Golgo 13: The Professional

Publisher
Manga Entertainment
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Film
Year
1983

Golgo 13: The Professional

By Lew
28th Apr 04

The FBI, CIA, US Army, traitors, mutants, freaks and little girls couldn't kill GOLGO 13; but one piece of dreadful CGI could kill this whole movie. Ok, that's not entirely true; this film has as many flaws as GOLGO has enemies. But the CG helicopters were unnecessary and embarrassing to watch. The film was made over twenty years ago and technological limitations hindered the makers. I can see what they were trying to do: flexing their computer muscles with a novel new method of animation. But I don't watch Manga to see its artists push the boundaries of their technology. I want cool characters, cool story and above all, cool visuals. Shiny 3D helicopters: not cool visually.

The concept is a good one: 62 year old Adonis-figure, Leonard Dawson, hires the world and his mother (or in this case granddaughter Emily) to kill the assassin who took his son's life: a man 'devoid of human sentiment'.

It's in the execution that the film is found wanting. Freeze-frames are used far more often than would have been effective; and are infuriating during action sequences. The final sequence lacks so much dynamism that it becomes neither tense nor exciting; it's just a chore to sit through (and only real Manga-heads would).

The movie's got all the ingredients too: the star is one cool Mofo, 'Indestructible to his enemies and irresistible to his women', and there's more guns and fast cars than you could shake a stick at (but, then, why would you want to shake a stick at them in the first place?). It's just the way these ingredients are prepared that doesn't do the recipe justice.

The stand-out sequence is easily the Hughes assassination: we're given an early example of the bullet-following camera tomfoolery that's all over the big American movies of the modern day. There are a few other great visuals too: like GOLGO's dead informant, spinning in his chair while our hero looks on, or Leonard Dawson receiving a mid-air kill-shot. These memorable moments and a few surprisingly decent plot twists work in the movie's favour but the overall lack of quality makes this a disappointment; and fairly difficult to watch.

Also, this is one of the few Manga that would have worked much better without a supernatural element but its makers obviously couldn't resist the urge.

4/10 - The vast improvements in the quality of animation that have been made since this movie's 1983 release make it unimpressive viewing. Still, there're some good ideas in there: watch it and ponder what could have been.

-- Lew 28th Apr 04

Golgo 13: The Professional Images