Re:Born (film)

Re:Born is a 2016 Japanese action film directed by Yûji Shimomura and starring Tak Sakaguchi (as TAK∴). It is about Toshiro, a legendary covert soldier with a mysterious past, who decides to use his supernatural powers to defend what he cares about.

Overview
Toshiro, a former mercenary, confronts a war that moves behind the scenes of everyday life and his remaining mission. While living with a girl named Sachi, Toshiro commits himself to a fierce battle with a number of thugs aiming for himself. These mercenaries are led by Phantom, the boss of the unit he once belonged to, and his former partner warrior Abyss Walker.

As a feature of this film, the martial art system of Zero Range Combat was used to design the hand-to-hand combat scenes. TAK∴, who is a practitioner of the system, was also the tactical supervisor of the fight design. After training under the martial art's founder Yoshitaka Inagawa for about a year, he learned the unique movement of "wave" and techniques.

The production theme of this work is TAK∴'s return to acting, but at the same time, the director thought that people with techniques and roles that are not originally exposed can be expressed in the film.

Cast

 * Tak Sakaguchi as Toshiro Kuroda (as TAK∴)
 * Yura Kondo as Sachi
 * Takumi Saitoh as Kenji Makabe
 * Hitomi Hasebe as Shizuka Matsumoto
 * Mariko Shinoda as Newt
 * Masanori Mimoto as Fox
 * Hiroko Yashiki as Eagle
 * Makoto Sakaguchi as Casper
 * Orson Mochizuki as Max
 * Kenta as Masaru
 * Akio Otsuka as Phantom
 * Issei Ishida as Lock
 * Saori Izawa as Office Lady Killer
 * Masaya Kato as Defence Force Commander
 * Yoshitaka Inagawa as Abyss Walker

Release
Re:Born had its world premiere at the 2016 Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival. The film had its North American premiere at Fantastic Fest in 2016. It was released in Japan on August 12, 2017 (Heisei 29).

Reception
Mark Schilling (The Japan Times) stated that Sakaguchi is "still a convincingly lethal presence", while noting that the film's plot was similar to a video game wherein the protagonist faces a series of bosses, and that attempts by scriptwriter Benio Saeki to expand on that premise felt forced.