Golgo 13 (2007 film)

"From the creators of,, and ... You shall not stand behind him...if you value your life."

- The tagline for the film

Golgo 13 (ゴルゴ13) is a 2007 adult animated action thriller film directed by and  in their directorial debuts. Based on the by, the screenplay was written by Chris Seavor and , and features the voice of  as the eponymous professional assassin for hire. In the film, Duke Togo is released from jail with the assistance from the and the, gains his license to kill and will take almost any job offered him. He has worked for criminals and kingpins, gamblers and governments, and he has taken out other criminals and kingpins, gamblers and governments.

Golgo 13 was produced by Solarsaga Studios and Standard Productions with outsourced animation by The Answer Studio in association with. Although intended to be released directly on home video, it made its debut in London on June 22, 2007. It premiered in on July 1, before its DVD and Blu-Ray releases on July 10. Critical reception to the film was mixed, with the animation, action scenes, tone, visuals and voice performances receiving praise, while the screenplay and humor being targeted for criticism.

Plot
Duke Togo, aka Golgo 13, is released from jail with assistance from the and the  in Texas. Jake Quade, a gangster turned CIA informant, hijacked a domestic flight after killing a sky marshal and stealing his side arm with the threat of blowing it up and killing the passengers held as his hostages with smuggled C-4 explosives. Golgo 13 snipes him in the aircraft's cockpit from a long distance in a nearby airfield after getting a highly modified .308 Winchester bolt-action sniper rifle from underground firearms maker Dave McCartney.

Golgo 13 is hired by Charles C. Whitney, a representative of the for an assignment when he was told to target a mafia financier in New York. Despite getting into trouble when his used .30-06 Springfield cartridge fell down from his apartment balcony due to the appearance of a stray cat, Togo covers his tracks when Detective Sam Shire of the NYPD starts to hound him over his stay in New York City.

What began as a simple mission to stir up trouble for racers driving Japanese-made vehicles in a rally race turns into a match of sniping when Golgo 13 is targeted by the Savine brothers, ex-French Foreign Legion soldiers turned mercenaries armed with modified XM29 OICW and FN F2000 bullpup assault rifles while being aided by customized digital scopes made by a European arms dealer named Kaizer in order to market them to numerous military forces from around the globe.

Linda, the wife of a mafia leader in New York City, hires Golgo 13 for the purpose of assassinating her husband so as to start another life all over again in Florida after being disgruntled over her current life. Things gets complicated when the mafia boss kills one of his henchmen after being accused of trying to be in an affair with Linda, resulting in a small gang war fight before Golgo 13 was able to get rid of his targets and unfortunately Linda when she decides to kill him after ignoring her personal requests.

Bob Stinger, vice-president of Conan Associates, hires an ex-Polish Olympic athlete and soldier named Ledell Nikolavitch to assassinate the company's president and current leader Ted Conan in order to take over the entire company despite what Ted had done to help Bob escape from his past problems after he ran into some money trouble. However, Ted is wise to Bob's game and decides to hire Golgo 13 secretly to assassinate both Bob and Ledell for good.

Golgo 13 is hired out by a mobster to go to Massachusetts and assassinate an anti-crime analyst during the state's presidential elections. When Golgo 13 is arrested by FBI agents for assaulting an agent after his work was done, he is grilled regarding the murder and the PPS-made revolver that he used until a lawyer named Mr. Barton begins to question the loopholes in the FBI's accusations against Duke.

Golgo 13 is secretly hired by Thomas Simpson, a famed violinist from the to sabotage a charity concert led by his replacement Sergei Kerensky by shooting the G-string from his violin after his own concert was botched up when a G-string from his own violin had been broken off before the public. Golgo completes his job, despite Sergei's remedy to his problem of a lost G-String by improvising another string instead.

Golgo 13 is arrested and sent to Pandora Island Prison, an isolated prison somewhere near the Alaska mainland to rescue a prisoner named Patrick Zalas despite being under the thumb of a sadistic and corrupt warden named Kickarse. During Golgo's stay in the prison, he begins to secretly work out a plan to have him and Patrick out of the island for good. But after the two escape from the island prison, Golgo executes him under orders of Patrick's bosses.

