Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

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)

Masta_Ruthless Dragon From Russia is an excellent movie to watch. The Story of Crying Freeman is on par with the manga it's self. I mean did you guys watch the same movie as I did? Mark Dacascos did a good job, but the likeness was really not there. Dean Shek did a good job in putting this film together. The action was good, the comedy was a little bit over the top, but then again so was the comedy in the anime.The only thing that was missing in this movie was Bai Ya Shan, the overly huge child minded woman, but then again who in the hell could play that part.For action and good story check this movie out. The average reviewers on here are just waiting to hate something anyway. See it for yourself and you'll know if you like it or not.Me................. I give it 8.9 out of 10, that is only because like I said, the comedy was alittle over the top. Other than that GREAT MOVIE.

himboy32 'Dragon From Russia' Tells the Story of Yo an artist who is kidnapped while fleeing Russia with his Girlfriend and her family, He soon finds himself chained to a mysterious Martial Arts master and begins to teach him the ways of being an assassin.This action classic directed by the brilliant Clarence Fok is taken from the Manga comic book 'Crying Freeman' and is one of the best comic adaptations out there with scenes lifted directly from the pages of the comic itself.The cast is well put together Sam Hui handles himself well in the leas role of the Free Man while Maggie Cheung puts gives a touching performance as the woman he loves. Another interesting performance comes from Jet Li's wife Nina Li Chi who plays an assassin fighting along side Yo, which makes a refreshing change from her role in 'Tiger On The Beat' in which she receives a rather brutal ass kicking from Chow Yun Fat, but thats a different movie all together.But one thing which made this movie spectacular was Yuen Clan member Yuen Tak, who co-stars in the movie as both Yo's master with the rubber face and Yo's assistant.Each fight is expertly choreographed and exciting to watch, showing that each Yuen clan member has their own unique and energetic style.All in all a fun action film to watch especially if fans of the Crying Freeman comic would like to find something different to that of the western version starring Mark Decascos, which has to be said is a good flick as well.

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