Golgo 13: The Professional is a 1983 anime action film directed by Osamu Dezaki the film follows a hitman who after killing the son of a powerful oil tycoon is targeted by American governmental forces and superhuman assassins. Golog 13: the Professional is a cool, stylises and over the top anime film that fans of old school anime will like.
The direction in the film is good. The film is an 80s anime through and through with that distinct 80s anime style, the film also has its own situation with interesting ways of showing action. This 80s anime style is also shown with how bloody and violent it is with unique and interesting animation. The film has a cool 80s art style to it as the film very much feels like a James Bond movie. The fight scenes in the film are dark and shadowy as the film almost feels like an animated live action movie at points. The film has an interesting use of close ups as the film ultimately very much being a sleezy 80s anime full of sex and nudity. The film has a dream like feel to it as well as the film being a classic James Bond style movie full of sex and nudity. The film has classic anime fight scenes in it with it feels like a classic spy film this is further shown with the films James Bond style gadgets, however despite all the zaniness the film does have a good sense of melancholy to it. The death of one of Golgo’s targets Cindy has a great element of sadness to it, as despite all the crazy anime stuff the film does have a real-world political element to it. The film also has an interesting use of religious symbolism to it combined with over-the-top bloody violence with the fight scenes.
The film over top bloody violence is combined with surreal elements in the film, as the film has both gritty realism as well as over the top anime animation which is shown in the fight scenes. The film is very much a noir that has a kind of eastern American style to it despite being an anime. Despite all the over-the-top stuff however the film is gritty and grounded as the film takes place in the real life social-political historical context with a cheesy James Bond style with the film’s own version of Q. The film has a classic noir style with femme fatale characters and a good stylisation of the action. Despite all the stylisation however the film also contains a sense of reality that reality hits in moments such as when Golgo is shot or when his fined is killed. The film has a sad melancholy running throughout it as this is then shown with sense stylisation in the film which is shown as gross and perverted. The film has brutality to it which a rape scene as the film brutality also links to its realism with the film’s social political historical context which links to the real world. The film’s theme is that of the cycle of death as the film experiences pain fire and loss as the film is ultimately a human drama. Within the world of everyone is an assassin and the film has child assassins as the film is very much an anime with over-the-top villains with the gold and silver assassin. The film is very much an over-the-top 80s action movie, however there is a sense of reality to the film with Golgo being constantly injured throughout the climax as Golgo is essentially a dead man walking.
Golgo and Calson talk as Carlson talks about a flower his son gives him symbolising that his hope is fading away and pray for him as again the film has a religious element. Caslon has made peace with his son’s memory as Dawson projected everything onto Golgo seeing Golgo as seeming not human as he commits suicide by throwing himself out the window. As this happens his character is sympathetic as his life’s memories of his son’s letter flashes before his eyes. Golgo shoots Dawson in the head whose death is ruled as an accident by the authorities. At the end of the film sometime later Golgo bumps into Laura who is now a prostitute, she draws her pistol at him but hesitates however, when he turns and walks away Laura fires the gun and the scene fades to black as Golgo is shown walking away as the film makes it open ended whether he dies or not. This gives the film a good ironic tragedy to it as a man whose delt in death his whole life gets taken out.
The acting in the film is good. Tetsurō Sagawa does a good job as Duke Togo or Golgo 13 the protagonist of the film and a professional contract killer. Gorō Naya does a good job as Leonard Dawson a oil baron who is after Golgo for assassinating his son. Toshiko Fujita does a good job as Cindy/ Dr. Z who is seemingly Dr. Z’s daughter and a crime boss. Kōsei Tomita does a good job as Lt. Bob Bragan who is after Golgo. Kiyoshi Kobayashi does a good job as Gen. T. Jefferson. Reiko Mutō does a good job as Laura Dawson Roberts widow. Kazue Komiya does a good job as Rita Golgo’s mechanic contact. Ichirō Murakoshi does a good job as E. Young. Shingo Kanemoto does a good job as F. Garvin. K. Koichi Chiba does a good job as The Clockmaster.
Takeshi Aono does a good job as Pablo one of Golgo’s informants in the amazon. Kei Tomiyama does a good job as Robert Dawson the son of oil baron Leonard Dawson who Golgo 13 kills. Rokurō Naya does a good job as Bishop Moretti. Shunsuke Shima does a good job as Pago. Kōichi Kitamura does a good job as Albert. Kumiko Takizawa does a good job as Emily Dawson Leonard Dawson’s granddaughter. Kazuo Hayashi does a god job as Computer 1 Operator. Daisuke Gōri does a good job as Cindy’s Bodyguard. Issei Futamata does a god job as Cindy’s Minion. Yusaku Yara does a good job as Jailer. Mitsuo Senda does a god job as Big Snake a genetically enhanced super solider. Rokurō Naya does a good jo bas. Gold and Silver notorious assassins.
The writing in the film is good. The film starts with an assassin that shoots a guy and runs away, as Golgo drives down the road and arrives at a business gathering party on a boat. Golgo then shoots the tycoons son dead killing him as he then takes a job to kill a shadowy crime boss. Golgo then sleeps with the crime boss’s daughter Cindy to form a sort of bond as the film is full of sleazy 80s anime sex. Then, after surviving an ambush form Z’s henchmen Golgo finds out Cindy is Z and shoots her dead. Golgo is then ambushed by US special forces and CIA agents but escapes and the film has heavy western influences. Golgo then find his local contact on the brink of death by a genetically enhanced super soldier named Snake and is aided by the pentagon, the FBI and the CIA as Leonard Dawson wants to kill Golgo to avenge his son. The film has great over the top bloody violence and fight scenes such as when the church explodes. There is an emotional element the film as Golgo’s dying friend tells him of a large secretive origination is after him.
