DEMON CITY - Review

Demon City wastes no time in letting you know what you're in for. The newest Netflix Japanese action flick immediately drops you into some downright ridiculous action. You're not sure why the carnage is happening, but there's no denying that it is indeed happening. One man is single-handedly laying waste to anyone and everyone.

The one-man wrecking crew, who we learn is named Sakata (Tôma Ikuta), returns home to his wife and daughter having completed his final job as a hitman. He's now ready to live a quiet life with his family.

Well, that's what he wanted, what he's getting is about to be a whole lot different. A group of masked henchmen have entered his home and are holding his daughter and wife captive. Sakata attempts to save them but is thrown down and pinned to the floor. From this position, he's forced to watch as his wife is executed. What's more shocking, at least it was to me in the moment, is the henchmen also shoot and kill the daughter, having it portrayed in a way that was genuinely unnerving.

Having killed his family, the lead henchmen explains to Sakata that there is a doormant demon in Shinjo City. This demon awakens every 50 years and possesses someone who then goes on a killing spree. The henchmens' job is to stop that person, implying that Sakata has been possessed by the demon. Sakata stares down the leader of the henchmen and vows to one day find and kill each of them. Those were his last words as he was executed immediately after.

Seems like a lot, right? Well, this all happened before we even got to the opening credits.

After the opening credits, we flash forward 12 years and see a man being transported from a medical prison to an apartment in a rough part of town. The man is alive but unable to fend for himself, needing someone with him to bathe and feed him. One night, while being carried up the stairs to his apartment, someone runs in from the shadows and stabs the incapacitated man in the arm and screams at him, "Sakata!" while holding up his arm revealing his missing hand. A hand that Sakata took from his attacker in the opening scene bloodbath.

But there's no way that the man who was transported from the medical prison could be Sakata...right?

If you've seen any number of action/revenge movies, you know exactly where things are going. Although, just because you know how things will play out, that doesn't mean there still won't be some surprises along the way.

For as ridiculous as they might be at times, the action sequences in Demon City are a lot of fun. The story itself isn't anything revolutionary, think The Crow but with a lot more bloody violence. But who needs a deep and layered story when you have over-the-top action in spades?

While I enjoyed the fight sequences, it's the cinematography that does the action a disservice. This was especially evident in the stairwell scene. The camera seemed to be chasing the action like a younger kid running and trying to keep up with the older kids. Although, my biggest complaint would probably be the music. The music used feels like it would be found on a '90s straight-to-VHS action movie. To round out a trifecta of complaints, the story went on about 12-15 minutes longer than it needed to. We could have easily had a 90-minute runtime and not felt like we were missing anything.

Will Demon City find itself on any year-end "Best of" lists? Probably not, but it is still worth checking out at least once. I can appreciate that it knows what it is and doesn't try to stray far from it.

The next time you find yourself in need of a new action movie to turn on while simultaneously turning off your brain, give Demon City a shot.

🍿 SCORE = 72 / 100