he haunted by his past. However, when Takashi tries to take care of a situation with a patron at the restaurant, his actions catch the attention of some people from his past, causing his old and new worlds to collide. As he is recruited for one more job, he and his coworkers also become targets. Now Takashi must dust off his skills to settle some old debts, fulfill a promise from his past, and protect his only two friends.

Hydra opens with an exciting 10-minute scene that contains no dialogue. A young assassin is tasked with “purging” a police officer in a restroom, while professional cleaner Masa Sugimoto (Takashi Nishina) takes care of the body and evidence. Then the film shifts to Hydra as the viewer is introduced to the staff and some of the restaurant’s regular patrons, such as a hungover young woman named Yukari (Kaoru Gotô) who always seems to date the wrong guys, and Assistant Police Commissioner Hasegawa (Hironobu Nomura) who Takashi witnesses up to no good with his date. There is this fun banter between the employees and Yukari, with Takashi or Kenta often being the butt of their jokes.

After an incident at the restaurant brings out the old Takashi and some shadowy figures from his past, the film becomes less of a comedy, and more action-packed. Through flashbacks, the viewer learns more about Takashi’s past and how he got to where he is today, witnessing a younger Takashi unleashing his martial arts skills to eliminate his targets. The action is quite raw, with Takashi often having to improvise weapons in the heat of the moment. In the present, Takashi also finds himself kicking, punching and fighting his way through a variety of other foes who intend to do him and his coworkers harm. (Some of this I found a bit difficult to follow as to who was from what organization and why one wanted the other eliminated, but when in doubt, I just enjoyed the action and rooted for Takashi!)

I actually found myself missing the restaurant comedy/drama once the action kicked in. There is a bit more of it in the final act, but I could have watched an entire film just about this restaurant and its staff and patrons without all the contract killer aspect. The three restaurant employees have such great chemistry, and there is this really fun dynamic between them. I was laughing out loud as Kenta tries to make his move on Rina as clueless Takashi is being a third wheel, but Kenta is too scared of Takashi to do anything about it.

The film is quite short, clocking in at just 77 minutes. There were definitely some characters that felt underutilized. As the film opens we meet the cleaner, and get a glimpse into his odd home life, but then he kind of just disappears, popping up occasionally with his rolling suitcase to pick up a body as Takashi carries out his jobs in the flashbacks. The film could have explored this character a lot more, or even intercut an additional assassination job or two by the cleaner and his young protégé, like the one that opened the film. The filmmakers also could have fleshed out the story of the organization that Takashi worked for and its rival a bit more.

Well Go’s Blu-ray release is pretty barebones, with no bonus material except for the film’s trailer as well as previews for some other Well Go releases. The film’s presentation is pretty solid. Much of the action takes place in streets at nighttime, or in the restaurant. However the picture remains clean throughout with a nice color palette and level of detail. The soundtrack captures the action nicely, and the surround channel is well-utilized for the ambiance of the city, or the techno score that is reminiscent of an 80s action film. The film does not offer an English dub track, just two versions of the original Japanese soundtrack, but the subtitles are well-written.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:17:46)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
• Audio: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Japanese Stereo
• Subtitles: English

Extras:
Remaining trailers play back-to-back once one is selected.

• Trailer (1:52)
• Previews
  • Undercover Punch and Gun (1:33)
  • Deliver Us From Evil (1:233)
  • First Love (1:52)

Final Thoughts:

Hydra starts off with an exciting 10-minute dialogue-less action sequence, becomes a workplace comedy/drama, and then turns into more of an action-packed revenge film. While the fight sequences were well done, I actually enjoyed the action-less parts of the film the most, due to the really fun chemistry between the actors. Some of the story and characters weren’t fleshed out as much as they could have been, especially since the film was only 77 minutes long, but overall I found the film to be an entertaining watch, and worth a look.