malcy700 I 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.

ysimdl 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!

Paul Andrews Crying Freeman starts in San Francisco as Yo Hinomura AKA the Crying Freeman (Mark Dacascos) who works as an assassin for the Sons of the Dragon kills Takeshi Shimazaki (Kevin Ohtsji) & a couple of his bodyguards (Tong Lung & Kiyoto Matumoto) all witnessed by vacationing painter Emu O'Hara (Julie Condra) but Freeman lets her live... Jump to Vancouver B.C. where by a complete & utter coincidence Emu & Takeshi's father Shido Shimazaki (Mako) live, in a sort of 'kill two birds with one stone' situation Freeman takes out Shido in broad daylight in front of the court house & then turns his attentions to Emu who he just can't bring himself to kill so he has sex with her instead, hell it probably seemed like a good idea at the time. Back in Japan & a Yakuza bloke type guy named Ryuji Hanada (Masaya Kato) challenges the Sons of the Dragon & in particular Freeman as his head will make him powerful or something like that...This French, Canadian, Japanese & American co-production was co-written & directed by Frenchman Christophe Gans & made by a lot of people with unpronounceable names both in front & behind the camera this is, in my humble opinion, total crap. The script by Gans, Thierry Cazals & the uncredited duo of Roger Avery & Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik which takes itself extremely seriously is based on the popular Manga comic by Kazuo Koike & Ryoichi Ikegami & subsequent Japanese Anime which I have seen but unfortunately it was back in the 90's & can't remember a single thing about it other than it was better than this live-action version. For a start it's pretty slow going & repetitive along with the fact that there's a criminal lack of proper over-the-top Anime action, there are constant dull shoot outs where the Freeman can shoot & kill dozens of bad guy's who no matter how hard they try or how heavy they are in number just can't even get a shot off, I hope these Japanese mafia bosses aren't paying these guy's that much because they ain't much use! Then there's the fact that at least some of it had to be Americanised with a couple of American cops & some of it being set in the US, the storyline is weak & is your basic inner struggle within a powerful crime organisation with someone wanting to take it over. I suppose Freeman is supposed to be some sort of anti-hero as he kills swiftly but also has some sort of moral code & predictably turns soft when the time comes to kill a piece of skirt who he fancies. It's all been done before & much better as well, from the rubbish James Bond style opening titles to the happy ending as the Freeman & his bird ride off into the sunset on a speedboat Crying Freeman is a crying shame...Director Gans making his full length film debut clearly doesn't know how to stage or edit an action sequence, this is really hard going actually. For a start there's absolutely no variety in the action with a constant stream of virtually identical shoot outs although there is some samurai sword play at the end which is the only reason I gave this 2 stars out of 10 instead of just the 1, the violence is tame & the blood very restrained with only one blood spurt right at the end. Then there's the constant annoying use of slow motion, seriously this film has more slow motion in it than any other film I can remember seeing. In fact if all the slow motion scenes were played back at normal speed Crying Freeman would probably run over 40 minutes shorter, everything is seen in slow motion from people running & walking to people falling over to people shooting guns from drink being poured to sex scenes there isn't 5 minutes that go by without at least something being shown in slow motion. Now this is fine when it's used properly but here director Gans just does it for the hell of it or because he mistakenly thought it looked cool & would automatically make his film stylish which it most certainly doesn't.With a supposed budget of about $5,000,000 this had a much bigger budget than I thought while I was watching it, I'm not sure where all the money went as there are no big stars or particularly big action scenes either. The filmmakers obviously didn't go anywhere near Japan & it was shot entirely in Vancouver in Canada. The acting isn't up to much I'm afraid, if you like happy stories Mark Dacascos & his co-star Julie Condra actually married each other after the film in real life.Crying Freeman is what I would personally term as a total waste of 100 odd minutes, I didn't like it & have no fondness for it at all. Disappointing as far as I'm concerned, stick to the Manga & Anime instead.

Phil Arthur From movie crazy Christopher Ganns, the man behind the French Cinema success of 2001 Brotherhood of the Wolf and the film magazine Starfix, comes a tale based on the famous Japanese manga, the Crying Freeman.The story centres on a deadly assassin who works for a secret Chinese organisation. The one thing that makes this ruthless killer unique is that he sheds tears of regret each time he kills. One day an American artist witnesses him executing three Yakuzza leaders. She becomes obsessed with this mysterious killer and begins to fall deeply in love with him. The Yakuzza clans seek vengeance for their leader's execution and in an attempt to hurt the assassin, take the artist prisoner. They soon regret ensuing the wrath of the Crying Freeman, China's both most deadly and compassionate killer.The Crying Freeman is a film of disappointment; it is one big let down. Having watched Brotherhood of the Wolf prior to this, I was expecting a film full of stylishly choreographed Kung foo and a heart warming quest. I expected Dacos to be on top form and blow me away, boy was I mistaken. The Crying Freeman is bland and unexciting. I found it impossible to relate to the main characters and found the plot overall as boring as a Sunday afternoon at grandmas, only without the free twenty pence mix up. I find it soul destroying that one of my favourite films, Brotherhood of the Wolf, could of come from the same directorial mind as this dross. As a film professional I don't often turn films off but this is one of those few exceptions. The only way I could force myself to sit through till the end was to harbour the comforting thought that soon I will critically destroy this evil and wipe it from the earth forever, to be honest I would rather have endured Chinese water torture and if the KJB are reading show your captives this and I'll guarantee they'll talk. On the other hand could this just be a case of cultural ignorance on my part. After all I don't read nor even like Manga animation and what do I know of the Yakkuzza. Can a lack of cultural understanding spoil the interpretation and therefore enjoyment of a film? Perhaps I should spend weeks researching Japan and their organised crime in order to get the most out of the film, I think not.1/5