Executscan Expected more

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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.

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.

jason_13 I've never supported the idea of discussing underrated or overrated action movies, because basically, they are all the same. Crying Freeman proved me wrong and I am thankful. Even a 90s action might earn your respect.Yo Hinomura/Freeman is an assassin who is captured killing Yakuza mobsters. As he risks his life in a bloody battle for leadership and respect, a beautiful woman falls in love with him, offering her help.First, I want to note that Crying Freeman is one of the most beautiful action movies, ever shot. It's not the "gunshots" that make it attractive. It's not the experimental directing style that provokes your curiosity. It's the lightly, rhythmical plot development. There are a couple of very beautiful shots that you'll never find in a Steven Segal film. The creators show how much they care about that story which is based on anime series. I always like movies that are made out of artistic passion and love for the particular genre.Crying Freeman, unlike most 90s "boom-boom" flicks, tells a story about honor and human will. Freeman is a perfectly shaped character, quite likable, although he is not "the guy who saved the world". Silent and prepared, dangerous and wise. I never asked for such things before watching the movie and I am sure nobody has. Maybe that is why I loved it.It's the depth of the story that made the movie very different for me. This is arguably one of a kind film that depends on its own style. Crying Freeman is almost modest and unambitious which is something, I personally, haven't seen in the past couple of year. Christophe Gans's movie promises to remain a classic if future generations manage to look through its "soul".Of course, comments about the cast could hardly be made. Due to realism purposes, the creators have gathered a cast of almost unknown performers who do their best and in my opinion, succeed, delivering good performances.The bad points are almost imperceptible. I kinda disliked how some scenes are way too dark. I've always hated that in movies. Yes, it is more authentic, but you can easily miss a character being killed or something like that. I had hard times, recognizing the villains in the third act, because some of them are killed in the first half on the movie.Crying Freeman makes us realize we were in a big mistake. There are action movies about moral values.

chrichtonsworld When I saw the trailer in the theater I was very impressed. At that time there wasn't much press about this movie. So for some reason I forgot about this and did not go to see it in the theater. Which after seeing this movie on video I regret deeply! Because this is one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen. The heroic bloodshed in the movie is equal to that of a John Woo movie. Mark Dacascos is excellent as "the crying freeman". Maybe the story is not really compelling. But the atmosphere in the movie is just right. From beginning to end you will be caught in an alternative reality which seems real enough. But throughout the story you realize that it is different from our world. Now realizing this movie is based on a manga comic it makes sense. Christophe Gans does such a perfect job that in my opinion he should make more live action adaptations of mangas. Because this one was magnificent!