Absolutely Fantastic

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

I expected more but it's not too shabby. As live action films come they are either amazing (lone wolf and cub), terrible (devilman) or goes unrecognised (Ichi the killer) but the crying freeman was neither. While I have not seen the animated version or read the manga for that matter I'm guessing that this swayed a lot from the basic story or was largely condensed. my reason for thinking this is because the story was so basic. A killer falls in love with a woman who sees his face and decides to let her live and the movie is about the consequences of his actions. What we get is your basic 90s action movie with lots of slow motion death sequences to make up runtime. It isn't particularly violent and in my opinion, it suffers because of this it almost feels like it was made for TV. That being sad it wasn't particularly bad for any reason but I can not fully recommend to anyone.

This was Christophe Gans' first movie that he directed all by himself and as such a truly satisfying and impressive work. It was a rather unique film of its kind: a French-Canadian adaptation of a Japanese Manga comic. It was also rather unusual for the 90's, since comic-adaptations weren't as common as they are today. This was truly a rather unique and inspiring work.The cast is not absolutely top notch but Mark Dacascos, Tcheky Karyo, Rae Dawn Chong and Mako are to be seen and all of them deliver. On the Japanese front we have Masaya Kato, who plays an ultra-deadly and vicious Yakuza boss Ryuji Hanada and does it well, and then-still beautiful Yoko Shimada as his wife, the seductive, calculating and just as deadly Lady Hanada. Julie Condra was previously a TV soap actress and this is by far the best movie she has ever starred in. Considering that, she gives a good performance as Dacascos' love interest. Byron Mann, then coming off a featured role in the stinker The Street Fighter, appears as Freeman's somewhat uneasy ally. This is also by far the best project he's ever been in and he does OK in his part.There are quite many visually breathtaking scenes and the fighting scenes are well choreographed and well shot. The music and atmosphere are great. Even though Gans would perhaps outdo himself with his next project, Brotherhood of the Wolves, this was his first gem and a work to be taken seriously. In the heap of other mostly uninspired martial arts films with an Asian theme, this one clearly stood out as powerful and original in its time. There is both action, romance and sex scenes as well as an interesting plot to enjoy in here. As well as the performances of Dacascos, Karyo, Shimada and also Condra, who add depth to this film. I give it a clear 9.

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.