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There's an Ashes Of Time Redux, Why not a Crying Freeman Redux?

posted 16 years ago by gbee30
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Since "Ashes of Time Redux" is being released next month, that should at least prove that a movie that had hardly any domestic release in North America back in 1995 should finally have it's due. "Crying Freeman" should also have that chance. "Ashes" has the benefit of being overhauled and anyone who is an "Ashes" fan has been waiting for this day for years. The existing versions were terrible, the audio is piss-poor and some of the editing really needed to be redone. Crying Freeman, I think from going through some of the posts on this messageboard needs the same work done. Not necessarily on the audio or video but definitely with some of the dialogue. I feel that Mark Dacascos should re-loop all of his lines. His voice work is one of the biggest weaknesses of the movie. It lacks emotional impact and seems very amateurish. (They dubbed all of Julie Condra's lines with Deborah Kara Unger's voice which works really well and Tcheky Karyo's voice is rumored to be dubbed also so why not Dacascos's. I never figured that out.) All of the minor characters should have their voices re-looped too (except for Ko, his voice is tad over-dramatic but it's still awesome to hear). Also the opening is dated and should be redone. It is such a great movie (I just downloaded it and loved every minute of watching it again), and it really does need an second chance. If Ashes of Time can get an opportunity like this why not Crying Freeman. 13 years later, it definitely deserves it.

[–] kknauer-1 14 years ago

Thank you, (though your post is now a few years old), you just answered my question, regarding whether or not Deborah Kara Unger's voice was dubbed, in place of Julie Condra's. You also voiced the same opinion I have - why wasn't Mark's voice dubbed, by another actor, if they went and dubbed some of the other characters, when his voice work, is very weak, in this film. Such a shame, too, when (as far as I'm concerned) his martial arts work, in the film, is splendid, and the entire film is just beautifully shot, as are all of Gans' films, that I've seen. Dacascos could do a considerably more effective overdub, now, that he has so much more experience, (although I don't think anything can save the scene where his brief case is getting checked by airport security...OUCH!) Actually, I'm still scratching my head how his acting chops were so much better in "Boogie Boy," which was filmed around the same time, than in this movie. The quality of his acting is wildly inconsistent, he can be amazing at times, and Gans used him to perfect effect in "Brotherhood of the Wolf". He blew me away in that film. I guess he would've been a marvelous silent film actor. Anyway, I'm afraid his voice work, in this film, probably cost it distribution in America, and it's puzzling, because even back then, he was capable of doing better acting work, even though that didn't always happen. "Only the Strong" was also weak, acting-wise. Maybe the more martial arts he had to do, the more his focus as an actor was compromised.

[–] gbee30 13 years ago

It seems like it takes years for a new comment to show up on some of these threads. But I am glad that I'm not the only one that feels the same way about Mark Dacascos in this movie. One thing I did finally find out as if you didn't already know this is that Ron Perlman was the one who dubbed over all of Tcheky Karyo's lines. In case anyone was wondering. Makes sense because it does sound like him...