Heroic Trio

A fine action film with three sexy fighter-heroes and a ridiculous super-villain. I love it when the villain appears to be completely invulnerable and is defeated anyways. This arch-villain doesn't even need the usual corporeal organs and exterior skin ! Over-the-top action scenes may be tame by today's standards, but are great fun. I love that scene at the train station !

Is this really as bad as Teen Wolf or Highlander 3, as one reviewer here has suggested? No. In fact, if you're attuned to the kind of crazy stuff that was surgin forth from Hong Kong's movie factories in the early 90s, this will already be a key component of your cult viewing repertoire. The three leads are all stunning and elegant adn everything else is secondary. The plot is maudlin and at times really cloyingly sentimental, but this is just HK cinema for you, and it always displays extreme emotions in a deliberately heightened manner. Its ultimately a really enjoyable film, but you have to see it with some kind of cultural/historical context in mind to help you avoid those nagging Teen Wolf comparisons...

The Heroic Trio is at its best when it's also at its craziest, with the action sequences delivering some amazing moments of absolute insanity. It all made me wish the action was allowed to go on a bit longer, because while the action is frequent, most of the set pieces themselves are pretty brief. I guess that's part of the movie overall being fast-paced, whipping between three main characters all within a runtime of under 90 minutes, but it's a little sad how quickly some action scenes end. I might've also liked this a little more had it been more comedic outside its action (I wouldn't really call it a comedy, but some might), but that also feels a bit nitpicky. Most of this is a good time, I liked the leads, and it delivers fun action/thrills in a gloriously over-the-top way.

Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh and Anita Mui, three of the loveliest leading ladies to grace Hong Kong cinema in the 90s, team up for this classic slice of comic-book style fantasy action that compensates for a confusing and cloyingly over-sentimental story by delivering impressive visuals and seriously insane action the likes of which could only come from the Far East.

Directed by Johnny To and featuring stunning choreography by Siu-Tung Ching, the film concentrates on delivering scene after crazy-ass scene of totally insane action, all set against impressive, billowing backdrops created through the use of strong coloured lighting, plenty of smoke, and a wind machine. Among the film's many over-the-top set-pieces: a locomotive crashing into a crowded station; Anita Mui leaping across telephone wires to catch a falling child; two of the movie's heroines spinning wildly through the air on a motorbike; Maggie Cheung blasting herself into battle astride a dynamite powered oil drum; and a Terminator-style finale that sees the bad-guy's charred skeletal remains seizing control of Maggie Cheung's body (and who can really blame him?).

On top of all this inspired lunacy, viewers are also treated to another unforgettable turn from Anthony Wong as crazy killer Kau (who is a dab-hand with the flying guillotine), some surprisingly nasty violence (including a baby dying after falling onto a nail, several decapitations, and flesh-eating children who wee themselves before being blown to smithereens by dynamite), and last, but by no means least, plenty of opportunities to ogle stars Cheung, Yeoh and Mui, who all look scrummy in their super-sexy outfits.

This film is superhero comics fare, nothing more. In said genre, character depth and acting weighs lightly.(As long as the principals are beautiful) With that in mind I have to say that HEROIC TRIO ROCKS! The first thing that stands out in the movie is the overall look of it. The production value is excellent and the atmospheric cinematography is done as deftly as any Tony Scott film. The action choreography with heavy usage of Hong Kong style wire effects is the finest I've ever seen and the fights(especially the one in hell against a demon who kidnaps children and turns them into cannibals-remember it's a live action comic book!)are frenetic kung fu masterpieces. I realize that this type of film may not appeal to all(I enjoy subtlety as much as the next guy)but I would ask you to give this one a chance because it really is much more interesting than the average Hollywood action pic.