SPOILERS BELOW
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Crying Freeman
mafiahitman — 21 years ago(May 17, 2004 11:19 AM)
SPOILERS BELOW
I am a huge fan of the Freeman series anime/manga. I have all of the VHSs, DVDs, graphic novels, and even comic book (thin) versions of the graphic novels. I even love Mark Dacascos and his ability. Simply put, I love Crying Freeman. The stories, the characters, the feeling.
But this movie is pretty bad. I was really excited about seeing this movie.
They tried seemingly hard to get everything from the Manga in the story. Little details that didn't really need to be in the movie. And then they added things that weren't in the manga for a reason. They changed characters, they changed subplots, and they tried to make it all work.
But it didn't.
I like the way Dacascos made Freeman look, though. The only problem I have with it is his voice. It's just not soothing enough for me, but that's just me, and I liked the voice on the English dubbed anime version.
REALLY SPOILING:
Koh tries to kill Freeman? What the hell is that all about? Koh was his better pal towards the end of the first edition, seeing his plight.
Pretty much, this live action version leaves no opening for a sequel. Instead of Freeman escaping the rival gang/cops and starting his new life as a leader of the 108 Dragons, he escapes the 108 Dragons and starts his new life as some guy.
Seriously, don't see this movie. It's incredibly disappointing. It has that early 1990s "French Movie" feel, which is not a good thing. What was the purpose of the black woman? Useless dialogue, most aptly displayed in the stabbing death of the Italian guy (a few moments in the anime, a few pages in the manga, but stretched to about 5 minutes in this movie). I'd have to watch the movie again to get all the garbage in my head to point out to everyone, but I'm not about to do that, even though I own MORE THAN ONE copy of this movie. Ew. -
Mitsurugi — 21 years ago(June 10, 2004 05:32 PM)
Yeah, but if you don't like the movie anyway, why would the possibility of the inclusion of what will generally be a minimal amount of additional footage entice you to buy it again rather than say rent it first and check?
Doesn't actually answer the question
I say we get guns and go steal the stuff - Chiana -
mafiahitman — 21 years ago(June 10, 2004 09:35 PM)
Actually, it can.
If you've seen The Crow: City of Angels, you know that it's a horrible movie. But if you read the scenes that were ommitted on its respective IMDB page, it actually could have been decent.
If that's not satisfactory to you, I bought the VHS first and wanted the DVD.
"If you wanna make an omelette, you gotta break some eggs." -Tyler -
Mitsurugi — 21 years ago(June 11, 2004 02:26 AM)
I take your point, but City of Angels is so f**king horrible that I don't think any amount of extra footage was going to polish that one into something watchable!
I say we get guns and go steal the stuff - Chiana -
5h4d0w — 21 years ago(November 28, 2004 10:10 AM)
dude you gotta let go of the anime/manga when you see a movie with real actors of course not everything can be done like in the original for example the ending
i think they were well aware that the movie wouldn't be a true hit so they made an ending which would satisfy seeing only this part. and i think it is satisfying. if they would've wanted to do a sequel they still could've said like "but soon after he tried to live his normal life the ghosts of the past come back to haunt him" and find some acceptable excuse for him joining the 108 dragons
for me the first episode of the anime and this feature movie are both equally enjoyable - both have their positive aspects. for example i think the anime isn't as stylish but on the other hand it's more brutal and i think there were other things too which i can't really remember any more been a few months since i've seen both but i think the soundtrack was also one thing i liked better in the movie
anyway i think it's really a shame that there are only so few anime episodes and i'm looking forward to reading the manga can't afford it right now but as soon as i can i'll buy it for sure -
ali-104 — 20 years ago(April 19, 2005 02:22 AM)
Your main objection seems to be that this didn't slavishly follow the anime but you are not judging the movie in its own right. If you pretend for one moment that the Manga/Animes never existed then all of your criticism becomes invalid.
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mafiahitman — 20 years ago(April 22, 2005 12:20 PM)
One of the basic ingredients in this story was violence. Extreme, brutal violence, enough to make a man cry. In this film, we get an edited Steven Segal level of violence. There were numerous changes to the story. Not even little changes, gigantic, huge, plot mangling changes. If you look at the film apart from any of the comics/cartoons, you just get weak performances except from Dacascos. This movie doesn't take us as deep into the underworld of the 108 Dragons, and aside from the love story, which doesn't play out too well in this version not that it was fantastic anyway, there's no real reason to hope Freeman becomes free.
And he's not supposed to become free, I'm sure it's some sort of literary paradox.
I don't know if it's because Gans is french (or whatever) and overseas style is a bit different than American or Japanese, but the entire feel of the movie was off center. It felt like a big budget soap opera. Freeman seems too nice throughout the whole movie. Also, for having such a grip on him, as displayed in the manga, he seemed to snap away all too easily.
If he'd followed the manga, or just compiled a bunch of the animes, and thrown in the ultra violence, and then handed it over to someone like Takeshi Kitano or Takashi Mike, two directors that have shown to bring the fantastic quality of anime-style violence to the live action.
Now, as far as Gans goes, I think he did alright on Brotherhood of the Wolf, but it went on about 15 minutes too long. Silent Hill is a project that he's working on now, which is a project that requires very little imagination on the director's part since the atmosphere is so distinct. Let's see if he can mess it up.
"If you wanna make an omelette, you gotta break some eggs." -Tyler -
jnericsonx — 19 years ago(August 11, 2006 06:34 PM)
I thought it was a pretty good adaptation of the first volume of the manga/anime, I'd say maybe 75-80% accurate? Pretty good thing. And hey, CG went on to do Brotherhood of the Wolf, and Silent Hill, so he's 3 for 3 with me.