Crying Freeman - A Taste of Revenge (Vol 2)

Starring:Mark Dacascos, Julie Condra, Rae Dawn Chong, Byron Mann, Masaya Kato, YÃ´ko Shimada, Mako, TchÃ©ky Karyo, Kevan Ohtsji, Debbie Podowski, Murray Lowry, Mikal Tang, Jerry Wasserman, Tong Lung, Kiyoto Matsumoto, Paul McGillion, Russell Ferrier, Ravinder Toor, Janie Woods-Morris, Giorgio Miyashita
Director: Christophe Gans
Studio: Adv Films
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
The bloody story of an assassin who silently weeps for his victims, Crying Freeman began as a 1986 manga by Kazuo Koike and Ryoichi Ikegami. In addition to this six-part OVA, the story has been filmed twice in live action. The leaders of the Chinese Mafia known as the 108 Dragons brainwash ceramicist Yoh Hinamura and transform him into the ultimate assassin. Virginal artist Emu Hino witnesses a killing by Yoh, but when he comes to murder her, she seduces him and wins his heart. Defying the syndicate, he refuses to give her up. Emu and Yoh subsequently become the bosses of the 108 Dragons. They run the organization--whose illegal activities are tactfully glossed over--on the principles of honor and absolute loyalty extolled in live-action Yakuza movies.

Like true love, the course of mob business seldom runs smoothly, and the body count for the entire series runs into the thousands. Hit men and women are dispatched with knives, throwing knives, swords, karate chops, pistols, machine guns, grenades, missiles, and electricity. As the plot grows more baroque, the animation grows more limited. After a certain point, the images of knives penetrating skulls, full-body tattoos, bare breasts, and awkwardly animated sexual encounters become monotonous, but Crying Freeman is definitely not for the squeamish or prudish. (Rated 17 and older, but more appropriate for 18 and older: graphic violence, violence against women, rape, torture, ethnic stereotypes, extensive nudity, explicit sexual situations) --Charles Solomon
Description
By taking the Chinese names "Ron Tayan" (Dragon Sun) and "Fu Ching-Ran" (Tiger Orchid), Hinomura and his wife Emu Hino show their commitment to the venerable Hong Kong cartel The 108 Dragons. Now they face both betrayal from within their own group and a hostile take-over attempt by a new terrorist gang trying to muscle in on the international crime scene.

Amazon.com

The bloody story of an assassin who silently weeps for his victims, Crying Freeman began as a 1986 manga by Kazuo Koike and Ryoichi Ikegami. In addition to this six-part OVA, the story has been filmed twice in live action. The leaders of the Chinese Mafia known as the 108 Dragons brainwash ceramicist Yoh Hinamura and transform him into the ultimate assassin. Virginal artist Emu Hino witnesses a killing by Yoh, but when he comes to murder her, she seduces him and wins his heart. Defying the syndicate, he refuses to give her up. Emu and Yoh subsequently become the bosses of the 108 Dragons. They run the organization--whose illegal activities are tactfully glossed over--on the principles of honor and absolute loyalty extolled in live-action Yakuza movies.

Description

By taking the Chinese names "Ron Tayan" (Dragon Sun) and "Fu Ching-Ran" (Tiger Orchid), Hinomura and his wife Emu Hino show their commitment to the venerable Hong Kong cartel The 108 Dragons. Now they face both betrayal from within their own group and a hostile take-over attempt by a new terrorist gang trying to muscle in on the international crime scene.

Customer Reviews:

Crying Freeman - - Live action film.......2007-03-27

I am a fan of the jap-animation of crying freeman and I have to say that the live action film did not disappoint me. the martial arts and gun fighting was awesome. It followed the animation and i thought the people playing the characters did a very good job - - especially Mark Dacascos who protrayed Yoh/Freeman. In case your wondering he played the bad guy in Cradle 2 the Grave with Jet Li - - and they have a really cool face off at the end of the movie.

I recommend Crying Freeman to people who are hardcore fans of the series. If you're just looking to see some kung fu - - and you will see it in this movie, but then you'd have to put up with the few in between slow parts as well - - for example, when Yoh does a flashback to explain how he became Crying Freeman.

I know that this film is not availbe in the U.S. but i think it's worth looking for. I tried to find it in video stores but couldn't. Therefore i turned to ebay to buy a copy. You can get a copy relatively cheap - - but make sure that it's in english audio and/or have english subtitles.

I hope this review was helpful and enjoy the movie!!

Stylish, Fast and Furious... Christophe Gans's style !.......2007-03-07

I watched the feature film at a cinema twice and the action sequences had me stunned. The fight choreography is top notch with the slow motion shots. The opening title sequence is also artistically cool. What makes this movie stands out from the rest of the genre is Christophe Gans's (BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF) visually attractive directing during the fight scenes, which captures a comic style of story telling. The most evident of this is in the climax of the film, when the Freeman faces off dozens of his assailants single-handedly with a samurai.

