The Professional: Golgo 13 — dvd movie review

by Chris   ⋅   November 13, 2007   ⋅   Comment now   ⋅    RSS

The Professional: Golgo 13 was one of the very first anime films I ever saw, way back in the days of Streamline and Orion Pictures (see: Akira, Crying Freeman, Fist of the North Star). In fact it was so far back, when the Luc Besson Leon: The Professional came out, I figured it was a live action adaptation. Still, Golgo 13 was never one that really grabbed me, despite its ultra violent displays and abundance of flesh, but I did manage to see it a couple of times over the years. Having now gone back to the film with a mature set of eyes, it was almost like seeing it for the first time. Not only was it interesting, but it was something approaching quality work.

The Professional: Golgo 13 sees, you guessed it, Golgo 13, world class professional assassin, as both hunter and hunted. As the film opens Golgo’s sights are set on the heir of a US oil baron, at the latter’s 60th birthday party. He carries out his job dutifully and skillfully, and fades into the shadows. But Golgo may have underestimated his target’s father. Immensely wealthy, powerful, and connected, the baron puts a massive return hit on Golgo himself, sending all manner of psychotic fiend to return with his head. Needless to say, with odds stacked against him, Golgo will see himself tested beyond his wildest imagination. But, with a little luck and a lot of skill he may just survive to kill another day.

If there’s one thing that makes The Professional: Golgo 13 fascinating is its time capsule of retro cool. Golgo 13 himself is a paragon of 80’s machismo. The smoothest of strong and silent assassins, he faces danger with a sub-zero cool, making nary a sound whilst subjected to volley upon volley of bullets, engaged in high speed chases through San Francisco (on the ultra exclusive Highway 14!), or busting the heads of metal plated mutant freakos. He’s a crack shot whose weapons of choice include high powered sniper rifles, snub nosed six-shooters, and nothing in between. And he’s not to shabby with the ladies, ravishing near every one he encounters – even those dead set on killing him. In fact, the guy is so cool that none other than Sonny Chiba could play him in live action form.

Then there’s the art. The Professional: Golgo 13 is one of the oldest of old school action anime films, and as such, it’s a flurry of hand drawn speed-lines, hyper kinetic punches, and blood spattering bullets to the face. While rough by today’s standards, the piece holds a real beauty in its impressive display of artistic skill. Every sequence had to be planned and executed manually, without the aid of rotoscoping or other visual aides. The camera zooms, cranings, and other displays all rely on the artist’s personal mastery of perspective, and knowledge of then contemporary pulp film mechanics. The film also marks one of the very first integrations of CG and hand drawn animation, with some rather odd results. The opening sequence looks like a test render, involving a headless stop motion skeleton, and a blatantly CG skull, gun and bullets. The later helicopter sequence, while undoubtedly stunning at the time, proves completely jarring within the rest of the film.

As cool as the above may be, The Professional: Golgo 13 does have one glaring problem. The story was definitely more interesting than I remember, but the repeated diversions into pink film territory wore on my patience. It’s not that these sequences were explicit or distasteful, but somewhat boring and lengthy interludes that served to detract from the story. Still, the rest of the film is quite cool, and more than makes up for the surplus of skin.

In closing, The Professional: Golgo 13 is a shining and noteworthy example of classic animation for adults. It’s slick, impressive, and worth a look for fans of anime and animation alike.

DVD DETAILS
Urban Vision’s DVD release is the clearest I’ve ever seen The Professional Golgo 13. Presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, the picture is incredibly crisp – every pencil line and texture given exquisite detail. Audio too is quite nice. While I only listened to the Japanese language track, it was quite clear and, again, the best I’ve ever heard the film.

In the extras department, the disc includes an interview with The Professional: Golgo 13 producer Mata Yamamoto, a picture gallery, and a collection of other Urban Vision trailers (Ninja Scroll the series, Twilight of the Dark Master, and others…but no Golgo 13 Queen Bee!).

All in all, this was a nice disc and provided a worthwhile trip down the road of nostalgia. And, priced at under $20.00, the disc makes an excellent addition to your library of classic animation.

About the Author

Chris Nelson has been a film fanatic since age six. A former film and English major, he is now a Software Engineer and contract Technical Writer living in the Silicon Valley.

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