Leofwine_draca Mark Dacascos was the actor who played the role of the masked assassin who sheds tears each time he kills a victim in the American version of this story, entitled CRYING FREEMAN and released in 1995. I mildly liked that film when I saw it; sure, it was no classic, it was a little cheesy, but it passed the time in a fairly entertaining fashion. Sad, then, that this earlier, Hong Kong-made outing, based on the same manga, turns out to be a bit of a dud and a lot worse than the Hollywood attempt.The main problem I have with this movie is that which blights much of the Hong Kong action industry during the 1990s: the overuse of wirework. Why have two characters battling mano-a-mano when you can have them flying and flipping through the air and performing all manner of physically impossible stunts? Er, well realism is a good reason actually, but realism goes out of the window in DRAGON FROM Russia.For an action-packed movie like this, it's a real shame that most of the fights are so over the top as to be laughable. Don't get me wrong, there are some occasionally solid moments, usually when things calm down a bit or are based on a smaller scale, like a kinetic bout at a train station that progresses into a moving train. In addition, the storyline is extremely muddled, taking about half the running time before things really get moving. These factors combine to make this a difficult watch.Along the way, there's a lot of laboured comedy relief which sits at odds with the supposedly emotive central plot, a strange, rubber-faced bad guy (played by Yuen Tak, one of the seven Yuens along with Jackie, Yuen Biao, Sammo and Yuen Wah, who also has a non-masked supporting role), an extremely slow spot during the middle section where absolutely nothing happens, some lame romance, an entirely extraneous Maggie Cheung (as per usual) and a few nicely-staged assassinations. Sadly, the ending fizzles rather than goes out with a bang, and the whole thing is so convoluted that it's impossible to take seriously. In this instance, I'll take the American version over the Chinese, I think

chrichtonsworld To call "Dragon from Russia" a better movie than the Christopher Ganz version of "Crying Freeman" is simply wrong! Christopher Ganz's version is a real masterpiece and certainly compared to this crap! They changed quite a bit in the story from the manga: 1. the main character isn't a Japanese potter as it should be 2. the woman he has to kill isn't an artist but a dancer 3. the woman he has to kill is a lover from the main character's past before he became the crying freeman 4. they don't show that the main character is hypnotized. In this movie he just doesn't remember his past,how convenient! 5. dragon from Russia, the main character suppose to be Japanese,duhhh! 6. the "108 dragons" are a serious cult of assassins who put the fear in god of their enemies! In here the members and the leader are a bunch of fools who betray each other every chance they get! All of this could have been ignored if the action was top notch! There certainly is a lot of action! The problem is that with exception of a few action scenes the action isn't that special! The martial arts is average and too much wirefu which in this case is annoying! I really wanted to like this movie,but I can't it is just too bad!

Snoog From 'Naked Killer' director Clarence Fok, comes this adaptation of the famous/infamous 'Crying Freeman' Manga. Although, this isn't a 100% accurate adaptation, unlike Christopher Gans 'Crying Freeman' movie, which I thought was pretty spot on.The basic premise is here…man gets kidnapped by assassins, gets brainwashed and turned into a precise and deadly assassin…who sheds a tear for his victims (well, here he only does it once but whatever) But Fok has added his own touches to his take on the story, like the "Master Of The Dead" character (who I don't think was in the Anime/Manga…all I remember was some crusty old woman), the change of the girlfriend instead of a stranger being the catalyst for Freeman's rebellion, and bouts of comedy.Ah, the comedy aspects, do they work or not? In moderation, yes, but for me, there was too much comedy here. This kind of story really commands a serious tone, but when you've got Sam Hui being dragged around by his feet every ten minutes and the Master Of The Dead looking like the Wicked Witch Of The West...and sounding like her too, it kind of ruins it a bit…for me anyway.But, this is really a small complaint because what is the main attraction here is the action, which is top notch indeed. Choreographed by Yuen Tak (who plays the Master Of The Dead and Hui's assistant) the fights are fast, furious and damn fun to watch. It's not all kung fu, there are some car chases and the odd shoot out to behold too.The cast all perform very well, from Hui as Yao Lung, the eponymous "Dragon From Russia", to the ever great Maggie Chueng as his long suffering girlfriend. Fan favourite Dean "have some more water now ya bastid" Shek turns up at the start of the film to set up the kidnapping of Lung. It's always nice to see Sir Shek.Also Yuen Wah makes a brief but satisfying appearance as the masked variant of the 'Master Of The Dead' during the scenes in Russia…why the character is played by two people I don't know, I'll have to check the audio commentary, but it's always nice to see Yuen Wah kick some arse.Fans of 'Crying Freeman' (if they haven't already seen this) will be happy to see a number of scenes wonderfully recreated, for example...Freeman's first job outside of the hotel, the assassination of the Japanese boss after the conference, and said Boss's wife getting it on with the cop…although, it's not as rampant as it was in the anime, and there's no 'erection/comedic gulp' moment…which was a shame.I did enjoy this quite a bit, although I did find the plot a bit messy and hard to follow at times, as things happen quite fast it's hard to keep track. It's not a masterpiece, but it's damn fun. Worth getting ahold of just for the fight scenes alone...(Taken from my forum - http://sjcultmovies1.proboards23.com)

Alexandre Bender Dragon from Russia is sort of a live action of Crying Freeman but very different than the french version!What struck me here was the action: there is a good amount of fights which were awesome, especially the climactic one!! They use wires in the fight scenes but they didn't distract me at all.(The Church scene is an instant classic!) As long as you don't expect action from Maggie Cheung, this movie will satisfy the average action lover!!........................................9/10