chribren "The Professional: Golgo 13" is an Action-Anime directed by Osamu Dezaki year 1983. It was produced by Tokyo Movie Shinsha, which was also involved in other stuff like "Sonic X" and "Akira".Basic plot: Oil baron Leonard Dawson witnesses his son Robert Dawson get assassinated by Duke "Golgo 13" Toga, and since then, he becomes obsessed to have Duke Toga dead by having the FBI, CIA and the U.S. Army to hunt him down. Will "Golgo 13" be able to survive all the bloody violence enough to even meet the evil Snake, Gold and Silver later in the movie...?Together with the 1988 masterpiece "Akira", I highly loved this pretty violent anime-film. Various people die during the course of the movie, often with gory result. It has plenty of action and violence to keep the fans entertained. The animation style is great, very manga-like as if it was made in the late 70s. As I have the original Japanese version of the film on a French DVD, I can so say the opening theme "Pray for you" by Cindy Wood totally rocks, as well as the dated CGI intro sequence itself with skeletons and bullets!Speaking about the scenes itself, I have at least two favorite scenes, it be the "Bernard Mueller hit"-sequence which results in a car chase, as well as the ending sequence beginning with the Atari-like CGI-helicopter scene which I honestly love. I even like the action-scenes itself. This is why I confirm this film as my second favorite Anime movie of all time, right behind my all-time-favorite anime "AKIRA".If you menage to find the Japanese version of this film, not the Streamline- or the Urban Vision-version, I suggest you to take this film, amongst them because of the above mentioned "Pray for you" song.

Mr-Fusion In the interest of full disclosure, anime's not really my thing. So I was drawn to this movie by the apparent Internet celebrity of the titular character Duke Togo (classified as Golgo 13). Which is curious, because the title character looks eerily like game show host Richard Dawson, and doesn't say much. So how he's irresistible to women in the movie is beyond me. But he's also the star of a line of comics, and not to mention a TV series.This particular movie finds our resident badass in the crosshairs of an oil tycoon (named ... wait for it ... Richard Dawson[!]). Dawson ain't too happy when Duke puts a bullet in his son's head, and decides to use all of his resources (FBI, CIA, etc.) to get even. Said revenge campaign involves various freaks of nature, men in suits yelling into phones, and lots of signature shots of Duke shooting stuff. Also, Duke walks away from every gunfight.Which is part of the reason this film didn't blow my skirt up. I didn't believe for a second that the main character would come to harm (let alone death). And the violence unfurls in such a dramatic slow motion that it cuts any tension or suspense with a Rambo survival knife. And you would think that a movie that features so many topless ladies would be a fool-proof source of titillation. Not so. Every woman has that plastic look of a stripper (such is the downside to anime ladies). Then there's that score, which was obviously supposed to be "noir sax", but just sounds like some malicious brand of Adult Contemporary.Not for me.5/10-----03/09/16 RevisionThis is why I'm such a proponent for rewatches. Perspective change is always a good thing. What I missed about "Golgo 13" the first time around is, well, the point. The whole thing boils down to style, and the movie's simmering with it. The angles, the camera movements, blood flow, inventive kills, hot women . . . all of this goes into a potent stew of luridity. You don't come to this for the messy narrative - you do so for Duke Togo's lethal turtleneck badassery (dude shoots through a building, for god's sake). Speaking of which, he doesn't look anything like Richard Dawson (I dunno what the hell I was thinking). He reminds me of Ken Takakura (he was in "The Yakuza"). It's not a movie I can watch on a regular basis, but there's no mistaking the movie's got style.6/10

lewis_peter 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.

framer94 TAG-LINE (EUR): "Leonard Dawson is the richest man in the world...powerfull people makes enemies...if an enemy becomes a problem...then someone calls the proffesional, codenamed: GOLGO 13. The proffesional is about to be tested...to his ultimate level...how long can the Proffesional last? Hard hitting action as the Proffesional faces his ultimate challenge."This film got too little publicity at the time, and deserved more recognition. I dont understand why the media failed to recognise this anime, before the Western release of AKIRA. And personally, I think it was unfair. Even today, the detail in the artwork, and the fluencey of animation is astounding. Never before have I seen a more detailed drawn anime. The animators sorted everything from the rendition on the gun lenses to the air-brushed shading to give the guns a more metalic look. Another notable thing about this film is the use of CGI graphics to add extra realism to the atmosphere, something which was unheard of, and thought impossible in 1983. Golgo 13 demonstrated this way before Akira came into the public domain. Many of the anime today are drawn sharp, and unimaginatively, e.g. Pokemon, but it's always the "old sckool" anime that retain high standards in the art-work. The plot is just something that noone would have expected from animated production: A man supposidly hunting down another man for the murder of his son, but in the end it is revealed to the viewer his actions were purely for the sake of passion. I especially liked the idea of a spoiled-pretty woman hiding behind the guise of a ruthless crime-mobster, too which noone expected to be "Doctor.Z" The film is a worthy adaption to Saito's comic series, and thankfully it didn't have a crummy television series, with drab animation. The story alone portrays the more explicit, cold violent world surrounding the guise of a lone-Japanese pre.James Bond 007 who is UNLIENCED to kill. Golgo 13 kills purely for a living, and the mystery behind his cold, seemingly-cyborg character, and the fact that his soul is void of human sentiments and ultimately, emotion adds further interest & suspision to his past and true motives behind the killing game. Definately worth a watch if your a fan of Japanese cinema or anime, but may seem a bit dull for those of you who are used to John Travolta/Nic.Cage shoot'em ups where the guy gets the girl and the bad guy dies, etc. A far from lame story. *8/10*