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The Professional: Golgo 13
DVD/APPROX. 93 MINS/1983/JAPAN R18+
DVD/APPROX. 93 MINS/1983/JAPAN R18+
'The Professional: Golgo 13’ is a remarkable film, which doesn’t hide behind morality, nor does it remain ambiguous. In fact, the lead and title
character tends to be rather lacking in it, not being portrayed as a criminal with a heart of gold, but more the Assassin version of James Bond
(complete with the bedding of the ladies) with a rather lacking sense of the greater good. His primary goal is more aimed at how he can best
survive the events, more than anything.
Does it mean we are blessed with an unlikable main character? well, yes and no. You see, although a person ‘like’ Golgo (the title character), would
indeed be un-likable in real life, you tend to still feel a need to root for his character in all he does, much like one would root for Kain in the ‘Legacy
of Kain’ video game series.
The plot of this movie starts off with Golgo being hired to assassinate the son of a leading oil tycoon, unfortunately for Golgo this movie also
happens to be set in a time when the world is so fully dependant on oil that the oil tycoons have a stranglehold over almost every facet of the
globe, and thus, the dead man’s father forces the armed forces and military into helping him hunt down Golgo. Which even for them is not an easy
task, but it still makes for some troublesome times for our leading man.
As I mentioned Golgo doesn’t hide anything. There is nudity, mass loads of violence (however big a ‘mass load’ actually is’) and antiquated visuals
which would make most people churn. Thankfully I support the notion on this part to not overly ‘correct’ the movie for DVD release, sure a little re-
mastering might have been nice in order to bring some colour back to it, but apart from that, this movie stems as a good reminder of how cartoons
used to be (I used the term cartoon instead of anime, because I am talking of times when we were kids and most of us didn’t know of such terms
as anime). The movie even shows us some of the earliest forms of CGI I have seen, a massive helicopter scene done in visuals that at the time
would’ve made grown men cry, and although seems very dated now, are very impressive when considering the time of conception.
There isn’t a lot to tell of the movie, the title character isn’t set out to clear his name, just to escape the consequences of his profession, but either
way, you shall be entertained, it is one of the rare movies that is able to make up for the lack of any true and consistent depth with violence.
Possibly it is a statement in itself, which is what I assumed, that violence begets violence. And thus the constant barrage of it, is not so much out
of place but an example of escalation.
Ok, I mentioned visually that it was nice to see something that wasn’t so doctored it looked fake, but when it comes to the sound, it would’ve been
nice to see some work done here with sound effects, a typewriter sound is used in certain scenes, but never is actually in sync with what is being
type for example. Plus there is no Japanese audio with a subtitle option, so for all the anime fans who prefer Japanese dubs I am afraid you’re out
of luck here, doesn’t affect me personally, but there are more people unlike me than like me (when it comes to preference in anime language).
The Special features aren’t that huge, but still offer trailers and an interview with the Producer of the piece, Mata Yamamoto, so there is still
something there for people who want to delve a little deeper into Golgo 13’s world.
The villains in this piece, or rather antagonists since (although a ‘bad’ guy) Golgo appears to be the protagonist, are varied although a little stock,
but excusable since they do give the typically invincible type character of Golgo a real challenge, specially Gold and Silver. But their unique
personalities are for the better part lost as they are over shadowed by the masses of Military and other security forces at the disposal of Golgo’s
enemies.
Although a highly entertaining story, ‘The Professional: Golgo 13’ (Released by Madman Entertainment in the Region 4 format), does have its
flaws. Although in my opinion, not enough to discourage you from purchasing the title if you’ve been looking for it, or a film much like it. It earns
itself a seven out of ten in my book, not perfect, but still a good show of cards from days gone by.
character tends to be rather lacking in it, not being portrayed as a criminal with a heart of gold, but more the Assassin version of James Bond
(complete with the bedding of the ladies) with a rather lacking sense of the greater good. His primary goal is more aimed at how he can best
survive the events, more than anything.
Does it mean we are blessed with an unlikable main character? well, yes and no. You see, although a person ‘like’ Golgo (the title character), would
indeed be un-likable in real life, you tend to still feel a need to root for his character in all he does, much like one would root for Kain in the ‘Legacy
of Kain’ video game series.
The plot of this movie starts off with Golgo being hired to assassinate the son of a leading oil tycoon, unfortunately for Golgo this movie also
happens to be set in a time when the world is so fully dependant on oil that the oil tycoons have a stranglehold over almost every facet of the
globe, and thus, the dead man’s father forces the armed forces and military into helping him hunt down Golgo. Which even for them is not an easy
task, but it still makes for some troublesome times for our leading man.
As I mentioned Golgo doesn’t hide anything. There is nudity, mass loads of violence (however big a ‘mass load’ actually is’) and antiquated visuals
which would make most people churn. Thankfully I support the notion on this part to not overly ‘correct’ the movie for DVD release, sure a little re-
mastering might have been nice in order to bring some colour back to it, but apart from that, this movie stems as a good reminder of how cartoons
used to be (I used the term cartoon instead of anime, because I am talking of times when we were kids and most of us didn’t know of such terms
as anime). The movie even shows us some of the earliest forms of CGI I have seen, a massive helicopter scene done in visuals that at the time
would’ve made grown men cry, and although seems very dated now, are very impressive when considering the time of conception.
There isn’t a lot to tell of the movie, the title character isn’t set out to clear his name, just to escape the consequences of his profession, but either
way, you shall be entertained, it is one of the rare movies that is able to make up for the lack of any true and consistent depth with violence.
Possibly it is a statement in itself, which is what I assumed, that violence begets violence. And thus the constant barrage of it, is not so much out
of place but an example of escalation.
Ok, I mentioned visually that it was nice to see something that wasn’t so doctored it looked fake, but when it comes to the sound, it would’ve been
nice to see some work done here with sound effects, a typewriter sound is used in certain scenes, but never is actually in sync with what is being
type for example. Plus there is no Japanese audio with a subtitle option, so for all the anime fans who prefer Japanese dubs I am afraid you’re out
of luck here, doesn’t affect me personally, but there are more people unlike me than like me (when it comes to preference in anime language).
The Special features aren’t that huge, but still offer trailers and an interview with the Producer of the piece, Mata Yamamoto, so there is still
something there for people who want to delve a little deeper into Golgo 13’s world.
The villains in this piece, or rather antagonists since (although a ‘bad’ guy) Golgo appears to be the protagonist, are varied although a little stock,
but excusable since they do give the typically invincible type character of Golgo a real challenge, specially Gold and Silver. But their unique
personalities are for the better part lost as they are over shadowed by the masses of Military and other security forces at the disposal of Golgo’s
enemies.
Although a highly entertaining story, ‘The Professional: Golgo 13’ (Released by Madman Entertainment in the Region 4 format), does have its
flaws. Although in my opinion, not enough to discourage you from purchasing the title if you’ve been looking for it, or a film much like it. It earns
itself a seven out of ten in my book, not perfect, but still a good show of cards from days gone by.
| BUY DVD @ MADMAN.COM.AU |
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