Golgo 13: The Professional

The baddest professional asassain I've ever seen! Good anime flick. The main character, golgo 13 is a character so stoic, so stonefaced, that he hardly cracks even a hint of emotion even when in the act of having hot sex. There's a good deal of that in the movie, and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the plot, but that's the standard bug about most anime movies I've seen. Oh well, the kiddos should get a good thrill out of it anyway. The action is intense! This guy is an amazing shot, with either his modified M 16 or his revolver. My favorite scene is when he goes head to head with Snake (a repulsive, toothless villain who uses bladed yo-yos to kill his victims. I'm not making this up,) in an elevator. The final brawl he had with the twin killers Silver and Gold was cool too, but given how much they hyped up the two characters beforehand, I frankly expected them to put up more of a fight. Anyway, it's a great anime flick.

Duke Togo. Man on a mission. And the mission appears to be ‘kill as many people as you can'.

This film is what James Bond would be if Eon had any balls. The Professional is a gun for hire. If he accepts a contract then he always hits his target. He takes all the best parts of Bond (being as hard as a coffin nail and bedding various beauties) and detaches all the cheesy dialogue.

Duke Togo is a cold blooded killer. We never feel for him, but we do root against the baddies. He never smiles, isn't ever nice, but lives by a marginal code of honour, which we sort of respect. Like I said, its hard to empathise with Duke Togo, but we do sort of understand him.

The story itself is pretty good and amazingly coherent for a title of this genre. It deals with deception, double crossing, revenge, hate and violence. We soon come to realise that Duke is a pawn in the middle of things. Albeit a pawn with the ability to shoot the head off a match.

Being an early 80's production, the animation isnt that impressive, although the realistic approach is very good and gives the film some authenticity. We also get to see some rudimentary CGI (which shows the ambition of the project), in the form a helicopter gunship.

All in all The Professional is a very entertaining watch. Girls, guns and a whole lot of maiming. It looks a shade dated now (20 years on), but still packs quite a punch.

I don't think hitman stories are overused. "Golgo 13" is the reason why I think this now. This movie was cool. It's interesting how people can make an animated movie, and treat it like a movie with real actors. Cartoons were never supposed to be like this. I was impressed. The action scenes were thrilling, it had great characters, and it was well acted too. The drama was actually strong in this movie. We focus on the father of this one person Golgo 13 killed, (It's not the whole movie. We focus on Golgo 13 too.) and it's strong. We see how bent on revenge he is, and it shows that your not just watching this for violence. If you like Japanese anime, then you'll like this one.

The plot is a good backdrop for the style and the action, but it's irrelevant to the quality of the film.

'Golgo 13' loves showing things indirectly, be it by looking at things through a mirror, by looking through an obstacle like a fence, by showing the effect of an action symbolically, or (beware the twist) by only showing the effect to imply the action, OR simply by obscuring the view with bright light, smoke, flames, spurting blood,...

It even more loves looking at single elements individually. They say about Leone's and Tarantino's movies that even the smallest character is the star of the movie for the moment he is in that widescreen frame. In 'Golgo 13' every inanimate object, animal or body part can be the movie's star for a moment. A finger cocking a gun becomes an act of god.

The style is over the top from beginning to end, less by means of multiplication of the glorified things and actions but more by means of subtraction of unnecessary elements. We know people need a floor to walk on, we don't need to see the floor at any given moment. We also know where a character is at once we have seen a wide shot, we can see the character in blank space or any other background that reflects his thoughts or emotions and we still remember what the factual surroundings are.

Although many of those approaches are typical of Japanese animated films not many are as convicted in following them or as inventive in their execution.

The visual power of the movie doesn't come from the individual images, the key of its power lies in the motion.

There isn't a sequence without movement and should there be such a rare moment then it isn't there to last for more than a second. It's like hungry vultures circling around dead meat for hours and hours with deadly patience. The cadaver can't run away but it very well can be snatched away by competitive scavengers. - 'Golgo 13' reeks of death. Everyone will die, it's just a question of when. Nihilism means seeing everyone dead already. To the characters in 'Golgo 13' taking a life is equalized by the notion of creating something new, the notion of giving birth to death. In this world without meaning the assassin Golgo 13 has the edge because he counts himself into the equation. He won't think twice before risking his life, he looks death in the face like he would look in the face of his mother. To be is not to be. By the end the whole world seems to come crashing down and no character cares to go on living anymore. The movie is all attitude, no feeling, and it's so consequent at this that it becomes a statement.

TAG-LINE (EUR): "Leonard Dawson is the richest man in the world...powerfull people makes enemies...if an enemy becomes a problem...then someone calls the proffesional, codenamed: GOLGO 13. The proffesional is about to be tested...to his ultimate level...how long can the Proffesional last? Hard hitting action as the Proffesional faces his ultimate challenge."

This film got too little publicity at the time, and deserved more recognition. I dont understand why the media failed to recognise this anime, before the Western release of AKIRA. And personally, I think it was unfair. Even today, the detail in the artwork, and the fluencey of animation is astounding. Never before have I seen a more detailed drawn anime. The animators sorted everything from the rendition on the gun lenses to the air-brushed shading to give the guns a more metalic look. Another notable thing about this film is the use of CGI graphics to add extra realism to the atmosphere, something which was unheard of, and thought impossible in 1983. Golgo 13 demonstrated this way before Akira came into the public domain. Many of the anime today are drawn sharp, and unimaginatively, e.g. Pokemon, but it's always the "old sckool" anime that retain high standards in the art-work. The plot is just something that noone would have expected from animated production: A man supposidly hunting down another man for the murder of his son, but in the end it is revealed to the viewer his actions were purely for the sake of passion. I especially liked the idea of a spoiled-pretty woman hiding behind the guise of a ruthless crime-mobster, too which noone expected to be "Doctor.Z" The film is a worthy adaption to Saito's comic series, and thankfully it didn't have a crummy television series, with drab animation. The story alone portrays the more explicit, cold violent world surrounding the guise of a lone-Japanese pre.James Bond 007 who is UNLIENCED to kill. Golgo 13 kills purely for a living, and the mystery behind his cold, seemingly-cyborg character, and the fact that his soul is void of human sentiments and ultimately, emotion adds further interest & suspision to his past and true motives behind the killing game. Definately worth a watch if your a fan of Japanese cinema or anime, but may seem a bit dull for those of you who are used to John Travolta/Nic.Cage shoot'em ups where the guy gets the girl and the bad guy dies, etc. A far from lame story. *8/10*