After each killing, Yo must cry silently for the victims. One day he bumps into Emu O'Hara, a beautiful woman who witnesses Yo killing three Yakuza on a rugged stretch of California coastline. Though Yo's natural assassin instincts cannot let any witness alive, his heart helps him resist the urge and instead he falls in love with Emu. Hunted by his own people for not doing what he was ordered to along with the police, Yo and Emu try to get away and begin a new life.

Review: This French, Us and Japanese production has everything to be a great live action anime. Crying Freeman is the first full-length movie of the French director Christopher Gans (Le Pacte Des Loups), Brian Yuzna was also one of the producers, but unfortunately this movie has never seen the day in North America and that's a shame. What is so special about this film is that the budget was very limited (completely filmed in Canada even the scenes taking place in Japan) and the time allowed for filming was also very short. But what Gans has achieved to do even with these limitations is just simply unbelievable. I don't think that it would have been possible do to better that what was done with the minimal resources and I think that fans of the original comic will enjoy the movie a lot.

Crying Freeman is a movie that mixes both romance and action with a beautiful cinematic vision worthy of any of the best Hong Kong directors, a cinematic culture which Gans was much influenced by. Each scene has been choreographed majestically, giving a very stylish look to the movie. Even though the movie had a small budget, it proves leaps and bounds that you can descend the look and feel of a low budget movie and create a good movie if you have the dedication and the vision to execute it. The cinematography and the direction definitely represent this.

I never had the chance to read the original Crying Freeman manga, so I can't tell you if the story is very accurate to the comic or not but on the extra DVD, Gans says that he has done all he can do to respect the spirit and most of the important plot points that made the manga a classic. You don't need to have read the manga before to really understand and appreciate the movie, but if you already have then you will probably understand more the motivation and the background of the main characters. Even if we can't give that much credit to the originality of the story, I found the development very interesting and fun to follow. Unfortunately, you have a couple of typical action/romance clichés that some of you may find a little annoying, but if you can pass over this, then you won't be disappointed with the story in general.

Why Dacascos has never become an action mega star in North America completely baffles me. But after this movie, you'll be baffled by the same mystery. His very impressive martial arts skills and his charisma made him an obvious choice for the role of the Freeman. As for the villains, how can we not forget Tchéky Karyo who once again plays an evil policeman, thoughnot as mean as in Dobermann and Kiss of the Dragon, but still his acting skill are excellent for that type of character. All the others actors, most of them from B movie series, were also very good and believable.

Even if this movie is most of the time advertised as an action packed movie, don't wait for action from start to finish or you might be disappointed and also completely miss the point of the movie. Above all else, Crying Freeman is a romantic drama with elements of action mixed into it. Gans used a lot of slow motion and orchestral music in the movie, which give every action scenes a very dramatic effect. As the story goes, you will have a couple violent gun fights and also a good, but short, final battle with swordplay fighting. Crying Freeman is very well worth its weight in action.