Author Archives: Dennis

Crying Freeman [1995]

Director: Christophe Gans
Actor: Mark Dacascos, Byron Mann

Synopsis: In ancient China, a marauding general sent his army to attack several villages. The people saught sanctuary at a nearby temple where 108 monks fought the invading army. Thus was born the 108 Dragons, a criminal organization / protector of the Chinese people. The 108 Dragons have one main enforcer known as the Freeman who is marked with an elaborate dragon tattoo that covers most of his body.

In present day, the 108 Dragons are at war with the Japanese Yakuza. Mark Dacascos is Yo Hinomura, a japanese potter who was chosen to be the Freeman. He is their assasin… an effective killing machine who sheds tears when his targets are killed. When a woman, Emu O’Hara, witnesses the Freeman kill his target, she is marked for elimination by the 108 Dragons.

The Good: Mark Dacascos gets to shine in a role that was almost tailor made for him. He portrays the Freeman perfectly and gets to take part in wonderful fight scenes. The supporting cast is made up of smaller actors who each have a definite personality that shines. Julie Condra, who plays Emu O’Hara, has probably the best voice I have ever heard. As an aside, she and Mark Dacascos are married. The movie holds very true to the original manga and is a very nice contained story.

The Bad: This is more a personal thing, but the movie does not hold 100% true to the original manga. (Spoilers blacked out) In the manga, Yo does not break ties with the 108 Dragons. He still defeats the Yakuza but Emu is allowed to marry him and is marked with the Tiger (signifying her as the wife of the Dragon). Yo actually becomes the head of the 108 Dragons in the second manga book. I understand they did it because this was a self contained movie, but still…

The Ugly: This movie was never released in the United States (bastards!). At one time you could only find copies of foreign versions but there are Region 0 DVDs of the movie out there you can get.

Cradle 2 the Grave [2003]

Director: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Actor: DMX, Jet Li, Mark Dacascos

The first thing I like about this film is that Jet Li doesn’t look very good. He looks normal. Not exceptionally fey, or stylised…he just looks like Jet Li. Like he’s actually the fourty years of age he is.

The second thing is that he didn’t have the lead role; that was reserved for DMX, and though he’s not much of an actor, I think he did very well. I think he could actually become a half-way decent actor in the near future.

The third thing I liked about this film is that it has Mark Dacascos in it. I think that every film should have Mark Dacascos in it, just like every film should have Bruce Campbell in it and have the score be done by Graemme Revel.

The fourth thing I liked about this film was Tom Arnold. His comments, among other things, made this film really funny to watch. For those who play Shadowrun, Tom Arnold plays a really cool Fixer.

The fifth thing I liked about this film, is that it was such a Shadowrun flick. We were all sitting there, in the cinema going; “Oh, Mark Dacascos just used up all his Karma Pool by climbing out of that burning helicopter, he’s so going to lose against Jet Li’s superior Combat Pool.”

So yeah, fun fun fun flick.

The Matrix Reloaded [2003]

Director: Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
Actor: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Harold Perrineau, Hugo Weaving, Monica Bellucci, Jada Pinkett Smith

Christus, where to begin…
Well, I guess we’ll start about four years ago, when the Wachowski brothers, then only known for their near cult-classic Bound, made their big break-through blockbuster, by the name of The Matrix. Anyone who hasn’t lived under a rock since that time knows about the Matrix, and has probably seen the Matrix as it quickly rose to become an all-time classic, ranking up there with the likes of Star Wars, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Godfather and Lawrence of Arabia.

In The Matrix, we meet a young man by the name of Thomas Anderson, who – as a nighttime hacker and electron cowboy – finds out the truth about society; everyone is enslaved in a virtual reality, tightly controlled by machines, robots that were once obedient to Man, but have long since turned the tides and enslaved their former masters to use them as overgrown powercells. Harvesting enormous amounts of energy from body heat, they kept Man alive by simulating normal life, set in 1999. Some people live freely, deep underground, where the machines can’t find them, in the last vestige of human resistance; the city called Zion.

Neo is freed from his slavery by a man called Morpheus, who believes that Neo is the chosen to lead humanity to salvation from the machines. He believes that Neo has extraordinairy powers, and that he is able to shape the Matrix – that same virtual reality that enslaves so many – to his will.

Guess what? At the end of The Matrix you find out the dude is right!

The second film, The Matrix Reloaded, starts off some time after the first movie, where Neo, still under the command of Morpheus and his crew of ultimate bad-asses – this time joined by Harold Perrineau, best known for his role as Mercutio in Romeo + Juliet – is slowly finding out more and more about the Matrix, and his role in the salvation of Man. But also about the Machines that control it, and the programs that run in it, about Zion and it’s politics, about love, and about sacrifice.

If you go and see this film, and all you want is to see more of the same bad-ass kung fu scenes, action scenes and psuedo-hacker flexing, then you’ll be satisfied enough…but be aware; there is a lot more intellectual, philosophical and spiritual depth in this movie, that it becomes hard sometimes to simply enjoy the visual spectacle and the high paced action.

Equilibrium [2002]

Director: Kurt Wimmer
Actor: Christian Bale, Sean Bean, Taye Diggs, Dominic Purcell
Cinematographer: Dion Beebe

Go to see this film if…

1. …you love to see Christian Bale kick a bunch of ass.
2. …you loved the book “1984”.
3. …you loved the futuristic setting of Minority Report.
4. …you loved the “fight the system” theme in the Matrix.

If one of these four concepts appeal to you; go and see this film. If any combination of these concepts appeal to you; make it a priority to see this film.

The film is about a cleric – a law enforcer – who tracks down and summarily executes people who are guilty of a “sense crime.” These people – “sense offenders” – don’t take their perscribed and mandatory dose of drugs, to be taken every day at a certain moment, that blocks any and all feeling. Feeling, they say, is something that gets in the way of a civilised society. Feeling is what creates war, decadence, deceit, etc.

This man, this cleric, is the highest ranking officer in his order, and one of the most accomplished and decorated agents in the field. He is also one of the greatest martial combatants, being versed in hand-to-hand as well as the special “Gun Kata;” a futuristic combination of Karate, Kung Fu and just blatant gun work. Arguably, it makes those gunfight-sequences in the movie look better than the ones in the Matrix, or any John Woo movie.

This movie rocked thoroughly, even though it’s pretty predictable, and doesn’t really leave you with a sense that you’ve been misdirected. It’s an special adaptation of Orwell’s 1984, and therefor not really unpredictable. Unless you’ve been living under a rock since the book came out, of course.

One Hour Photo [2002]

Director: Mark Romanek
Actor: Robin Williams

This movie is deeply, truly disturbing. It’s about a lonely man, played by Robin Williams, who works at a one-hour photo shop of a large supermarket. He gets obsessed by this one family, and starts stalking them, interfering with their lives.

This movie proves, again, that Robin Williams is an incredible actor, and puts down a mentally disturbed individual comparable in intensity to the likes of Norman Bates or Travis Bickle.

The cinematography and acting are superb in this film, and I recommend it to one and all.