Crying Freeman (1995)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Probably Mark Dacascos finest hour in this highly stylised adaptation of a classic manga character and graphic novel. This is where I first saw and heard of Dacascos and I really dug the guys talents, he was lean, athletic and he could do both Karate and Kung Fu styles, its just a shame that since this excellent film he went very much down hill with low budget action films.As for this adaptation its really very good considering its one of the first major comicbook films along side 'The Crow' which went for a serious adult approach just like the original source. To clear things up this is not a balls out action fest with killing and guns galore, its quite a thought provoking slow building story which does have some fantastic sequences but its not chock full of blazin' violence.A lot is based around both the Japanese and Chinese underworld which for anyone interested in the East and its customs, such as myself, is always a pleasure, plus it always seem to look really good on film too. There is some gun porn here of course alongside some samurai sword fighting, martial arts, neat explosions with a few stunts and the now over used slow motion death sequences but it all looks very lush and sharp. Remember this was 1995 and the mid 90's was the era of John Woo and his slick slow motion tomfoolery, so you know what to expect visually.Odd mix of folk for casting it must be said, due to some changes from the source material a few characters are now Western instead of Eastern and being directed/produced by both French and Canadian sources you have a real worldly blend of ideas going on, sort of. I think everyone knows to expect changes from the original source material though, something we just gotta live with I'm afraid.I myself had long forgotten about this film and I'm glad I checked it out again as its well worth your time if you enjoy martial arts of course. These days it will seem totally clichéd and completely old hat but lets not forget it was one of the first serious comicbook adaptations. The film was never released in the US at first, unsure if its available now, so maybe many have missed this cracking assassin flick? if so go check it out.8/10

From what I've seen, this indeed is a good film to watch, I mean Mark dacascos definitely plays a good freeman in this film, the action was a solid B plus, and it had an amazing set of characters, but most importantly i like it for how it simply was more similar and more realistic to the anime itself then just creativity, usually copying story lines from something and owning it isn't good, but it's a good lesson to take and understand, for example, street fighter from 1994, a horrible way to influence people of the game, it was horrible, it didn't focus on ryu at all, the characters weren't the way the were, and the acting was horrible, Dragonball evolution, bad actor and no similar story, and I can't imagine what could happen if they even dare to make horrible films of bleach or naruto, so it's only fair, above all it is a very great film to watch and i praise it for that.

Some parts were a little too long. But Yoko Shimada was one of the BEST parts of this flick. I lived in Japan for a long time and miss being able to see her in TV series and other Japanese movies.Does anybody know where to find her Japanese films or TV series online (other than the original Japanese studio or networks)? I forgot the title of one. But she's the head of a crime family and has to take matters into her own hands. Not a ripoff of Gokudo no Onna Hito (Yakuza Wives). The only way right now to get one of these is to have a friend there get it (which can cost up to about US$70). If you can find these please get in touch. Thanks!

Some spoilers may follow."Crying Freeman" is one of my favorite movies ever. I can watch it again and again many times. This movie is first of all a work of art. It is uncanny beautiful, in every small detail. Almost each episode I can watch through as if it were a picture of a talented artist. Graceful, elegant, very aesthetic - CF is a masterpiece of visual art. I fell in love with it when I first saw the starting credits: a wonderful katana sword turning and revealing the title in a flash: "Crying Freeman". And the rest of the credits, no less beautiful. I thought that if the creators of this movie could make the opening title so stunningly beautiful, then the movie itself would not disappoint me as well. And it didn't. But besides visual beauty, CF has a marvelous plot, actors and... Well, I'll simply say the whole blend of all things that make a movie is perfect in the "Crying Freeman". And again, when I try to describe my impression from some part of the movie, I can think of only one word - beautiful. No, even "fair". Yo Hinomura, deadly and elegant, as a katana blade. Beauty of death. And his another side - soft and artistic. Beauty of art and poetry. Emu O'Hara, fair and tender. Beauty of peace and modesty. Lady Hanada. Even she has the beauty - of pride and honor. Beauty can be found in every detail.And deep layers that accompany each Christophe Gans' movie... You might watch "Crying Freeman" a hundred of times and on the hundred and first you'll something you haven't seen before. I am very grateful to all the people that made the creation of "Crying Freeman" possible.