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Directed
by Dezaki Osamu
Produced
by Tokyo Movie Shinsha
Indestructible
to his enemies and irresistible to his women, the professional assassin
codenamed Golgo 13 is shrouded in mystery and anonymity. If you’re on
his hit list you’re already dead…
Sounds
exciting dosen’t it? Well believe
me it’s not this movie has aged terribly and has long outlived its sell by
date the only hope for this puppy is a lethal injection in review form.
This may seem a bit hasty considering the review has only just started
and already we’re putting it down well it’s getting what it deserves [an
awful review]. The first thing that
strikes you about Golgo is the [poor] quality of the animation fair
enough the movie was produced in 1983 But come on so was The Castle Of
Cagliostro and the animation in that is splendid.
The character design is poor and looks fairly “western” [the main
protagonist resembles James Bond] this could have done the movie favors if done
with style and charisma however the only hint of style in the animation is the
badly drawn disco lighting during the forced sex scenes.
At this time it appears that the wondrous sun ray effect had just been
invented and boy does Golgo jump on that wagon the atmosphere is hardly
going to be “hard boiled” if the sun is out now is it?
The
film is brainless to say the least and represents a weak point in Manga
Entertainment’s catalogue the “sex and violence” films.
I recall seeing this [Golgo 13] advertised alongside Urotsukidoji
and La Blue Girl at a film festival not so long ago apparently these
movies represented the “cutting edge of the anime art form” surely these
films cannot be considered cutting edge all but one [Urotsukidoji] are
appalling. The reason I mentioned
this is because Golgo 13 loosely follows the structure of a hentai movie
the only reason it differs is because instead of the sex been broken up by
fights or light comic relief [La Blue Girl] the sex is broken up by long
chunks of dialogue or badly directed car chases.
I am again referring to the designs in Golgo these are the weakest
area of the movie that appears to me as if its desperately trying to be Lupin
III however it lacks the superb designs of Lupin III and most
importantly a skilled director. Many would argue that Dezaki Osamu is
in fact a very skilled director however it is of my humble opinion that although
Dezaki may be good at directing bad sex scenes featuring disco lights he is in
no way good at directing a half way decent film.
I
thought I should also mention the musical score, which is possibly the strongest
point of the movie it adds tension to Dezaki Osamu’s disjointed camera work
and actually manages to inject some atmosphere into the movie the ending theme
in particular is wonderfully 80’s [in a kind of Kim Wilde way]
I
am assuming that in 1983 Golgo 13 cost a lot of money because of the
poorly implemented CG sequence towards the movie’s finale. At the time this would have blown anyone away [I think TMS
were hoping no one would notice how bad the movie was because of the CG] however
now it fades in comparison to the likes of Read Or Die or Metropolis and
even the computer effects serve as a reminder of just how dated Golgo is.
The
ending however also serves as a bootlace for Dezaki to pull himself up by.
Indeed the last scene is a credit to his directional “talents” it
ends with Golgo completely wiping out the Dawson family bloodline by dispatching
the villains daughter as she tries to kill him in the pouring rain the camera
pans out with a squashed shot of Golgo walking away after another day’s work.
In closing if you really want to see this movie by all means do however
be warned that it is by far the dumbest anime I have ever seen even La Blue
Girl has brains next to this.
2 out of 10
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