Plot[edit]

While painting the landscape on a hill in San Francisco, a young woman named Emu O'Hara witnesses the murder of a Japanese Yakuza member. She notices that while the assassin stands emotionless in front of her, his eyes begin to shed tears. The assassin introduces himself to Emu as "Yo".

Days later, after Emu returns to her home in Vancouver, British Columbia, Shido Shimazaki makes his appearance at the local police precinct, announcing a war between his clan, the Hakushin Society, and the "Sons of the Dragons" - a Chinese Triad that ordered the assassination of Shimazaki's son in San Francisco. Interpol detective Netah explains that the Sons of the Dragons are descendants of 108 Buddhist monks who rebelled against the Manchu reign in China centuries ago, and that the "Freeman" is their bringer of death. Shimazaki then tells everyone that Emu is the Freeman's next target, as she was the only witness to his son's assassination, and the assassin's code is that a person who is given Freeman's name becomes his next kill. However, shortly after their meeting is adjourned, Shimazaki and his bodyguards are ambushed outside the precinct by a masked Freeman and his assistant Koh. After dispatching the bodyguards and disabling the nearby police officers, Freeman successfully kills Shimazaki before running off. During his escape, he passes by Emu, who recognizes his eyes through his mask. As Freeman and Koh flee the scene, Emu utters Yo's name to the surprise of Detective Forge, who is assigned to protect her.

Later that night, Emu is interrogated by Netah and Forge over Freeman's identity. Due to a lack of evidence, she is shortly released and escorted back to her mansion. As Netah scouts the mansion's perimeters, he discovers that Forge is knocked unconscious and he encounters Ryuji and Kimie Hanada, who are out to claim the Freeman's head and take over the Hakushin Society. Inside the mansion, Emu discovers that Yo is in her room and begins to accept her fate. However, instead of killing her, Yo makes love to her before members of Ryuji and his gang break in. Yo kills the thugs and wounds Ryuji, but Emu is shot in the process. Against his own code, Yo brings Emu to the nearest hospital.

Days later, Emu travels to Japan and reunites with Yo, who tells her about his origin. Years ago, he was Yo Hinomura, a renowned pottery sculptor who stumbled upon a roll of negatives during his exhibit in New York City. Yo developed the photos in his hotel bathroom, revealing the torture and execution of a man wearing dragon tattoos similar to what he would eventually wear. Before leaving his hotel, he was drugged and abducted by the Sons of the Dragons, who implanted subliminal messages into his mind using acupuncture techniques. During his first mission, where he killed Mafia boss Antonio Rossi, he began to shed tears; hence his name Crying Freeman.

Yo is notified by Koh that Ryuji's gang have attacked a soya factory in Shanghai that was protected by the Sons of the Dragons. As retribution, Yo and Koh travel to Shimazaki's funeral outside Tokyo to kill Ryuji and wipe out the clan. During the funeral, while having sex inside a closet, Kimie reveals to Netah that the Shimazakis were set up by the Hanadas to be assassinated so they could take over the clan. Yo and Koh wipe out the clan, but as Koh prepares to kill Yo for treason, Ryuji guns him down before the entire complex blows up and kills him.

Yo returns to his home, where he prepares the area to self-destruct and arms himself to battle Netah and Kimie, along with her henchmen. Despite being wounded by Netah, Yo kills the henchmen and defeats Netah and Kimie - the latter by stabbing her near the heart. Kimie gives Yo her word of honor that in exchange for saving her life, he and Emu won't be pursued. While Yo and Emu leave the premises, Netah prepares to shoot them from behind, only to be killed by Kimie. Yo and Emu are last seen riding a speedboat into the sunset.

Cast[edit]

• Mark Dacascos as Yo Hinomura/Crying Freeman, a skilled assassin who sheds tears for every target he kills.
• Julie Condra as Emu O'Hara, a woman who witnesses a murder committed by Freeman and eventually becomes his lover.
• Tchéky Karyo as Detective Netah, an Interpol agent assigned to assist Vancouver police in protecting Emu from the Freeman.
• Byron Mann as Koh, Freeman's partner.
• Masaya Kato as Ryuji "The Blade" Hanada, Shimazaki's right-hand man until Shimazaki's death makes him leader of the Hakushin Society.
• Yoko Shimada as Kimie Hanada, Ryuji's wife who has an extramarital affair with Netah.
• Rae Dawn Chong as Detective Forge, a Vancouver detective partnered with Netah.
• Mako as Shido Shimazaki, leader of the Hakushin Society until his death at the hands of the Freeman.
• Kim Tai-chung and Kiyoto Matsumoto as Shimazaki's bodyguards.
• Paul McGillion as Detective McClinon
• Alex Diakun as Antonio Ross

Reception[edit]

