Crying Freeman Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
Once in a lifetime comes the perfect killer.
A lethal assassin for a secret Chinese organisation, who sheds tears of regret each time he kills, is seen swiftly and mercilessly executing three Yakuza gangsters by a beautiful artist. She is captivated by the grace of his kill and later falls in love with him. An intense power struggle for the leadership of the Yakuza Clans ensues as they seek vengeance for the death of their leader. They soon realise the fatal mistake of underestimating the deadly skills of the Crying Freeman.
| Byron Mann | |
| Mark Dacascos | |
| Julie Condra | |
| Rae Dawn Chong | |
| Masaya Kato | |
| Yoko Shimada |
| Christophe Gans |
6.40 out of 10 (4004 votes)
Visitor Reviews
MORE ACTION AND EXCITEMENT THAN THE ANIME VERSION!! :D
posted on 31 Aug 2009I preffer this version than the short anime serie because I saw the animated serie and it wasn't THAT good. :(
The animation was so-so, the graphics were not so inspiring, some of the characters looked stupid, the action was NOTHING great and the storyline was a little slow.
NOW THIS ONE! is the "worth buying it". There is SLOW-MO ACTION like in the John Woo films, FAST gun-fights, BIG explotions, good acting, GREAT martial arts movements and COOL one man army swordman scene!!! ;D
If you think that the story is more important then I recomend the anime version, but if you are looking for COOL FAST action then I recomend this one.
This movie have basically the same story as the animated serie but a little summarized.
About the dvd: The picture quality is very good but when the camera goes to "close-up" there are some brieff purple lights in the picture but is not THAT annoying, besides, it's only at the begining of the movie, the last best action scenes doesn't have that. The sound hears good but is low volume, so you have to turn up your tv volume to hear the sound much clearer.
Adios.
Should be better
posted on 31 Aug 2009I enjoyed the 5 graphic novels of Crying Freeman by Dark Horse. The animated movies were good but not as good as the graphic novels. This movie compared to the animated version and graphic novels is a disappointment. It is disjointed and the actors left much to be desired. This movie is in English with Chinese subtitles. But there are portions of the movie were Chinese (Cantonese dialect) or Japanese is spoken only that was not background chatter, but dialogue that I think was important to the storyline and flow of the movie. These conversations leaves the movie viewer clueless unless he/she can understand or read Chinese or Japanese. The important scene where Freeman falls in love with Emu is weak and not convincing. The dialogue strayed from the graphic novel at that scene and it was disappointing because the script replacing it was poor. The acting in that scene was also disappointing. As a stand alone movie, I rate this movie no more than three stars. As the first Crying Freeman movie, it is a disappointment.
Crying Freeman, Crying Me
posted on 31 Aug 2009I bought a French copy of this movie and was excited to view the scenes on the back cover showing beautiful cinematography and Matrix-like martial arts moves. There was none of this in the movie. Mind you, I went into this movie not knowing a thing of the Crying Freeman anime series. However as a movie, for its own worth, Crying Freeman is not particularly good. While the story is concrete, and follows through, it somehow feels disjointed and uneventful. To note, there is also a definite mid-90's feel of this movie, which makes it feel dated. As for the actors, while the characters have the potential for great development (that is to say the whole Crying Freeman story is no doubt intriguing), I believe they are never fully realized. The only thing of particular interest for me was a great title credit scene with a tattoo on the Crying Freeman coming alive. I was also happy to see a movie take place in the bright and airy San Fransisco. For those language buffs, English and Japanese are spoken. And I do recall a Chinese language being spoken, though I may be mistaken.
Below Zero! NOT like the Anime version at all! VERY DISAPPOINTING!
posted on 31 Aug 2009I was VERY disappointed after watching this version of Crying Freeman! I own the entire anime series and love that version very much, so was very eager to finally get to watch this one. I was more than disappointed after viewing it. For those of you who have seen and love the anime version you will understand what I mean if you ever decide to watch this one. The only good parts about this version are the actor/actress that play Freeman and Emu. I was told before watching that this was supposed to follow the anime version almost ver batum, and was sorely disappointed when I realized that was not the case. Too many scenes in this version did not even follow the storyline of the anime version. For those who do like this version, I appologize for my slamming, but I feel this version is total disrespect for the original anime.
