Watch Golgo 13: The Professional For Free

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Very well executed

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The story here is of a hard paid assassin, called for no good reason either Golgo 13 or Duke Togo, who earns the wrath of very important people who then try to kill him. The atmosphere of the film is dark and hopeless, the main character ruthless and seemingly indomitable. One hour and a half later, you still know nothing about Golgo and no one has killed him yet.In a way it reminds me of 70's movies Italian movies or maybe French Alain Delon. It does unfold in Europe and, beside Golgo himself and maybe Snake, all characters are European or American. The final fight against weird and powerful assassins is clearly Japanese though.Bottom line: nice anime, but kind of pointless. It is impossible to sympathize with the main character and, in the end, you don't care if he lives or dies. That's the main drawback of a film that, otherwise, is pretty good.

The plot is a good backdrop for the style and the action, but it's irrelevant to the quality of the film.'Golgo 13' loves showing things indirectly, be it by looking at things through a mirror, by looking through an obstacle like a fence, by showing the effect of an action symbolically, or (beware the twist) by only showing the effect to imply the action, OR simply by obscuring the view with bright light, smoke, flames, spurting blood,...It even more loves looking at single elements individually. They say about Leone's and Tarantino's movies that even the smallest character is the star of the movie for the moment he is in that widescreen frame. In 'Golgo 13' every inanimate object, animal or body part can be the movie's star for a moment. A finger cocking a gun becomes an act of god.The style is over the top from beginning to end, less by means of multiplication of the glorified things and actions but more by means of subtraction of unnecessary elements. We know people need a floor to walk on, we don't need to see the floor at any given moment. We also know where a character is at once we have seen a wide shot, we can see the character in blank space or any other background that reflects his thoughts or emotions and we still remember what the factual surroundings are.Although many of those approaches are typical of Japanese animated films not many are as convicted in following them or as inventive in their execution.The visual power of the movie doesn't come from the individual images, the key of its power lies in the motion.There isn't a sequence without movement and should there be such a rare moment then it isn't there to last for more than a second. It's like hungry vultures circling around dead meat for hours and hours with deadly patience. The cadaver can't run away but it very well can be snatched away by competitive scavengers. - 'Golgo 13' reeks of death. Everyone will die, it's just a question of when. Nihilism means seeing everyone dead already. To the characters in 'Golgo 13' taking a life is equalized by the notion of creating something new, the notion of giving birth to death. In this world without meaning the assassin Golgo 13 has the edge because he counts himself into the equation. He won't think twice before risking his life, he looks death in the face like he would look in the face of his mother. To be is not to be. By the end the whole world seems to come crashing down and no character cares to go on living anymore. The movie is all attitude, no feeling, and it's so consequent at this that it becomes a statement.

Duke Togo. Man on a mission. And the mission appears to be ‘kill as many people as you can'.This film is what James Bond would be if Eon had any balls. The Professional is a gun for hire. If he accepts a contract then he always hits his target. He takes all the best parts of Bond (being as hard as a coffin nail and bedding various beauties) and detaches all the cheesy dialogue.Duke Togo is a cold blooded killer. We never feel for him, but we do root against the baddies. He never smiles, isn't ever nice, but lives by a marginal code of honour, which we sort of respect. Like I said, its hard to empathise with Duke Togo, but we do sort of understand him.The story itself is pretty good and amazingly coherent for a title of this genre. It deals with deception, double crossing, revenge, hate and violence. We soon come to realise that Duke is a pawn in the middle of things. Albeit a pawn with the ability to shoot the head off a match. Being an early 80's production, the animation isnt that impressive, although the realistic approach is very good and gives the film some authenticity. We also get to see some rudimentary CGI (which shows the ambition of the project), in the form a helicopter gunship.All in all The Professional is a very entertaining watch. Girls, guns and a whole lot of maiming. It looks a shade dated now (20 years on), but still packs quite a punch.

One of the best in adult anime, this one has it all. A taciturn, near unstoppable assassin, a rich man who want's the assassin dead (and is willing to let one of his paid killers rape his own daughter in law!), a bunch of crazed killers and a dedicated cop out to get him. Golgo 13, Duke Togo is the worlds greatest assassin, but in this, he's the hunted. Very realistic and grim, this is not for children. Watch for the scene when he shoots a guy THROUGH a skyscraper, especially for the shadows thrown by the beer sign he's under! Superb film!