Snake finds and murders Rita as Golgo meets up with Pablo his informant in the amazon to find out who set him up. Golgo’s next target is a former Nazi bodyguard, and a concentration camp survivor wants him killed showing that the film is framed within a socio-political and historical context, the film is also very much a noir film with Femme Fatale characters. Dawson also sends a group of people to try and kill Golgo as a chase scene ensures and they find him. Golgo kills his target, and a chase ensures as the bad guys are after him and they then fire rockets at the car destroying it. However, Golgo was not in the car and takes them out Golgo is shot in the process. Snake then kills Golgo’s friend as Dawson wants to kill Golgo to avenge his son’s death as there are emotional elements to the film. Bragon molests Dawson’s daughter in exchange for killing Golgo and he agree as the film is brutality and sleazy as Golgo wants to know who is behind everything. Dawson has all the people in change meet. When they were fighting in the jungle there was a top-secret mission to see how long people can survive. Two people were still alive at the end are gruella fighters called gold and silver. The film is again based in real owl politics as Dawson had JFK killed and wants these two as Laura lets the creepy assassin have sex with her as Dawson’s granddaughter in tiring to be an assassin. Laura then arrives to get her daughter back as Dawson has changed a lot since losing his son as his heart is now dead. He just wants revenge she doesn’t get her back and will never see him and as she is heartbroken, as Dawson’s also wants Duke dead.
The daughter tries to kill Duke however she misses, and Duke shoots her bodyguard. The walls are seemingly closing in around Duke as Dawson wants him dead, as Dawson ends up killing Duke’s friend who tired to kill him as his family’s held hostage. Dawson ends up hiring the assassin’s gold and silver to kill Duke, as the walls are closing in around him as all the assassins are after him trying to kill him as he goes to Dawson’s mansion to kill them all at the mansion the Helicopters shoot at Duke trying to kill him as the helicopter crash-lands and explodes as this as an 80s action movie. Duke and Snake then fight as Snake is stabbed in an over-the-top bloody anime fight scene. These crazy fight scenes are then shown as the helicopter then shoots through the window killing Snake as Duke hides in the edge unseen by the helicopter. Golgo is then ambushed by gold and silver attacking him and opening his stab wound as silver is shot to death and Gold is beaten to death as the film shows Golgo as seemingly as a dead man walking. Golgo and Carson confront one another. Carlson attacks about flowers as his son gave him hope but know that hope is fading away. Carlson has made peace with his son memory, as Carlson projected everything onto Golgo who he sees as not human as Carson killing himself by throwing himself out of the window as the film has sadness to it, which is further shown as his life’s memories and his sons letter flashes before his eyes. Goglo then shoots Dawson in the head as his death is ruled as an accident by the police. At the climax of the film sometime later Golgo bumps into Laura again who is now a prostitute. She draws her pistol at him for ruining her life but hesitates. However, when he turns away Laura fire the gun the scene then fades to black as Golgo is shown walking away. The film leaves on an open-ended note as to whether he dies.
The cinematography in the film is good. The cinematography of the film in general is decent. There is lots of interesting visuals throughout the film there is a good use of POV shots with a sniper scope and a use of red lighting. The film has interesting angles and shots to it through other objects, as well as this the animation at the opening title of the film is like a James Bond film. The film has a good use of lighting specifically bright light and light streaks. The film has a good use of close ups and mirror shots. There is a good use of split screen effects and POV shots. The film has a god use Three-way split screen effects and animation that looks like CCTV. The film has a good use of weird, interesting camera angles, as well as a good use of red lighting with a under the water shot were Duke swims away. A lot of the shots in the film seem like a live action film, there is a good of overlay effects with clocks in the background as well as good silhouette shots. Some of the stuff in the film is dated with computer generated wire frames showing budlings and diagrams there is also a good use of footage looking like a achieve film reel projector. There is a good use POV shots through binoculars and a sniper scope. There is also a god gride effect showing the same image multiple times as well as a good POV shot of a bullet. There is also good slow motion in the film as well as a good use of multi coloured light in the outline of a car in a tunnel. The film has a good use of lighting with light all around in the darkness and a good use of reflective shots with refection’s in the water. The film uses colours vibrantly in a classic 80s anime way with the gold and silver anime multi frame shots and shots within shots. The film uses Dutch angles as well as well as a god x-rays effect of a bullet entering the head.
The animation in the film is good. The film is a prime example of good 80s anime animation and a god use of shadows. The colours in the film are great and vibrant the film uses classic 80s bloody anime animation. There is a good use of freezeframe animation that looks like a manga as the film uses picture stills well. The film is animated very uniquely that feels like a live action movie, the film also has a good use of lens flairs. The lights in the film are good, the film has good stylisation of death scenes with red glistening colours with a yellow outline with white streaking coming from the head. There is a good shot of Golgo watching the TV seemingly in a black void. There is a good use of classic anime fight scenes with freeze frames and light in the background for the fight animation making for a surreal look. The. film is very much a sleezy anime full of sex and nudity the film also has a good use of lighting with reds and blues. The film also has over the top bloody violence and fight scenes such as when the church explodes, the film just has interesting animation such as the cool overlays in the background. The film has good over the top gory stylised fight scenes, the film also has an interesting use of computer-generated imagery with wire frames showing buildings in the diagram. The film has interesting visuals like showing archival looking footage like it comes from a film projector, as well as a good use of visuals with multi coloured lights hitting the car in the tunnel. The film has cool weapon designs that are very anime with a gun hidden inside of a teddy bear, the CGI on the helicopters is dated. There is good surreal fractural animation when gold dies as well as a good effect where the x-ray of a skull is shown when a bullet enters a head.
Golgo 13: The Professional is a good fun over the top anime film that fans of old school anime will like.