''Killer's Romance'' (released in the Philippines as ''The Cyprus Tiger'') is a 1990

Hong Kong action film Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. Action films from Hong Kong have roots in Chinese culture, Chinese and Culture of Hong Kong, Hong Kong cultures, including Chinese opera, storytelling a ...

written, produced and directed by

Phillip Ko Phillip Ko Fei (, 18 June 1949 – 31 March 2017) was a Hong Kong actor, screenwriter and film director. Early life Ko was born Lam Pak-hang () in Hong Kong on 18 June 1949. After moving with his family to mainland China, he began learning Choy ...

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

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

, ''

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 ...

'', and stars

Simon Yam Simon Yam Tat-wah (; born 19 March 1955) is a Hong Kong actor and film producer. He is best known for his performances in films such as '' PTU'' (2003), ''Election'' (2005), '' SPL: Sha Po Lang'' (2005), ''Triangle'' (2007), '' Sparrow'' (2008), ' ...

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 term ''yak ...

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 Triad or triade may refer to: * a group of three Humanities * Trichotomy (philosophy), often called triads * Triad (sociology), a group of three people as a unit of study * Triad (relationship), or ''ménage à trois'' Music * Triad (music ...

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 Joey Wong Cho-Yee ( AKA Joey Wang, Wang Tsu Hsien) (, born 31 January 1967) is a Taiwanese former actress and singer who rose to pan-Asian fame for her roles in Hong Kong films, particularly the film series '' A Chinese Ghost Story'' (1987–1991) ...

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 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 created in ...

'' 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 Hong Kong Cinemagic, sometimes referred to as HKCinemagic, was a bilingual ( French and English) website providing a repository for information about Chinese language films from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, and the people who created them. The we ...

{{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 Films based on works by Kazuo Koike