Cyprus Tigers (1990) Review

“Cyprus Tigers” Chinese Theatrical Poster

Director: Philip Ko Fei
Producer: Philip Ko Fei
Cast: Simon Yam, Conan Lee, Philip Ko Fei, Collin Cheung Chi Tak, Robin Shou, Joey Wong, Shikamura Yasuyoshi, Winston Ellis, Sophia Crawford, John Ladalski
Running Time: 87 min.

By Martin Sandison

Ask a Kung Fu movie fan about the greatest actors to come out of the golden age and the name Phillip Ko will surely arise. One of the most prolific and recognizable faces of Kung Fu cinema, Ko appeared in hundreds of films of varying quality. And yes, he was an extra in Enter the Dragon and tells the tale of Bruce Lee fighting that guy on set. Ko has said that two films are his best: The Loot and The Challenger. Two of the greatest Independent Kung Fu movies, these films are a must watch.

Through the 80’s and 90’s Ko became a director and producer, while still appearing in his own films. One of these is Cyprus Tigers. Filmed around the same time as Killer’s Romance, both star Simon Yam and both were filmed partly in Europe (London and Cyprus, of course). Killer’s Romance is a heroic bloodshed film loosely based on the Manga Crying Freeman, featuring some extreme violence. Cyprus Tigers meanwhile is a mash up of comedy, gunfights and martial arts which is in the tradition of HK film-making, crazy and uneven in tone.

Cyprus Tigers features so many of the stars of lower budget HK action films of the time it’s ridiculous. Simon Yam was not a huge star at this point, and had appeared in some action films such as the classic Bloodfight, one of my personal favorites, and dodgy category 3 films such as Hong Kong Gigolo. In Cyprus Tigers Yam plays a good natured cop called Dick, the leader of the ‘Cyprus Tigers’ a bunch of HK cops who have relocated there. Love him or hate him, Conan Lee is a good Martial Artist and did appear in one of the all time greatest Kung Fu movies Ninja In the Dragons Den. He plays ‘Climax’ (?!) a sex-mad cop with good Martial Arts chops. Ko himself plays King Wu, a criminal who appears to be a good guy at first. Winston Ellis an African American plays Black Spot, one of Ko’s minions.

This was his first Hong Kong film, and he followed it up with a small part in Operation Condor, one of Jackie’s best 90’s efforts. Robin Shou plays Yau Gin, a Japanese criminal. Shou is famous for playing Liu Kang in the Mortal Kombat movie, and had faced off against Donnie Yen in Tiger Cage 2, one of my favorite fights ever. Luk Chuen, also the action choreographer, plays another Japanese villain. He had been around the block, also choreographing the Shaws masterpiece Killer Constable. Sophia Crawford has a small part as Wu’s minion, looking great as ever, the time when she was it seemed in every lower budget HK production! Even the great John Ladalski gets a tiny part, he’s only on screen for a matter of seconds. He also appeared in Bloodfight, training Yasuaki Kurata, and numerous other Ninja and HK movies. Finally the lovely Joey Wong appears as Yam’s girlfriend, radiating beauty and grace despite the low brow tone of the plot.

The first half of the movie is based around the cops bumbling around on the beach and getting in to scrapes in a comedic manner, while the second half features them going against Ko who is trying to get hold of plates for laundering money and is much more serious. The movie starts as it means to go on, with equal parts intentional and unintentional humor and solid action. The version I watched has burnt in subtitles that go over the edges of the screen, meaning the dialogue is hard to follow. Not that it matters, the subtitling is so bad. Some choice ones from the opening scene are: ‘Men look at your bottoms’ and ‘look he has climax every day’.

The first half is that cheesy comedy so prevalent in HK movies at the time, with the funniest sub plot featuring Yam being forced at gunpoint to take off Lee’s clothes. Of course the villains are filming it and it becomes a porno VHS, and Lee goes all over town buying up copies. Some of the bad taste humor leaves a nasty taste in the mouth, especially when involving Ellis as Black Spot; it’s bordering on racism.

The action hots up around the middle of the film, and some of it is of a high standard. Lee battles Ellis in a fight which features some nifty handwork, and the centerpiece of Yam vs Ko lives up to its billing. It’s good to see Yam performing a lot of the Martial Arts himself, despite being doubled for a couple of crazy stunts. One involves him being kicked into the air and with the aid of wire-work spins twice and lands on a table, with inventive editing meaning everything is clear despite there being a lot of cuts.

Unfortunately while the movie has some great action and is entertaining, it suffers from too much cheesy comedy and bad plotting. I mean seriously the contrasting tones are so extreme it’s like you’re watching three different movies at once. As it features so many actors they jostle for attention, with little room for good or developing characterizations. Ko directs in a pretty bland manner until the action kicks in, basically the main reason to watch the movie.

Overall it’s a lackluster effort, but worth checking out for some vintage fun if you like that kind of thing.

Martin Sandison’s rating: 5/10