Fueled by the murder of his fiancé by the new underground cult the NYPD had been investigating, a NYPD Officer hires Golgo 13 to assassinate the cult's masked leader, Mikhail. However, the cult's members, fearless of death, go to any lengths to protect its leader, a self-proclaimed saint. As Golgo 13 infiltrated the cult, he is quickly recognized as a threat and ordered to be killed. Though, he thwarted their plans and escaped while being pursued by the cult's extremist followers.

A small family-run motel hears news of a casino robbery when Golgo turns up to stay. Hank, the son of the family returns home with another man having executed the robbery. The blind mother is suspicious of Hank and is unnerved by Golgo, but the assassin leaves before anything happens. Confronting Hank, the mother accidentally shoots Hank and the accomplice escapes to deliver the money to his boss, without realizing that Golgo has been hired by the mob to kill those responsible for robbing their casino.

Jonathan Earp, a company executive hires Golgo to assassinate one of the owners of the company. The plan is already laid out with no witnesses or physical evidence, all Duke has to do is pull the trigger, while Earp controls the plane. However a disgruntled employee has switched Earp's lucky bowling ball with a bomb and Earp takes his lucky charm everywhere he goes. The assassination goes off without a hitch but the remaining owner has already worked out what Earp will do and fires him. With Golgo leaving the employee celebrates when the bomb detonates killing Earp and the other owner. Having nearly been blown up Golgo murders the employee.

Albert is from a proud family of French wine producers but his wines are being bought up by Yanagida, a Japanese man who cannot distinguish between vintages. After an auction where Albert fraudulently sells a 1900 vintage in place of an 1800 vintage, Yanagida hosts a party to show off the wines with several noteworthy sommeliers, who will be able to taste the fraudulent wine, attending. Desperate to retain his pride and not be exposed as a fraud, Albert hires Golgo 13 to shoot the bottle of fake wine during the uncorking. However at the party Yanagida invites Albert, as guest of honor, to perform the uncorking.

A boy, Patric, picks a man's pocket on the Paris metro and drops off the wallet in his accomplice Sara's hands in front of Golgo 13. Minutes later the man whose pocket was picked, Henri Bazaine, is found dead. Later, just before Patric meets up with Sara he notices a man who he suspects is a detective and so he slips away unnoticed. The man follows Sara and it turns out he is an assassin who killed Bazaine and knows that Sara saw him sitting next to Bazaine. Suddenly Golgo shows up and saves Sara and beats up the assassin. Patric is found by the assassin and is beaten into revealing Sara's location as the wallet contained a memo. Having located Sara, he chases after her but once again she is saved by Golgo. The assassin contacts his client, Carnac, but Golgo kills the assassin having let Carnac know where Sara will be. Golgo takes Sara to a hotel and Carnac appears, and Golgo kills him. Carnac had belonged to a group of biologists working on a project and had stolen the funds for his own purposes. Bazaine was to deliver the memo containing the key to the project that could turn it into a contagion but as he was unable to he was killed. Golgo had been hired by the biologists to ensure Carnac failed.

Golgo 13 is hired to kill Hewitt, the number 2 in a crime syndicate. The head of the syndicate died in an accident and all signs point to Hewitt being responsible. The previous number 1 had placed a large amount of gold bullion in a bank vault and Hewitt becoming paranoid will only be vulnerable on the ceremony day when he visits the vault in the morning. However the location of the bank plus the small army of goons as security make the shot impossible. Opposite lives a struggling artist named Ash who is behind in his rent payments and is the only one in the apartment block. One day Golgo 13 shows up at his door and buys Ash's entire art works making him a rich man. Ash pays off his rent and flies off to Florida to start a new life. Meanwhile Golgo buys the apartment block in cash from the landlord. As Hewitt gets out of the car towards the bank, the client's henchman demolishes the apartment and Golgo 13 from the building behind snipes Hewitt before the dust cloud obstructs his and the goons view. Meanwhile Ash is enjoying his new life in Florida grateful to the man that gave him the means to live this new lifestyle.

