one of my absolute favorites!

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Sonny is in James Bond mode again in this solid but somehow underwhelming entry in the Chiba cannon. Sonny's character is very intense, but his rage is suppressed, less volcanic and emotional than usual, and he kills from distance with his high powered rifle, rather than up close using his fists, as Chiba fans have become accustomed to seeing (Chiba does Bronson or Eastwood if you will). However the main problem is that, when the climax arrives, Sonny isn't involved in the real action, he gets to carry out his un-necessarily complicated assassination, but all the hand to hand fighting is left to the Hong Kong police, which is an big let down for hard core Chiba fans. So it's a decent espionage movie with Sonny Chiba the actor in it, rather than Sonny Chiba the martial arts star. One interesting cultural moment comes as Sonny is walking back to his hotel down a back alley, when he comes upon a man and woman arguing. The guy begins to slap her around as Sonny approaches. On the one hand, the part of your brain that has watched many Hollywood movies expects our hero to come to her aid, however those who have seen a few of Sonny's movies should know better, he just walks on by. However when she pulls a gun, shoots and kills the guy, she gets Sonny's attention. He is impresssed and helps her avoid arrest when the cops arrive, by saying she is with him and the shooter went that-a-way. As Sonny sums it up "The first shot was from anger, the second from fear and the third from love, you didn't want him to suffer".

I haven't seen any of the original anime films of Golgo 13 but I am planning on it in the near future. I had heard how gory they are so I thought this version might be pretty gory but unfortunately, it isn't. I had to watch the English dubbed version because the transfer with the subtitles was absolutely awful but it didn't take away from the experience as much as I thought it would. This is a fun movie for anyone who is into hit-man films.Sonny Chiba does a great job as usual. I loved the grindhouse feel to this film. The action was great and so was the story, for the most part. There are some really great kung fu sequences as well. I think everyone should give this movie a shot. View it for what it is, a fun little 70's action film. Just don't expect some sort of masterpiece and you'll be just fine.

Pretty typical Japan crime film of the middle 1970s - fast, cynical, unbelievable, flashy, empty. There are a couple of twists that raise it above the level of mere curiosity. first, Chiba's performance is fine. Second, the film is Japanese, but filmed in Hong Kong, on of the first efforts to cross the great divide between China and Japan that had been rendered and filled with blood during WWII. Interestingly, unlike similar Chinese efforts - e.g., A Man Called Tiger, The Angry Guest/Kung Fu Killers - there's no effort to explore differences between the two cultures: Hong Kong is just another thriving Asian metropolis, much like Tokyo. Perhaps this lack of notice of any difference is the crucial difference - come to think of it, Japanese action films of the 1970s don't have much to say about China in general, or Hong Kong - except to hint that the crime rate is unacceptably high there - which seems a bit churlish since all the professional killers in these films are Japanese. Oh, well.One last historical note - this film clearly had as much impact on John Woo's "The Killer" as Melville's "Le Samourai" - more, I think, since the cop/killer relationship, given crude but important presentation here, is closer to the center of the Woo film than the implicit romance borrowed from the Melville film.Nothing special, but worth a look.

Being a fan of Sonny Chiba and the Golgo 13 comics, I found this at the video store I work at, and rented it one saturday night. I laughed, I cried, I made fun of the atrocious dubbing. This "film" is absolutely ridiculous, but shouldn't be taken seriously anyway. If you are looking for a really goofy martial arts/ assassin flick, this is for you. I suggest inventing a drinking game for this movie, because being plastered is a must for this one.