In the very first issue of BANDWIDTH I reviewed Golgo 13: The Professional. The legendary Golgo is one of the coolest anime characters, he reminds me of Shaft and James Bond. Golgo is a cool and calculating hit man, who is prone to sleeping with his intended female hits before killing them.
And now Golgo 13 is back, this time Golgo seeks to assassinate the Queen Bee before she put s bullet into the head of a Presidential Candidate. His assignment is to kill Queen Bee, the leader of a South American Liberation Army. She wants revenge on her father who abandoned her. The Queen Bee's father hopes to be President and couldn't let the fact that he had a child out of wedlock destroy his political chances. So the Presidential hopeful tells his running mate to take care of the problem, by paying them off. What he doesn't realize is that the Vice-Presidential hopeful kills the mother and rapes the daughter (The Queen Bee) before sending her off. So the Queen Bee is out to right the wrongs of the past and have lots of sex along the way. This woman gets around, sleeping with her fellow troops, her boss, and even Golgo 13 himself. Pretty damn cool.
Golgo 13 infiltrates the ranks of her operation, but realizes that there is more than meets the eye and ends up helping her out when another hitman comes to complete the job, in the belief that Golgo 13 will fail. What comes next is nonstop action, lots of blood, sex, violence and more nudity than even I am accustomed to. This story contains an intricate plot filled with twists and turns, action and intrigue. I must admit that I laughed a few times as sex just comes out of nowhere and seems to be put there for the sake of being put there. The Professional: Golgo 13 was pretty much the same and though I laughed at how casual the sex seems to be, I applaud it as well. It has a B-movie feel to it, done in an A-class way. I love this series!
The film totally captures the essence of the first film and rounds out the lead character, although Golgo 13 is not actually in Queen Bee than in the first one. This story focuses more on Queen Bee and her exploits. You learn enough about her to care. It is almost as if you are seeing this all through Golgo 13's eyes. And while Golgo has never given up on an assignment, can he actually kill a woman who is not as bad as she seems? Will he do the unthinkable act of murdering a woman who just wants to get revenge on the man who had killed her mother and raped her? Can Golgo 13 carry out the demands of the real bad guy in this whole tale? You will have to watch this film to find out.
I wholeheartedly recommend Golgo 13: Queen Bee. This is a fun film, filled with everything us men enjoy and probably many women as well. Enjoy the fact that this is on DVD and you can watch the English version or Japanese version, both remastered with audio commentary by the Japanese director, Osamu Dezaki, and executive producer, Mataichiro Yamamoto. Chapter selection is always a must as are lots of cool trailers for other great Urban Vision titles. Golgo 13 is a legend and if you haven't seen it, I suggest you go out and see both Golgo 13: Queen Bee and the first film Professional: Golgo 13. If you don't, you might just find him standing at your door.
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