Surprisingly good...
posted on 05 Jan 2009I had seen the first episode of the anime and was mortified beyond belief on how horribly awful it was - the plot had the potential for depth but what truly vacuous and was basically an excuse to show breasts as much as possible. Sometimes there wasn't even a point, just bare breasts. So gratuitous that even a raging hormones teenage male was disgusted.So my hopes for this film were far from stellar.And I was surprised. Live action did away with gratuitous nudity for a rather rich and fulfilling movie. It was intelligent and it struck me as being infinitely better than the hormone-driven anime. I'd strongly recommend this movie to anyone. The plot is well done and relatively easy to follow, yet still has depth. On a whole, Crying Freeman is a lovely picture, even for people like me who had the misfortune of watching it on DIVX. =)
I expected much more, but it's still an above average action movie.
posted on 18 Dec 2008I was knocked out by the recent French historical/martial arts/horror fantasy 'Brotherhood Of The Wolf', so I decided to check out 'Crying Freeman', Mark Dacascos best known and most acclaimed movie before his supporting role in '...Wolf'. Billed as the first live action Manga I expected it to be a lot more stylized, violent and surreal than it turned out to be, sorta like Tsukamoto's 'Tetsuo 2' but GOOD. Instead you get a fairly conventional but above average action movie. Dacascos plays Freeman, a seemingly unstoppable assassin who falls in love with a woman (Julie Condra) who witnesses one of his hits. Rae Dawn Chong ('Fear City') and Tcheky Karyo ('Dobermann') play a couple of cops investigating some Yakuza killings who find themselves on the trail of the mysterious and elusive Freeman. Despite having virtually no Manga feel to it, and featuring surprisingly little martial arts fight scenes despite Dacascos' background, this is a reasonably entertaining way to kill an hour and a half, but that's about it.
A beautiful movie about the worlds most professional killer
posted on 05 Aug 2008Marc Dacascos plays his best role ever as the "Freeman". The movie tells a tragic story about a ordinary man who was turned into the worlds most efficient killer,and how he tries to save the women he love.The acting is very good and you can see that they spared no expense making one of the best martial-arts/action movies of the decade.Marc Dacascos get to show us that he is truly one of the greatest martial-art actors out there.The movie is brilliant directed and the fighting scenes just amazes me.But if you are expecting a "die hard" action movie you are wrong,because this movie also has a story to tell.Great story,YOU GOT TO SEE THIS ONE.
NICE TRY....
posted on 27 Jul 2008When I was first exposed to the 6 part anime version of Crying Freeman, I was instantly hooked. One of the best storylines I have ever come across. Despite my disinterest in the numerous sex scenes, it did contribute to the story. To my surprise after several years of being an avid Crying Freeman advocate I found out about the live movie version of my all time favorite anime. I hunted down this hard to find movie and was finally able to satisfy my longing to see Crying Freeman in the flesh. I was impressed by the portrayal of Freeman, I feel that the essence of Freeman was well expressed by Mark Dacascos. Julie Condra's resemblance to the anime Emu was uncanny. The action and incredible tattoo on Freeman were the highlights of the film, but just like most film adaptations of books, this adaptation of the anime doesn't quite match the original. But for die hard Crying Freeman fans like me, this is worth adding to your DVD collection.
The best of Mark Dacascos.
posted on 24 Jul 2008Been in love of a hired killer in delicacy with her employers, a young Canadian becomes the target of the police and the powerful gang of yakusas. Inspired by a manga, clashing it cocktail of martial arts, whodunit and romance is not to evoke John Woo. The scenes of action are astonishing and if it was not some weaknesses of writing (the intrigue is rather misty) the pupil would have to envy nothing to the boss.
Classy action film despite not using it's star enough
posted on 18 Jun 2008Yo Hinomura is the Freeman, the most recent in a long line of deadly Chinese assassins who kill with great speed and shed tears after the kill. When he is seen doing a kill by artist Emu O'Hara he is forced by his employers to return to kill her. With the police expecting him and other gangs hunting him for revenge, Freeman returns to find that love has grown between him and Emu and he doesn't kill her.I have waited years for this to come onto TV and have stood many times in a video store with a £20 dvd of it in my hand, wondering if I should just buy it. As a fan of Dacascos I wanted to see anything with him in it but, having seen it, I'm glad I didn't sell out the money for it. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy it, but it could have been a little better. Based on the magna series, this film has respect for the source material and told the story well (at least I thought so as an uninitiated). The story may not stand up under great thought but it is good enough for this type of film.The direction is excellent and the film is really stylish, using the slow motion that (at the time) wasn't the toast of the town in Western cinema yet. The weakness the film has is in the action, it is good but I didn't feel there was ever a time when it really let rip and became visually stunning or overly impressive. Considering how able Dacascos is at martial arts, it was a shame he didn't have one major fight to really shine on.
