Golgo 13: Assignment: Kowloon

DVD year of release: Nov. 2, 1999
Approximate running time: 93 minutes
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Mono
DVD Release: Crash Cinema
Region Coding: NTSC Region 0

Retail Price: $14.95

Reviewed by:
Ian Jane on May 5, 2001

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The Film
Based on the long running Japanese manga (comics) series, Sonny Chiba (The Street Fighter, The Executioner) plays Golgo 13, a ruthless killer-for-hire, in this sequel to Toei’s original 1973 picture (simply titled Golgo 13 and starring Ken Takakura in the lead role). When Golgo 13 is hired to travel from Japan to Hong Kong to assassinate a drug lord, he’s beaten to it by a mysterious rival assassin, but is assumed guilty by a hardboiled Hong Kong cop referred to only as Detective Smith (played by Callan Leung) who’s out to put Golgo behind bars for good.

Along the way, Golgo saves a young woman (Etsuko Shiomi of Sister Street Fighter and The Dragon Princess) who kills her partner in an argument in an alleyway for no apparent reason. Keeping her out of harms way and away from the police, he later uses her for the same purpose when he’s shot in the leg while escaping from the police himself.

As it happens, a diplomat named Mr. Polanski (Jerry Ito of Mothra and Message From Space) turns out to be behind it all and the film comes to a great climax with Golgo, dangling from a cliff, attempting to get his revenge on Polanski, who’s flying in a helicopter, all the while with the cops trying to keep anyone else from getting killed.

Though not the greatest Chiba film ever made, his screen presence is remarkable as the tough as nails gun for hire Golgo, though the film suffers from too many extended periods in which we don’t see or here from Golgo and it doesn’t move at a lightning fast pace either. Shiomi and Chiba, as always, are great together here and have always seemed to have a nice chemistry on screen (likely due to the fact that she’s one of his protégés from the ‘Japan Action Club’, a training school for martial arts film stars that Chiba ran in the 1970s).

There are, however, some truly memorable moments in the movie, and the scenes where Golgo 13 is at work are great, with Chiba decked out in a slick 70s style business suit, smoking a cigar, and showing us what being a tough guy is really all about.

On an interesting side note, there is a scene in Golgo 13 – Assignment: Kowloon that was lifted almost shot-for-shot by John Woo’s The Killer, where the assassin plans his shot to the hit at the same time a starter pistol is fired at a race near a swimming pool, so obviously the film has had more influence than a lot of people have given it credit for.

 





Video 2/5
The film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:35:1. Crash appears to have used to different prints: one for the English dubbed version of the film, and one for the Chinese language version of the film. Both prints show a lot of wear, grain, spots and discoloration throughout, though some scenes do look better than others. The box claims that the DVD has been re-mastered, though there is no evidence of any re-mastering whatsoever anywhere in this presentation. The Chinese language print looks to be marginally better where brighter colors are presented.


Audio 2/5
Crash Cinema has given viewers the option to watch the film in either an English dubbed version or in Chinese with burned in English and Japanese subtitles. On both tracks, we’re given a Dolby Digital Mono mix that is barely passable. Although the music doesn’t overshadow the dialogue and it is for the most part easy to follow along with, there is hiss in the background through most of the film, which is both distracting and irritating, even if it is only noticeable during the really quiet parts. If the hiss hadn’t been present, the sound would have scored higher.


Extras 1/5
In addition to animated chapter stops and scene selection Crash Cinema also provides the original theatrical trailer for the film.


Overall 2/5
Though not Chiba’s best film, and presented here (re-mastered or not) in a pretty lackluster disc, Golgo 13: Assignment: Kowloon is still worth watching if only for Chiba’s excellent portrayal of the definitive cold blooded assassin.


Film Rating DVD Rating
Director: Yukio Noda
Film:

Writer: No one credited
Video:

Released: 1996
Audio:

Cast: Sonny Chiba, Etsuko Shiomi, Jerry Ito, Callan Leung
Koji Tsuruta
 
Extras:

Overall:

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