Reviews

Before viewing the two live-action adaptations, this was the Golgo 13 I was most familiar with but even then, sitting down to rewatch The Professional after all these years certainly brought back some memories as before today I wouldn't have been able to tell you what on earth the plot of this movie was because I couldn't for the life of me remember. However, saying that there is one thing that has stuck with me over the years and that is the movie's incredible opening credits, easily one of my favourites ever combining the use of everything from stop motion to the first ever use of CGI in an animated movie.

Unfortunately, the movie gets bogged down in an increasingly baffling plot that will have you scratching your head at points trying to fathom everyone and anyone's motivations, the writing isn't great and leaves you not caring for the characters for the majority of the runtime but the film is so visually abstract that you can forgive it with great use of split screens, freeze frames and occasional lapses in colour, even if there's the occasional stiffness in its characters. Early 80s animes certainly have a beautifully distinct vibe to them, a sultry soundtrack, overly harsh shading and eye-popping use of hypnotic colour lend Osamu Dezaki's film a look that remains ageless even today.