Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon

release year: 1977
genre: assassin action
viewing setting: home DVD, 9/15/18 and 3/15/03

synopsis: The best assassin around is hired to kill somebody, and both the bad guys and the cops are trying to stop him.

impressions: I'm a sucker for hitman movies, but this was pushing it. Why? Simply put, bad subtitling on the DVD. Not only was it badly translated, but the white subtitles were placed above the black bars, within the movie itself...which had enough light footage to render the subtitles unreadable during certain scenes. I think that if I'd known the movie's native language, its plot would have made a lot more sense. As it was, I could follow the hitman's assignments, methods, etc. as well as the cop Smithy, who was trying to catch him at all costs. There were some good methods and outwittings at work here.

things to watch for: Sonny Chiba's hand-to-hand fights were outstanding.

acting: I don't feel right commenting on this, due to the language/translation issue. Sonny Chiba as Golgo 13 does exude calm and menace, though.

final word: Decent, but suffers from bad DVD production.

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