Reviews for the film have been mixed. Leonard Klady of Variety wrote a favorable review of the film, citing it as "one of the few of the recent batch of comic-book adaptations that works, Crying Freeman has the potential to ring up the type of big numbers that would warrant a franchise. It's hoped that those involved with the first will still be aboard."^[2] Kung-Fu Cult Cinema gave the film a score of 3.5 out of 5, citing that it "is very well worth its weight in action."^[3] Beyond Hollywood, however, commented on their review that the acting was sub-par and the film's subplot of Yo's relationship with Emu is "not the best story in the world. It's really rather, well, stupid."^[4]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBRYlt4HjGo

Mark Dacascos
Mark Dacascos in 2011
Born	Mark Alan Dacascos February 26, 1964 (age 54) Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Other names	Marc Dacascos The Chairman
Alma mater	Portland State University
Occupation	Actor, martial artist, television personality
Years active	1985–present
Spouse(s)	Julie Condra (1998–present)
Children	3
Website	www.dacascos.com

Alan Dacascos (born February 26, 1964) is an American actor and martial artist.^[1] He won numerous karate and various styles of kung fu championships between the ages of 7 and 18. Dacascos is perhaps best known for his roles as Mani in the French film Brotherhood of the Wolf, Toby Wong in the 1997 film Drive and Ling in the 2003 film Cradle 2 the Grave.

Beginning in January 2005, Dacascos has portrayed the Chairman on Food Network's television series Iron Chef America. This role was previously played by Takeshi Kaga in the original Japanese Iron Chef, while Dacascos' character is presented as Kaga's nephew, though the actors are not related. Some of his other roles include the recurring character of Wo Fat on the CBS series Hawaii Five-0, Kung Lao in the web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy, Eric Draven in The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, Eubulon (the Advent Master) in Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight and the title role in the film Crying Freeman.

Dacascos competed in season 9 of Dancing with the Stars.^[2][3]

Biography[edit]

Dacascos' father, Al Dacascos, is from Hawaii and is a martial arts instructor of Greek, Spanish, and Han Chinese ancestry. His biological mother, Moriko McVey-Murray, is of Irish and Japanese ancestry. In the History Channel presentation "Samurai", Dacascos revealed that many members of the Japanese side of his mother's family were killed in the bombing of Hiroshima. Mark's stepmother is award-winning martial artist Malia Bernal. Dacascos attended Los Angeles Valley College and was on its 1983-1984 gymnastics team, coached by Gary Honjio. He also attended Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. Dacascos is proficient in his father's style of martial arts, Wun Hop Kuen Do. He has studied Muay Thai with Kru Puk, Capoeira with Mestre Amen Santo, and Wushu with Coaches Eric and Debbie Chen, though he self-admittedly is still very much a beginner/intermediate student in those arts.^[1]

Personal life[edit]

He is married to actress Julie Condra, who starred with him in Crying Freeman. They have three children: two sons and a daughter.^[4] Mark has five siblings: two brothers and three sisters.

Career

Career[edit]

 

Dacascos in a production still taken during filming of a deleted scene in Wayne Wang's film Dim Sum:A Little Bit of Heart in 1983

Dacascos became an actor after being discovered walking down the street in San Francisco's Chinatown by Chris Lee (at that time, assistant director) and Rexall Chin (hairstylist) for director Wayne Wang. Though his first scenes ended up on the cutting room floor, he went on to establish a film and television career primarily playing martial artists. He was originally set to play as the Red Ranger, Victor Lee in Bio-Man produced by Haim Saban which never got picked up but would later evolve into Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.^[5]

His breakout role was in the 1993 film Only the Strong, in which he played Louis, a Capoeira master who takes a high school's potential failures and turns their lives around by teaching them the Brazilian martial art based on the West African martial art brought by slaves. In the following year, Dacascos co-starred with Party of Five's Scott Wolf as Jimmy and Billy Lee, respectively, in the movie, based on the video game, Double Dragon.

He plays the role of the Chairman of Iron Chef America and Iron Chef Australia. In the series' backstory he is the nephew of the original Iron Chef Chairman, Takeshi Kaga; the actors hold no relation in real life.

He has been featured in many action films such as Brotherhood of the Wolf, Crying Freeman and Cradle 2 the Grave, in which he squared off against Jet Li. He also performed in three video games: voice acting in Stranglehold, live acting in Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom and digitally recreating The Chairman in the Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine video game for Wii.

Dacascos was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2002 for his role in Brotherhood of the Wolf.^[6] He also appeared in the television series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, which was a follow-up to the 1994 film The Crow. He also appears in the children's television show, Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight, where he portrays Eubulon, also known as the Advent Master, mentor of the Kamen Riders and creator of the Advent Decks.

Dacascos plays the recurring role of Wo Fat on the CBS series, Hawaii Five-0. He portrayed Kung Lao in the second season of the YouTube series Mortal Kombat: Legacy.^[7] He had a recurring role in the third season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as Mr. Giyera, an Inhuman servant of Hydra who can manipulate inanimate objects.

In August 2018, it was announced that Dacascos would star in a recurring role in the Netflix series, Wu Assassins.^[8]