Crying Freeman (1995)

• Year: 1995
• Released: 24 Apr 1996
• Country: France, United States, Japan, Canada
• Adwords: 1 win & 1 nomination
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112750/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/crying_freeman
• Available in: 720p, 1080p, 2160p
• Language: English, Japanese
• Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
• Runtime: 102 min
• Writer: Kazuo Koike, Ryoichi Ikegami, Christophe Gans
• Director: Christophe Gans
• Cast: Julie Condra, Kevan Ohtsji, Mark Dacascos
• Keywords: fight, hitman, killer, based on manga, artist,

	6.4/10
	72% – Audience

Crying Freeman Storyline

A lethal assassin for a secret Chinese organisation, who sheds tears of regret each time he kills, is seen swiftly and mercilessly executing three Yakuza gangsters by a beautiful artist. She is captivated by the grace of his kill and later falls in love with him. An intense power struggle for the leadership of the Yakuza Clans ensues as they seek vengeance for the death of their leader. They soon realise the fatal mistake of underestimating the deadly skills of the Crying Freeman.

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Crying Freeman Movie Reviews

We absolutely recommend this enjoyable winner of a film.

A mysterious hired killer named Yo (Dacascos) – known as the Crying Freeman because after he executes his victims he sheds tears – is seen practicing his deadly trade by a woman named Emu O’Hara (Condra). Awesomely, he even has exploding guns to help cover his tracks. Soon after their chance encounter, they’re both caught in the middle of a Yakuza war, with only the skills of Yo keeping them both alive. Detective Forge (Chong) and Detective Netah (Karyo) are trying to sort it all out, but Netah may have more going on than meets the eye. It may all seem simple, but in the world of the Crying Freeman, nothing ever is. Will the Power of Yo prevail? Find out today…

Crying Freeman is an excellent film that everybody should see. How it compares to the original Manga or Anime we wouldn’t know, but as a film in its own right it succeeds brilliantly. In other words, you don’t really need to know the source material to appreciate this. Maybe it helps, but there’s plenty to recommend even if, like us, you were unfamiliar with its origins and background. Classily directed by Christophe Gans – known primarily for his Brotherhood of the Wolf (2008) – he balances sensitive and poetic passages that are downright painterly and beautiful with violent action setpieces involving everything from Martial Arts, gun-fu, blow-ups, and even a bow and arrow. Its artistic soul meshes well with the violence. The overall effect is intoxicating and adds up to be, we believe, a must-see.

Since this is quite obviously a work where the filmmakers clearly had high standards of quality, the whole thing seems solid and professionally made on every level – writing, directing, and, notably, the cinematography. It’s all very solid, and it’s comforting feeling you’re in competent hands. Naturally, fan favorite Mark Dacascos shines in the role that he was perhaps born to play. Co-star Julie Condra must have been impressed – they later married. They are backed up by some familiar names: Rae Dawn Chong and Tcheky Karyo are on board and acquit themselves well, though, interestingly, Condra and Karyo were overdubbed by Deborah Kara Unger and Ron Perlman, respectively. Other B-Movie stalwarts are here to be found too, such as Byron Mann and Jerry Wasserman (check out our Virtual Assassin review for the reason why we’re always pointing out these unsung actors) – and lest we forget fan favorite Mako.

A little over an hour in there’s a bit of a lull, but that’s common and to be expected. That’s really the only criticism we have of Crying Freeman. And unlike most of its other brethren from 1995, this seems far more timeless. Shockingly – criminally – this didn’t receive a U.S. VHS release during the video store era, and only came out here on DVD quietly in 2008, and that release is now out of print. There are some fine international releases out there, and even a Blu-Ray now. But why this didn’t come out here when it would have done the most good for its reputation is puzzling and maddening. I guess it’s all part of the adventure of movie watching and collecting – you never know what you’re going to find, or where you’re going to find it. Occasionally you turn up a gem like this.

Crying Freeman should be more well-known, especially in the U.S. We absolutely recommend this enjoyable winner of a film.

American ( A+ Movie) My Ratings 10/10

NOT FOR EVERYONE

Christophe Gans did the best he can with a very low budget.The Cinematography in this film is just amazing and Highly way too stylized film based on the Japanese manga of the same name. Mark Dacascos is a truly underrated actor, Music in this film is amazing . enjoy this Action flick with good music with style

Indifferent action staging in a dated manga adaptation

CRYING FREEMAN is an okay martial arts flick based on a popular manga comic. Of course, I don’t know anything about Japanese manga so I only have the film to go on and can’t compare the two, but this is pretty much par for the course for a mid-’90s thriller: it has plenty of stylished action, a storyline involving rival gangsters battling it out, and a romance between the two leads. I enjoyed it, but it’s not the rip-roaring action classic I wanted it to be, and I ended up enjoying 1995’s other live-action manga adaptation, FIST OF THE NORTH STAR, a lot more.

My main problem with CRYING FREEMAN is the action scenes. I wanted to enjoy these, and I thought I would because Mark Dacascos is a fine martial artist; just take a look at the athleticism and fluidity he manages in his fights in DRIVE and you’ll see what I mean. Despite the presence of Dacascos in this movie, the action is nothing to get excited about. It’s all hyper-stylised a la John Woo and just feels ‘blah blah’ to me; you see Dacascos leaping through the air with explosions behind him gunning someone down once, you’ve seen it a hundred times. If I think about an exciting gun action film I think HARD-BOILED, and this movie is no HARD-BOILED. When the action is slowed down here, I just get bored.

Still, it has a mildly interesting storyline and some not-bad acting, including the guy playing a tough Japanese mob boss, brief turns from veteran star Mako (CONAN THE BARBARIAN) and COMMANDO actress Rae Dawn Chong and rent-a-nasty-Frenchman Tcheky Karyo doing what he does best. Leads Dacascos and Julie Condra ended up getting married in real life after this, so there’s definite chemistry between the two of them, as well as some cool battles towards the end to enjoy. The problem is that the next film that director Christophe Gans and Dacascos made together was 2001’s BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF, which still stands as a mini masterpiece, and this just another in a long line of dated ’90s action flicks.