Two millionaires who bet on human bloodsports hire a top assassin, Spartacus, to duel with Golgo 13 under the guise of protecting themselves from him. They have the Colosseum rigged with cameras and microphones in order to watch. Golgo 13 emerges from the duel the winner and reveals to Spartacus the recording equipment. Angry that he was used, he hires Golgo 13 to kill the millionaires right before he dies. The millionaires use their influence to fly to South Africa to a safe place while being guarded by the Sicilian mafia and theirs being the first plane out of Rome. However they are shot dead upon arrival from another plane on the tarmac that had overtaken them from Rome while they had refueled in Nairobi.

David Rockford, the most powerful and influential man in the world, attempts to hire Golgo 13 on a permanent basis but is refused. Using his vast wealth and connections he has Golgo's secret bank accounts and cards frozen. Golgo finds out about a man named Jiang-Sun Huang, the leader of a group of Chinese expats in Taiwan who have an extensive intelligence network who can find Rockford. Huang hires Golgo 13 to kill Rockford as the expats are being squeezed by Rockford for their resources. Rockford flees to his villa in Switzerland and calls the U.S. president. In return for ensuring his rigged re-election the president calls Golgo 13 and warns him to leave Switzerland or face every law enforcement agency in the world. Golgo shoots Rockford from a boat outside the Swiss border.

Loi, an Asian film producer is looking to shoot on location in America but the actors and producers are continually being assassinated. In order to protect the star of his movie, Lee, and secure the future of the Hong Kong film industry, he hires Golgo 13 to kill those responsible for the attempts on Lee's life, however he does not know who is behind the attacks. An American company is behind the attacks using the DIA to try to kill Lee out of fear that the Hong Kong film industry will bankrupt them and erode into the American film industry, reducing the American influence around the world. Golgo moves Loi and Lee to a Chinese secret armored building and when DIA elite troops attack, he has planned its defense and is able to kill most of the troops and determine who is responsible. Some make it to where Loi and Lee are and fatally shoot Loi. Golgo shoot the halogen gas fire system releasing the gas into the airtight room. Shooting the window with a grenade the air pressure difference sucks out the remaining troops. Golgo finishes the assignment by killing the one responsible for the assassinations.

Following a successful assassination, Golgo's escape plane crash lands on an island where the American military are testing the new SDR2 armoured suit against captured terrorists. The inexperienced pilot is ordered to kill Golgo as he is a witness to the new technology. As the pilot becomes increasingly unstable after being outsmarted several times Golgo is finally able to destroy the SDR2 with a well-placed shot. The American officer has Golgo brought in where he demands his services as an advisor. Not wanting to comply Golgo kills the officer and the guards.

Albert Stantz, a governor election candidate, hires Golgo 13 to assassinate Wassant, a philanthropist dedicated to transforming orphans into valuable members of society. They both shared a history belonging to an anarchist street gang and Wassant is now trying to atone for his past. However Duke is involved in a car accident where his dominant right arm is severely injured and next to useless. He finds Dr. Cutter, a surgeon with amazing dexterity and skill to heal his arm. Overhearing a telephone conversation between Cutter and another orphan, he learns that Cutter is one of Wassant's orphans and deduces that Stantz had mentioned Golgo 13, breaking Duke's terms of agreement. After successfully shooting Wassant and leaving the weapon at the scene he shoots Stantz, again leaving the weapon at the scene. The M16 used to kill Wassant was modified to be shot left-handed while the other M16 was unmodified. Cutter theorises that Duke had used his left hand as an obligation to him for healing his arm. The film ends with Duke leaving for the airport.

Voice cast

 * as Duke Togo / Golgo 13
 * as Dave McCartney
 * Todd Waite as Flannagan
 * as Regan
 * as Hume
 * as Jake Quade
 * as Detective Sam Shire
 * as Eddie Morgan
 * as Charles C. Whitney
 * as Charlie
 * as Kaizer and Ricky
 * as Loyman
 * as Flanger
 * and Éric Le Roch as the Sabine Brothers
 * as Linda
 * Andrew Love as Marty O'Brien
 * as Billy
 * as Scott
 * as Bob Stinger
 * as Ledell Nikolavitc and Sergei Kerensky
 * as Ted Conan
 * as Duchess
 * as Burton
 * as Tryon
 * as Thomas
 * as Thomas Simpson
 * as Kickarse
 * as Deadman
 * as Mouse
 * as Patrick Zalas
 * Mikhail Kuznetsov as Mikhail
 * Chris Seavor as Bernard Kelly