However, like I said, the action is still pretty stylish and enjoyable.This was the time when it looked like Dacascos would rise up to take over from more established Western action stars, but sadly it doesn't seem to have happened. Here he has to hide his natural charisma, which hampers him a little, but he is still a very watchable presence on screen and he is good in the lead. The support cast ably hold him up and features quite a few well known faces including Chong, Karyo, Kato and Mann. The main casting weakness is Condra who I didn't think a great deal of to be honest. Her narration is droning and bland and her character is not really developed in any way.Despite the weaknesses though, this was a good martial arts movie which benefits from having a classy feel to it and a strong source material to fall back on. It lacks the punch of a `balls out' action movie, but is still enjoyable. Could have done with a bit more heart, but stands out as a classy martial arts movie.
reflecting the culture of China and Japan.
posted on 11 Mar 2008As a Korean, I am very surprised to see how well foreigners understand the special culture of Chinese and Japan. The idea that some Buddhists established an legendary organization and trained a legendary assassin called "freeman" and whenever China was in trouble, the organization helped to avoid or overcome the trouble situations. so it was given respect by Chinese is to come from the traditional chivalry story of China. in fact, the movie "First of Legend" acted by "Jet li" has the same context with this.
"Crying Freeman" also reflects the culture of Yakuza Organization in Japan well. for example, Yakuzas like to have a dragon tattooed upon their bodies and if the boss died, the successor married the boss' wife. and so on. I felt as if I was seeing the movie produced by Chinese or Japanese. and I could enjoy it even more interestingly than other foreign movies.
Late night surprise.
posted on 02 Mar 2008This film received such an unfortunate review in my TV guide that I would not have chosen to watch it. I was sitting in bed with a book, completing the wearisome process of taking my medication when my partner changed channels. I said 'I know what this movie is' & provided him a synopsis. (He went to sleep.) I was hooked from the opening scenes on the cliff. The style of the film still seems somewhat simplistic but neverless has enormous impact. This film hits on a far deeper level than outright action. Perhaps it is the trapped feelings of the lead characters which forms the basis of interaction for the viewer. I still don't know but I find that I must buy the dvd. This film made me feel and that is so rare nowadays.
This movie is turned into a joke
posted on 25 Sep 2007This movie started out quite nicely, until the Chinese started speaking. It couldn't stop me laughing since then. The realisticity was completely broken when what the Chinese Mafia/secret society speak is Cantonese, which only people in Guangdong, Macau and Hong Kong speaks. But none of those places were featured in the movie. Additionally the Cantonese dialogues are really cheesy, and the stereotype of Asians being chain-smokers just annoys me. The same language problem happened to the Flight of the Phoenix where the locals were speaking Cantonese. There are way too many explosions, especially considering what caused them. The set where the main character was taken was poorly made too. I wouldn't recommend this movie if you can understand Mandarin or Cantonese, as it would be a laughing joke for you, like it did for me.
Very well directed
posted on 21 Jun 2007An interesting and original story plus a very good direction and photography, made this film become different and better than those common fighting films. Except from the final part, when we had the pleasure of remembering some "espectacular" fighting scenes.
Beautifully filmed and an incredibly talented cast
posted on 16 Apr 2007This is one of the most beautifully filmed movies around. The talent of the cast and crew is evident. The camera angles and transitions are interesting and make for a most enjoyable experience. It is somewhat violent, but the violence is part of the story and never gratuitous, much like The Crow. If you enjoyed The Crow, chances are good that you'll like this film.The cast is brilliant (and high praise goes to the Casting Directors). Mark Dacascos has the seldom-seen ability to convey volumes without saying a word and he uses that talent repeatedly here. Julie Condra is beautiful and talented as well. The on-screen sparks between these two are a joy to watch.There is the odd plot hole, but they're not significant enough to really complain about. This is the kind of movie that you get something new out of every time you view it. It holds a place of honour on my shelf right beside The Crow.
