ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

siderite 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.

Perception_de_Ambiguity 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.

sixtwentysix One of the earliest Japanese animation films I can remember seeing, this film was a perfect introduction to me in how great a textured and visually appealing an anime story could be. Shot like a noir detective film with all the action and speed of a spy thriller, this film set a new benchmark for the sniper/hit-man genre. Duke Togo, while devoid of most emotion, captivates as a steely and ruthless assassin bent on survival as well as completion of his tasks. The stylish and dark film has conspiracies, presidential assassinations, serial killers, sex, guns, explosions and insane escape scenes. The story is straight forward; someone has paid Golgo 13 to assassinate the son of a wealthy business man and oil magnate. Revenge is to be taken on Golgo 13 at all costs, involving crooked cops, serial killers, generals, CIA, FBI, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Special Forces. Basically, Leonard Dawson is taking his son's death a bit hard and feels just a little raw toward Duke.The American translation is passable with pretty good over all emotional tone and great music setting for mood. One of my favorite anime and overall examples of noir style in graphic arts of the 80s if you can ignore that very dated helicopter scene that makes everyone so angry... Personally I didn't think it was bad, just out of place in a film with a perfect fever pitch already. Great ending, great film overall. Well worth a look for anyone who enjoys spy films, hit men or noir.

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.