Golgo 13 (1983)

Golgo 13: Directed by Osamu Dezaki. With Tetsurô Sagawa, Gorô Naya, Toshiko Fujita, Kôsei Tomita. After killing the son of a powerful oil tycoon, an infamous hit-man becomes the target of American soldiers and superhuman killers.

“This anime adaptation of Takao Saitou0026#39;s long-running manga classic is one of my all-time favorite action movies, animated or otherwise, and Iu0026#39;m at a loss to explain why so many dyed-in-the-wool anime junkies despise it (cruise the internet and youu0026#39;ll see what I mean).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDuke Togo is the worldu0026#39;s greatest assassin-for-hire, better known as u0026quot;Golgo 13,u0026quot; and if youu0026#39;re on his list you might as well dig the hole because there is no way, repeat, NO WAY you will elude him. Once heu0026#39;s hired, itu0026#39;s your ass. Togou0026#39;s adventures take him across the globe, and his skills with weaponry, hand-to-hand combat, and damned near anything else a human being could master are constantly put to hair-raising tests. Though lacking in actual meta-human superpowers, Togo could nonetheless be considered a superman, so with that in mind itu0026#39;s seldom in doubt that heu0026#39;ll come out on top in any given situation, so the suspense lies in seeing just how the hell heu0026#39;s going to pull off the often impossible assignments he chooses to accept. All of this information is old news to readers of the venerable manga series, but itu0026#39;s given the most cursory noting in the feature, seen briefly in a C.I.A. transcript at the filmu0026#39;s beginning, but itu0026#39;s vital to suspending oneu0026#39;s disbelief and once past that weu0026#39;re immediately thrust into Togou0026#39;s violent world.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGazillionaire industrialist Leonard Dawson throws a birthday party for his son, Leonard Jr., aboard his private cruise ship, a lavish ceremony in which he names his son heir and successor to his empire, but Dawsonu0026#39;s elation is shattered when his son is surgically shot through the forehead with but a single bullet, killing him instantly. The assassin: Duke Togo. The senior Dawson, now nearly insane with grief, launches an all-out war against Golgo 13, employing the most vicious and lethal professionals that his bottomless coffers can procure, including horrific ex-military sociopaths, crooked intelligence officials, and an unspeakably terrifying monster of a man who rightly goes by the moniker u0026quot;Snake,u0026quot; all while Togo hops the globe carrying out other u0026quot;jobs.u0026quot; Togo must stay one step ahead of his assailants, each as hard as he is, and figure out how to survive one Christ Almighty perfect storm of graphic violence. And there also lurks the mystery that spurs the plot: exactly who wanted the junior Dawson murdered, and why?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eLoaded with more action than most films have any right to possess, Golgo 13 is a breathless kick in the ass that fans of old school James Bond and other such espionage will simply eat up. I first saw it on an untranslated VHS tape in 1986 and Iu0026#39;ve been a staunch supporter ever since, sharing it with as many people as I can convince to give it a chance despite its reputation as a bomb. I think it may come off a tame when compared to the later excesses in Japanese animation, such as post-apocalyptic slug-fest filled with showering viscera, city- leveling psychic children and titanic robots, female ninjas with poisonous naughty bits, and the ever-popular spectacle of sailor-suited schoolgirls having their every orifice explored by the tentacles and other bits of demonic rapists just before they explode in a torrent of offal and demonic DNA, but Golgo 13 has all of them beat for sheer quality entertainment that even your parents might dig.”