A tribute to a legend lost in the only way that I could. Well, that's not entirely true. As you can imagine, I own quite a few Sonny Chiba Films. This just happens to be one that I've never watched, so I picked this one. Golgo 13- Assignment Kowloon is a 1977 Film based on the Manga of the same name. I clearly don't know current Anime that well, so I'm definitely in the dark as far as '70s Manga/Anime is concerned. I do know that Golgo 13 apparently ran for a really long time and got at least 2 Live Action Films. This is the 2nd, since, again, it's the one that I own. I've since gotten a copy of the first Film- which was shot entirely in Iran- and I should check that out soon. This isn't one of those stories that matters so much which order you watch it in. The basic premise- Duke Togo is Golgo 13, an Assassin that carries out missions all over the World. There's not much to explain, so that makes my job easier. To see how a Martial Arts Legend took on an (apparent) Classic Manga Character (the 2nd time), read on...
An American hires Golgo to kill a Chinese Crime Syndicate Leader.
Surprisingly, this is, in fact, NOT Werner Herzog.
I double-checked.
He has 2 people watching the deal go down, so Golgo just whips out his rifle (carried in a bag) and shoots them.
Weirdly, the 2nd guy just kind of stands there in shock after his buddy was shot clean in the head.
It's called Fight or Flight for a reason...and you're dead.
He goes to, well, guess from the Title to take care of the guy.
Complicating matter is the Police, who are also out to get the bad guy.
Naturally, it is one young, charismatic and handsome Detective leading the case.
The bad guy, of course, has a cover and lots of goons at his disposal.
When one Cop is captured and later killed, however, all bets are off!
Twists and turns come up as Golgo's target is killed by someone else and now he has to find THAT killer.
This leads to him going back to Japan, which feels like a bit of a cheat given the Title, no?
Can he get the real bad guy without being killed first?
Of course he can.
Seeing how he does it is still pretty interesting though. The End.
A solid, if basic Film. The basic Plot- guy goes to kill someone and complications ensue- is just a way to keep people in motion. If you're looking for big Plot Twists and turns, you'll get more elsewhere. If you're looking for Sonny Chiba being bad-ass, you're in the right place. His natural aura and presence really carries the Film. As Golgo, he's not exactly the most nuanced Character. For instance, he helps a woman who shoots the guy who raped her Sister. He helps her, however, by telling the Cops that someone else did it. He's not the guy who help her take out the bad guy...so complex? This, of course, pays off in the Third Act, since Movie. The dynamic of him as, let's be honest, a bad guy who kills other bad guys could and has worked in many other Films. As it is, it's hard to get super-invested in him as a Character. The Film has a nice, gritty look with its City Scenes and the big Island finale. It's not helped for me, unfortunately, by some technical issues. My copy is from the 2004 Release which is just about passable. Unfortunately for me, the Subbed Version (which I usually prefer) is somehow worse quality and has hard to read subtitles. Oh well- Dubbed it is. The Ending is all sorts of busy, since it involves fighting, a shoot-out, a fake escape and a real escape. In a Make the Hero Look Impossibly-Good cheat, they just explain how Golgo got 10 steps ahead of everyone, climbed a mountain, lined up a shot and killed the bad guy...off-screen. I can't speak for how this matches up to the Manga and Anime, but I'm curious enough to check them out. Hopefully they are worth it...
Next up, I cover the other Vampire Film on the Disc. Will it be less depressing or just as bad? Stay tuned...
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