Golgo 13 - A Missão Kowloon

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.

If you look into Golgo 13 film adaptions, you're more likely to encounter the anime 'The Professional: Golgo 13' produced in the 80's. But little would you know that there were unfamiliar live action films beforehand. This film is what I'd call 'the familiar of the unfamiliar'.

This film came part of 'Sonny Chiba Collection Vol. 2'; a three-disc boxset consisting of Chiba's roles outside the popular Street Fighter films (not to be confused with the videogames) which I found one day (probably better than the three films on Vol. 1). What caught my attention was finding him portray Golgo 13. Having read an English translated first volume manga compiled with two stories of Golgo 13 beforehand, I was interested to watch.

If I could compare this film to the structure of the manga, I'd say it's done a good job. You don't see the title-role most of the time until he attempts an objective at the right time just like the manga. It probably makes sense for who he is; he's an assassin with an unknown past, unknown origin, etc. He's a master at sniping, he won't shake hands, and he only meets contact with the hirer once, unless something goes wrong with the objective.

Sonny Chiba, if I had to match the image of the role he plays, was probably the perfect role for Golgo 13. He has the strong eyebrows, the charisma, and the attitude like the character.

The story's great as well. Rather than follow the same familiar structure of 'waiting for the villain to get assassinated' from the manga, the film takes a bit of a different approach. That, I won't spoil for anyone.

The only downer I'd probably give, is the Japanese dubbing on gaijin (foreigners). It's fine with the Chinese actors, but with the Americans, it looks cheesy and unrealistic in a way. Sure, a foreigner could pick up the language with the accent too, but there's probably a hard chance on the rest to handle that reliably. But despite that, it shouldn't be such a big deal to be taken on.

Overall, in my opinion, you'll probably like this film if you've read the manga at least once. I dunno if those unfamiliar with the series will be glued to their seats for the entire picture, but I think the ol' Chiba action in parts would keep them entertained. Well, maybe. Give it a try at least. It's a stylish 70's flick from Japan to enjoy.

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.

I haven't seen any of the original anime films of Golgo 13 but I am planning on it in the near future. I had heard how gory they are so I thought this version might be pretty gory but unfortunately, it isn't. I had to watch the English dubbed version because the transfer with the subtitles was absolutely awful but it didn't take away from the experience as much as I thought it would. This is a fun movie for anyone who is into hit-man films.

Sonny Chiba does a great job as usual. I loved the grindhouse feel to this film. The action was great and so was the story, for the most part. There are some really great kung fu sequences as well. I think everyone should give this movie a shot. View it for what it is, a fun little 70's action film. Just don't expect some sort of masterpiece and you'll be just fine.

Ever watch a movie that wasn't in your native tongue to start but has been so badly dubbed you can't tell if the movie bites or the dubbing? This is one of those movies. Sure I've seen plenty of bad sword and sandal films and martial arts flicks but this films dubbing so so hideous that I'm wondering what planet the dubbing director was on. Its all the bad 70's dub voices but in this film they are put to particularly bad use...

The horror, the horror...

I honestly can't rate the film because the dub is so bad its not fair to even try....