Description: On his 62nd birthday, oil baron Leonard Dawson witnesses the public assassination of his son and heir, Robert. From this point on, Leonard becomes obsessed with revenge on the hitman—code name: GOLGO 13. Dawson spares nothing to enlist the CIA, FBI, and U.S. military in an unrelenting manhunt for his son's killer. As GOLGO's survival depends on stopping Dawson himself, the hunter and the hunted chase each other in a breathless game of kill or be killed.
Old school Streamline anime The Professional: Golgo 13 is an oldie but goodie that was originally put out by now defunct Streamline Productions. Back in the 90's, before the DVD format took over, Streamline's anime catalogue laid the foundation for today's anime. Akira, Neo Tokyo, Vampire Hunter D, Fist of the North Star, Lupin--all of these titles were born out of Streamline. As anime studios adapted the DVD format, Streamline couldn't keep up with the changes and went out of business; their orphaned titles languished in moratorium status. Slowly, anime studios such as Manga and Urban Vision reproduced all of Streamline's old-school anime.
In 2001, Pioneer and Todd McFarlane processed Akira onto DVD. Four more years passed. Then, in 2005, Urban Vision processed The Professional: Golgo 13 onto DVD. Up till then, I'd been wearing out my old VHS tapes--I still have all of them btw--and praying that those tapes--and my old VCR--would hold up to all the wear and tear. Now, with the exception of the original Fist of the North Star, the DVD format has redeemed most of Streamline's anime catalogue.
The Professional: Golgo 13 opens on the crowded deck of a luxurious cruise ship. Here, oil tycoon Leonard Dawson surrenders all of his corporate stake and power to his best friend, his right hand man, and his only son, Robert Dawson. There's a throng of applause; the tearful father embraces his son. Then there's a noise--the loud pop of a firecracker, and Robert Dawson--Leonard Dawson's only son--reels backward with blood pulsing out of his forehead. He falls overboard with his frantic father diving into the bright sea after him. Several miles away, a gunman casually packs away his high-powered rifle. With the same violence with which he built his oil empire, Leonard Dawson employs equal measure in seeking his son's assassin: Golgo 13.
Technically, Golgo 13 is a neanderthal compared with today's animation. Golgo 13's smudgy and hand-drawn like an old comic book. The frame-rate is low and jerky. Often, the pale colors bleed into each other. An Atari-style CGI helicopter shaped like a trapezoid was the film's sole attempt at any type of sophistication. All this said, Golgo 13 compensates for its weaknesses by using explosive elements such as bright flashes, rushing backgrounds, ultra-violence, great music, noir atmosphere, and dollops of cheesy cool.
Golgo 13, hot wings, a bag of chips, and an ice cold beer--pure heaven.
Interesting for a non-anime fan like me Just for the record, I'm not a huge anime fan. I'm not a manga fan either. Not that I am against either of these art genres, it's just that I never had the time or the money to dedicate to getting into them.
That being said, I've been fascinated by Golgo 13 since I played the original NES game and its sequal. To this day, my friends and I use, "I need a custom M-16, one with electric percussion and push button style" and "..." as an IM response as an inside joke.
Once a year or so, I consider getting some of the Golgo 13 books to see what it was like. I finally tried buying this movie. I've never read the books, just played the video games.
I liked this movie a lot. The weakest part was the opening credits, it looked like a bad 1980's heavy metal video combined with bad 1980's CGI. The music was also a bit cheesy. Outside of that, the artwork throughout the film was good looking and maintained aa unique style. Unlike the handful of anime films that I have seen (Akira, for example), the plot did not devolve or get super-confusing. Indeed, it was an extremely straight forwards plot. It did have a twist, but I guessed the twist fairly early on. Nevertheless, the film was still quite enjoyable. The action sequences were very well done and could be followed. The bad guys were all quite devious and did not sink to the levels of threadbare archetypes like you see in a lot of films. There were even a few scenes that I was disturbed by, which is fairly unusual and shows that the film really packed an impact that few films do.
Overall, I liked this film a lot. If you are a fan of Golgo 13, or looking to learn more about the character or the series, I recommend this film.
J.Ja
Golgo 13: The Professional or Not? Golgo 13, hired gun, emotionless killer... The character of G13 is what drew me to this movie. His character looked cool and the plot sounded solid. I already had a fondness for realistic Japanese animation. Couple that with my love of all things "Hit Man" and I was good to go. G13 has a personal code of honor that he lives by. Darned if I can tell what it is though. He seems to have a great affinity for getting out of tough spots and getting with chicks. All that I really noticed was that once he takes on a job he doesn't stop until it is completed. At one point he even takes a job from a man that dies shortly after paying him to make the hit. Golgo was paid to hit a target, and he intends to keep up his end of the deal. "That's cool I guess." I had really high hopes for this movie. But alas I was let down. The story line is almost incoherent to the point of un-watchability. The bad guys are stupid and not very sinister. One bad guy is pretty messed up. There is an implied rape scene that goes a little to far that seems to have been put in the film to make the point that the bad guy is sick minded as well as creepy looking. "Thanks, like I couldn't have figured that out already." Golgo is only in snippets here and there. He never says much, or does much for that matter. It's really hard to explain this movie because it is so jumbled and sketchy that the human brain has trouble compiling the information into linear thought. I'm trying to be cool about this, but this movie is really bad... It could have been great, all of the elements are there, cool character, good plot premise, action, well drawn, classic feel. But it really left me feeling weird and foggy. It is one of those movies that you buy thinking it is going to be great, but you end up almost ashamed that you have it on your DVD rack. It really is a shame. My quest for the perfect animated hit man movie continues.
Still as good as I remember it If it wasn't for anime like this I would have stopped watching it years ago. Golgo 13 together with Vampire Hunter D are the reasons I watch anime. This maybe the best spy and agent movie I own.
The story is very straightforward and easy to follow. At first it just seems like a professional killer taking people out left and right. However after a certain job the actual plot begins. The main character is Golgo 13. He's an agent that never turns down a job. Several other characters are introduced, but only a few actaully have a point in the story.
The anime is full of action and never really slows down. There's a few sex scenes and a rape scene I'm not too crazy about. But since it actually has a story with a cool character it didn't bother me too much. The soundtrack is pretty good and the animation is good for the time it was created.
This is a good buy if your new to anime. With lots of action, interesting villians, and well thought out assasinations. This anime can fit right in with your collection if your an action freak. This anime definitly isn't for kids.
DVD should have been better but still a must own I don't really have much to say about the film that you couldn't read elsewhere. It's an animated classic by uber director Osamu Dezaki. The art is gorgeous,incredibly detailed and looks like the comic in motion. The jazzy soundtrack is also superb. It's essentially a must own for any animation fan.
Thats the movie, the DVD itself is rather dissapointing. For one, it features next to no extras outside of a short 3 minute tidbit interview with the producer. Next, while the picture is in widescreen, it's non-anamorphic which really ruins things for anyone with a HDTV. There's a problem in the audio area as well. For the Japanese audio track, the wrong music is played for the opening and closing credit sequences, while both English audio tracks play the correct music. Urban Vision also saw fit to alter the logo sequence, inserting a terribly out of place new logo graphic. I guess they felt people buying a Japanese animation DVD would have a problem with a Japanese title logo..?
Of course outside of importing the Japanese region 2 DVD, this is the best option for owning the movie at this point. So unless your content with your rotting Streamline vhs tape, I suggest you pick this up.
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Trevor
Megaton Man
