''Killer's Romance'' (released in the Philippines as ''The Cyprus Tiger'') is a 1990 Hong Kong action film written, produced and directed by

Phillip Ko Phillip Ko-Fei (June 18, 1949 – March 30, 2017) was a Hong Kong film actor, filmmaker and stunt coordinator. He directed the movies ''Angel on Fire'', ''Magkasangga 2000'', ''Kakambal ko sa tapang'' and ''Romano Sagrado: Talim sa Dilim''. Fil ...

, who also co-stars in a supporting role in the film. The film is a loose adaptation of the Japanese manga, ''

Crying Freeman is a Japanese manga series written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami. ''Crying Freeman'' follows a Japanese assassin hypnotized and trained by the Chinese mafia (called the "108 Dragons") to serve as its agent and covered in ...

'', and stars

Simon Yam Simon Yam Tat-wah (; born 19 March 1955) is a Hong Kong actor and film producer. He received international acclaim for his performances in international film festival and box office hits such as ''Naked Killer'', '' SPL: Sha Po Lang'', ''Election' ...

as the titular protagonist.

Plot

Jenny is a student studying abroad in London living a quiet and happy campus life inadvertently witnesses and took photographs of

Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the ter ...

hitman Jeffrey killing an elderly man and her life changes when she becomes involved in the vortex of an underworld vendetta. When Jeffery kills Chinatown triad elder Martin, he encounters Jenny once again, leading the police to believe that Jenny knows Jeffrey and bring her to the police station to question her. Martin's assistant, Charlie, sends his henchmen to follow Jenny in order to find Jeffrey. Jeffery, who broke into Jenny's house, wanted to silence her, but the seeing that the latter deliberately concealed the fact that she witnessed Jeffrey's killings and at the same time, attracted by her temperament, Jeffrey promises a future meeting with her instead. Jenny's good friend, Amy, poses as her friend in order to divert the surveillance of both Charlie and the police in order for Jenny to go meet Jeffrey. As Jeffrey and Jenny meet again, the former reveals to the latter of his life and his decision to leave the Yakuza and his killings committed were to avenge his adopted father, the leader of the Yakuza who took him as an orphan. Yakuza deputy chief Yoshikawa turns out be scheming with Charlie to eliminate Jeffery and sends Jeffrey's assistant Eko to betray Jeffrey and murder him. In an attacked staged by Yoshikawa and Charlie she remains loyal to Jeffrey and was instead killed by her ambitious younger brother, who in turn, was killed by Jeffery, who also kills Charlie. Eventually, Yoshikawa and kidnaps Jenny where he shoots and cripples Jenny's legs when confronted by Jeffrey, leading to final showdown of a sword duel between Jeffrey and Yoshikawa.

Cast

as Jeffrey *

Joey Wong use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinate ...

as Jenny *Yasuyoshi Shikamura (Luk Chuen) as Yoshikawa *

as Charlie *Chan Fung-chi as Eko *Ka Man *Lau Siu-ming as Boss Martin *Ishida Kenichi as Eko's younger brother *Jason Pai as Siu Yuk-long *Kam Seung-yuk *Foo Wang-tat as Jeffrey's adopted father * Carmen Lee as Amy *Ling Hon *Fung Wai-lun as Thug *Yiu Chan-lam as Thug *Ho Wan *Wong Cho-wa *Lee Wah-kon *Mak Shu-san *Ho Chi-moon *Leung Sam

Release

''Killer's Romance'' was released in Hong Kong on 17 May 1990. In the Philippines, the film was released as ''The Cyprus Tiger'' in mid-1992.

Critical reception

John Krewson of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' praised star

's acting and physical performance but notes its brush-cuts, poor music and clothes. In the book, ''The Hong Kong Filmography, 1977–1997: A Reference Guide to 1,100 Films Produced by British Hong Kong Studios'', John Charles gave the film a score of 6/10 and praises Yam's convincing performance but criticizes its non-innovative script.
So Good Films
' praised the film's action choreography along with Yam's performance.

Box office

The film grossed HK$3,232,936 at the Hong Kong box office during its theatrical run from 17 to 30 May 1990.

References

External links

* *
Killer's Romance
' at Hong Kong Cinemagic {{Crying Freeman 1990 films 1990 action films 1990 martial arts films 1990s Cantonese-language films Films about contract killing Films set in London Films shot in London Gun fu films Hong Kong action films Hong Kong films about revenge Hong Kong martial arts films Live-action films based on manga Triad films Yakuza films 1990s Japanese films 1990s Hong Kong films