The story involves a war between two rival Japanese Yakuzas. The Freeman,who is a hitman raised by one of the rival gangs, is assigned to wipe out the leader of the other gang. Problem arises when an innocent bystander- a beautiful woman- witnesses the killings. He does not kill her so the plot thickens... with a lot of samurai blood shed and flying bullets, wraps in stylish action !

Mark Dacascos has an athletic physique and is good looking. He can perform realistic fightings too. Having starred in such films as DOUBLE DRAGON, THE REDEMPTION, ONLY THE STRONG, and SABOTAGE, he has proved this to be one of his better efforts.

Unfortunately this movie is not available on dvd in the U.S. The theatrical release employs the DTS, DOLBY DIGITAL and SDDS mix and is presented in 2.35:1 aspect ratio. I am really looking forward to adding this into my collection. This is one stylish action flick that allows repeated viewings.

REVIEWING LIVE ACTION MOVIE WITH MARK DACASCOS.......2007-02-13

The version I am reviewing is from JY and it is a bare bones DVD. The DVD cover has Mark's face on it with a tear in his eye and there is a sword partly unsheathed covering the middle of his face. The only reason I point this out is because Amazon has decided to group the Crying Freeman Collection and the live action movie together and they seem to think it is the same thing. I have never seen the anime, never even heard of it. Amazon has a lot of problems seperating movies that have similar titles and it can be very irritating, but 1 of these is a movie and 1 is a cartoon! It shouldn't be too hard to seperate.

Marc Dacoscos plays the Crying Freeman, a hitman for the The Sons of the Dragons who are a group of people that are considered ancient protectors of China. The backstory is pretty deep going into how Dacoscos became this special type of hitman. I don't like to give away any major parts of movies but don't expect this to be a normal drama or something. That is all I can say. It is a love story at heart, and while it is sort of a weird romance-drama, it is still a good stylish film with an engaging story and plenty of action. I enjoyed it very much.

The action is good. It is mainly shoutouts but there is 1 very good extended action scene where Dacoscos gets to show off his awesome athletic skills. I rate this a 3.5/5.

The DVD I have says it is a region 3 on the back. This DVD played in both region 1 DVD players I tried, it played on my region 3 player, and it played on my all-region player. The DVD is presented in widescreen and other than some coloring issues on the picture, it is good picture quality. Distributor is called JY. It says it has DTS but I don't have that capability. The regular 5.1 sound in English is very good. The subtitles are well written and you will need to rewind and turn them on a few times to follow the story. You will see what I mean.

Think James Bond mixed in with a little Hentai........2006-05-12

I really had big expectations going into this series. Reading the other reviews on here I thought that I was in for something fanstastic, but my expectations were not met.

Crying Freeman starts off with a lot of promise. There's a mysterious charachter, a love connection, and then a destiny met-- all things that give the series a strong foundation. After the initial introduction to the story and main charachters, the series falls apart. Enter killing after killing, mission after mission that seem to lead to absolutely nowhere, sensless nudity, and you get an absolutely rediculous and humerous plot.

Before I watched this series, one thing that a reviewer said stuck into my mind "the charachters seem to drop their clothes for no reason." Boy was he right. The amount of nudity in this series gets so over the top that you have to wonder why it was put in. Weere the producers looking for a crime-drama or were they looking for a hentai(anime porn)? The amount of times that the charachters just casually take their clothes off makes one wonder.

The sketching? hmmm, Crying Freeman is an early 90's anime so you can't expect it to have the level of excellence of today, but some of the charachter sketches are very amatueristic. There is one scene in particular that will make you laugh.. It's a certain decapitation scene in the latter part of this movie--look out for how the blood spurts lol.

All in all, Crying Freeman has too many flaws. There is no build up of the charachter Freeman. In the beginning of the movie, he talks about leaving Japan and moving on with his wife, yet, as the story progresses he remains a brute killer. Also, where exactly does his story lead to? The only thing that occurs in this movie is a bunch of run ins with rivals and a bunch of deaths. Where is the progression of the charachters and their lives? There's none. Despite it's shortcommings, Crying Freeman is a VERY entertaining anime. The death scenes are artsy and flashy, and the women (yes, I actually got turned on by these anime women--hard to believe) and sex scenes that they're involved in are pretty steamy.

I'd say to give this one a shot. Don't go in expecting some Godfather bit, though. Just approach it with an open mind and heart.

NOT ANIME!!!.......2006-05-05

This is the LIVE ACTION VERSION of the Crying Freeman anime. This is a truly well done masterpeice of a film. Mark Dacasca's potrayed The Freeman perfectly. This by far one of the best if not the best live action adaption of an anime film. But seriously folks, No film is worth 99 dollars. I don't care if it is the film to end all films. They will sooner or later put this on DVD for 20 dollars.

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