far from an interesting film
posted on 01 Apr 2007I actually found this film to be very badly acted , and verging on the ridiculous. The unbounded taste for gratifying violence didn't add to the plot either. I suppose you could call it an action film with an oriental flavour, But even then was unconvincing.The thought that Vancouver had such violent Chinese and Japanese was quite a fright ( joke ) cars exploding and men dying by the bucket load in the main streets was enough to make me laugh out loud. When there is a water tight plot and convincing acting , violence can play a part. but over the top violence is a sure sign of lack of substance in the diologue, and this film lacked good diologue, twas crying out for a rewrite, Think I rather get my Chinese action from going to the takeaway on Saturday night. At least I would have something more tasty.
superb and excellent
posted on 26 Dec 2006mark is underestimated, he is an excellent actor and martial artist, but he is going now to major stardom with brotherhood of the wolf, he deserves it. Christophe gans is an excellent director, I love this movie, even better than the matrix, a shame it didnt have the adequate distribution, but brotherhood is.. gans desrves it too. Keep the excellent work gans and dacascos!!!
Certainly Free, But Not Liberated
posted on 31 Aug 2009(About the DVD: this all-region release will indeed play on North American DVD players, but with slightly reduced picture quality. There is only one audio track - English with bits of Japanese - but both Cantonese and (bad) English subtitles are included; the Japanese bits do not feature automatic subtitles, so these must be turned on manually. Despite being labeled "Special Widescreen Edition" on its cover, there are no special features included)
When a lethal assassin known as the Freeman (Mark Dacascos, Brotherhood of the Wolf) is seen killing three members of the Yakuza by a beautiful artist named Emu (Julie Condra, Eerie, Indiana - The Complete Series), her survival depends on their mutual affections for eachother amidst a Yakuza clan war instigated by a power-hungry rogue named Hanada (Masaya Kato, Drive) looking to kill the Freeman.
Knowing the genre of "Crying Freeman" is a necessity before watching, lest you end up potentially disappointed. Basically, it's an action-drama, with about three or four times more emphasis on drama than on the action: in the span of 102 minutes, there are only two shootouts and one martial arts/swordfight scene. There are a few assassination scenes placed throughout the rest of the movie, but these are generally quick and can't really count towards the overall action content. No matter how good the rest of the film may be, I personally was unable to get over how underutilized the talents of six-time martial arts champion Mark Dacascos were: what's there is good, but if you're already familiar with the feats that Dacascos can pull off, I have no doubt that you'll share my sentiment.
Luckily, the rest of the movie is pretty good, even though it struggles to find its pace. Director Christoph Gans ("Brotherhood of the Wolf", Silent Hill (Widescreen Edition)) may have coined a completely new genre in his melding of drama, action, crime-thriller, and arty elements; both he and cinematographer Thomas Burstyn (The 4400: The Complete Series) deserve acclaim for how nice they made the movie to look at, with next to no aid from CGI (sans the cool opening titles). The dialogue gets a bit silly, though, although this may only seem the case because I am unfamiliar with the manga the movie is based on. In addition, the romance between Emu and Freeman is 100% forced and unaccounted for: audiences are to assume that love can blossom from seeing a complete stranger put bullets through the heads of three other complete strangers, and that this turns into sex mere hours later.
Dramatically, however, the film is in good hands: Dacascos fumbles a bit with his part, but he's successfully recued by Condra. Byron Mann (Street Fighter (Collector's Edition)) co-stars as the Freeman's guide, and Rae Dawn Chong (Commando) and Tcheky Karyo (Kiss of the Dragon) do well as police detectives of the opposite sides of the coin. Though a bit boring, Masaya Kato is effectively cold-blooded, and Yoko Shimada (James Clavell's Shogun) makes an eventual strong showing as his ambitious wife. The amazing Mako (The Sand Pebbles) has a small but important role, and performs as well as always even though he's a bit out of his element.
Despite having developed into a small-time cult favorite, I found next to nothing about the film particularly remarkable - even the absurd amount of slow motion is no longer the movie's own. I suppose I set my standards too high and expected more of an action movie along the lines of Dacascos' other movies, but nevertheless, it doesn't hold up too impressively as anything other than a comic adaptation. If you're after a Dacascos action package, check out "Drive" instead.