A TASTE OF KILLING AND ROMANCE is a little-known but highly enjoyable action flick from 1994, starring the one and only Andy Lau who teams up with Miss Hong Kong 1990 herself, Anita Yuen. The story is about two opposing assassins who end up falling for each other, putting them in peril, and it manages to create freshness from otherwise highly familiar material. One of the film's key strengths is the direction from the unknown Veronica Chan, and I was disappointed to read that this was her sole feature.
The film's cinematography is excellent throughout, and even the dialogue scenes are shot in interesting and quirky ways. The action is frequent and the various shoot-outs, chases and murder are handled in a bombastic fashion, with touches of John Woo and even TERMINATOR 2 about them (a key bit of music from the latter is borrowed in this film's later stages). Lau is effortlessly likeable, but he has his thunder stolen by the excellent Yuen, giving one of those fine sad and tragic performances that mark a true femme fatale, Waise Lee as the dedicated cop on his tail, and Mark Cheung, who truly is a despicable villain here (the scene in the apartment with the granny, the kid and the dog is unforgettable!). It's not quite a top tier film, but for a mid budget production at best I found it thoroughly entertaining.
The film's cinematography is excellent throughout, and even the dialogue scenes are shot in interesting and quirky ways. The action is frequent and the various shoot-outs, chases and murder are handled in a bombastic fashion, with touches of John Woo and even TERMINATOR 2 about them (a key bit of music from the latter is borrowed in this film's later stages). Lau is effortlessly likeable, but he has his thunder stolen by the excellent Yuen, giving one of those fine sad and tragic performances that mark a true femme fatale, Waise Lee as the dedicated cop on his tail, and Mark Cheung, who truly is a despicable villain here (the scene in the apartment with the granny, the kid and the dog is unforgettable!). It's not quite a top tier film, but for a mid budget production at best I found it thoroughly entertaining.