Gorugo 13: Kûron no kubi

There's nothing quite like a 1970s professional hitman, usually played by an emotionless hunk in a suit and tie, eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses, carrying a briefcase from which he will coldly assemble a sniper rifle. Not only do you get one snap-together rifle scene in ASSIGNMENT: KOWLOON, but you get two, as Sonny Chiba portrays the professional assassin who cannot be stopped and will not cease until his job is done. Or, until he has his revenge against those who've wronged him. Both is the case in this movie.

The plot of this film is incidental, as Golgo 13 is hired to kill a renegade drug trafficker posing as an important businessman; Golgo 13 is beaten to the kill by another faction, but is nonetheless blamed for the assassination by a strong-willed Hong Kong detective named Smithy who is determined to stop Golgo 13.

This is a gritty film, with a seething, rock-hard performance by Chiba as Golgo 13, presenting a character who is a professional killer, and worse. Chiba's barely-controlled rage is palpable; Golgo 13, when not coldly sighting down his rifle, emerges as a dangerous, paranoid man expecting at any moment to be attacked. And as is the case, Golgo 13 finds violence wherever he goes, whether or not he is involved directly or not. A young woman, a mere stranger on the street arguing with a man, suddenly murders this man in a blind rage right in front of Golgo 13. Golgo 13 not only saves her from the police, but from the murdered man's roving gang, who are seeking the girl, for revenge. This puts the girl in debt to the assassin, and later he will use her when he is wounded and nearly captured by police. Golgo 13 affords himself a way to stay alive by taking advantage of any situation, even if it is a poor girl who made a mistake; that mistake is the assassin's edge, and Chiba revels in it.

The Crash Cinema video is great, though the sub-titles are some of the worst I've ever seen. But the movie very much retains its 1970s grindhouse purity, to be viewed in a run-down theatre smelling of piss and cigarettes. GOLGO 13 is a tough, well-made movie, and Chiba is just a wicked physical performer who makes his kills, with hands or weapons, look especially painful. The character of Golgo 13 is what James Bond might have become, if he ever left the BSS and turned into a for-hire killer. He'd be unstoppable, and that's what Golgo 13 is: Unstoppable, and very, very cool.

The charismatic Sonny Chiba is most impressive in this kick ass action movie that flits from Hong Kong to Miami and from Tokyo to Kyoto.

We flit from enemy to enemy as well in a slightly confusing tale of drug dealers, hit men and the Hong Kong police, not forgetting the Peruvian ambassador and his daughter!

How much we follow the slender plot matters not, as long as we miss none of the mister super cool Sony Chiba action.

All fast moving and spirited stuff with martial arts, shoot outs and assassinations.

Spirited.

Pretty typical Japan crime film of the middle 1970s - fast, cynical, unbelievable, flashy, empty. There are a couple of twists that raise it above the level of mere curiosity. first, Chiba's performance is fine. Second, the film is Japanese, but filmed in Hong Kong, on of the first efforts to cross the great divide between China and Japan that had been rendered and filled with blood during WWII. Interestingly, unlike similar Chinese efforts - e.g., A Man Called Tiger, The Angry Guest/Kung Fu Killers - there's no effort to explore differences between the two cultures: Hong Kong is just another thriving Asian metropolis, much like Tokyo. Perhaps this lack of notice of any difference is the crucial difference - come to think of it, Japanese action films of the 1970s don't have much to say about China in general, or Hong Kong - except to hint that the crime rate is unacceptably high there - which seems a bit churlish since all the professional killers in these films are Japanese. Oh, well.

One last historical note - this film clearly had as much impact on John Woo's "The Killer" as Melville's "Le Samourai" - more, I think, since the cop/killer relationship, given crude but important presentation here, is closer to the center of the Woo film than the implicit romance borrowed from the Melville film.

Nothing special, but worth a look.

Also known as Golgo 13: Operation Kowloon,(US title) this is a perfect example of a grindhouse cinema Yakuza movie. Before John Woo there were these Yakuza movies. Films that merge the fetish of a slasher film with sex, guns and ammo. Gritty noir that has all of detective work of Chinatown with none of the charm or depth. This is not necessarily a bad thing, it just means that it's a different more lowbrow but equally watchable form of entertainment. Another American example would be Charles Bronson's "The Mechanic" from 1972.

As the relentless killer Golgo 13, a hitman that NEVER leaves a job unfinished, Sonny Chiba delivers what I would dare say the most hardboiled of it's time hitman movie. Devoid of mercy and full of bullet holes this movie takes out all of it's aggression on it's viewer with a rapid fire delivery of the plot and action sequences that flow together as if it's own style of dialog.

A perfect starter film for anyone interested in grindhouse and kung-fu style movies. Movies like Leon, Kill Bill, Ichi The Killer and later John Woo's The Killer all tip a hat to Chiba's work in this film.

Going into Assignment Kowloon, I was half expecting to see a campy 70s chop-socky interpretation which capitalised more on the success and fame of Sonny Chiba to earn a quick buck. But as it turns out, this is not only a damn fine representation of its source material but a damn fine movie in its own right. Golgo 13 seemingly had two of the best pieces of castings regarding live-action because Sonny Chiba is as much a dead-ringer as Ken Takakura was just for different reasons. Chiba's Golgo is much less human than Takakura's with a stone-faced expression that never leaves his face but makes exceptional use of his skills as a martial artist and stunt performer in some very grounded fight sequences and impressively daring stunt work. Director Yukio Noda makes excellent use of the film's variety of locations, from Hong Kong to Miami back to Japan, and although the film does stutter at first (most notably with some poor editing) it quickly finds its feet and maintains a very stylish atmosphere that simply oozes coolness throughout.