DMC and Metal Gear action director’s badass new crime thriller can’t get here soon enough

Every time I’ve talked to my friends who love action movies about my favorite action movies of 2022, whether it’s The way of the water, Athensor RRR, the answer was a resounding, “But have you seen Bad cityI’ve been anxiously awaiting the Japanese film’s U.S. release since its July 2022 domestic release sparked an avalanche of praise among the action stalwarts, and the new trailer ahead of its Aug. 1 digital release shows exactly why.

What seems like a standard crime thriller about vigilantes and gang warfare jumps off the screen because of director Kensuke Sonomura’s kinetic, immersive action. After a long career of stunt work and action directing (including John Woo’s Manhunt), Sonomura recently made more waves in Japanese action cinema with his thrilling feature debut Hydra and his work on the excellent action in the great fun Baby killers (one of Polygon’s favorite movies of 2022). But without knowing it, you may know him best from his work in the video game industry.

Sonomura was the action coordinator on games like Devil may cry 4, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Vanquish, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeand 2020 Resident evil 3. He is one of the brightest rising stars in action cinema, demonstrating how the visual language of action can be translated from video games to movies (and vice versa).

Bad city stars Hitoshi Ozawa, an old action star (whom you may recognize from roles in Yakuza 0 And Like a dragon: Ishin!), Akane Sakanoue (Alice in Borderland), and Tak Sakaguchi (Versus). Set in the fictional crime-ridden city of Kaiko, it follows a former police officer who is released from prison in a last-ditch effort to save the city from corruption and organized crime.

Bad city will be available digitally on August 1, with a physical release scheduled for September 19.