Heroic Trio

Ching Siu Tung, the master of wire work, and Johnnie To, the director of incredible The Big Heat, directed Heroic Trio in 1992. It stars three incredible beauties Anita Mui, Maggie Cheung and Michelle Yeoh. The story is very confusing, but these ladies play Thief Catcher (Cheung), Wonder Woman (Mui) and Invisible Girl (Yeoh) somewhere in future, where evil demon is kidnapping little babies in town, and it is soon revealed that he wants to train one of them to become the future king of China. The Demon has a helper played by very talented actor Anthony Wong (The Untold Story, Hard Boiled, Full Contact etc.) who can fight and keep intruders away from the demon master and babies. These three fighting ladies are on the trail of that baby stealing demon, and they start their fight for justice as the babies must get back safe. The story has some twists and turns, so it may seem a little confusing at first viewing, but the main merits of the film are not in the plot but in the outrageous and unbelievable action scenes, from which director Ching Siu Tung is best known. His most important films include Duel to the Death (the debut), Witch From Nepal and Swordsman films among many others. He is known also as "the wire master" and it is easy to tell why.

Heroic Trio is fantastic fantasy film, and will blow the viewer away, if one is not familiar with these kind of Orient wonders. These films have no equivalent in Western cinema. In Heroic Trio there hardly are any slow moments and only little of the usual stupid slapstick humor, that ruins little otherwise great films like Savior of the Soul and Ching Siu Tung's Terra Cotta Warrior. Heroic Trio is pure action and visuality, and it is easy to love, because there are practically no negative points in the film, considering this is pretty harmless fantasy genre.

The photography and atmosphere is stunning! The streets of Hong Kong are very misty and the greatest scenes are in the underworld in which the demon lives. It is hard to describe with words how this film looks like. The camera twists and flows smoothly and there seems not to be limits for visuality in these films. The fight scenes are great as usual, as wires are used and people fly high and camera shoots every detail in every possible angle. Ching Siu Tung is also action director and choreographer, and he has served in these roles in films like Tsui Hark's Zu: Warriors From the Magic Mountain and John Woo's The Killer and A Better Tomorrow 2. Films in which Ching Siu Tung are involved are usually totally over-the-top magic fests, and thus very unique even in Hong Kong cinema.

There is no any particular content in Heroic Trio and it is kind of empty, but if one can tolerate that and enjoy the visual perfection of this action film, then Heroic Trio is among the greatest Asian fantasy films. The sequel is far more serious as the atmosphere is very dark and holocaust like, and it is easy to see symbols about Hong Kong's future in 1997..

Heroic Trio has also very memorable music soundtrack and the film won even some prize for its theme song in Hong Kong movie awards or some other movie contest. The music is especially brilliant and sort of ominous in the underworld scenes with the sleeping and waking evil demon. The atmosphere is so brilliant, and the feel is just like one would feel in demon's cave! The soundtrack is great throughout, but those particular "demon scenes" are definitely worth a mentioning.

Heroic Trio is not too serious film, it is just action fantasy almost as fantastic as they come, but if there had been some theme or message in the film, it probably would've been even greater as a whole. A Chinese Ghost Story (also Ching Siu Tung's film) is perfect example of this: both visually unbeatable and still spiritually noteworthy. I like Heroic Trio still very much, because the look of the film is so unique, and this was actually the first of these Orient fantasy films I ever saw, and thus I was very amazed when I first saw this. Now after second viewing the magic's still there and the movie has not lost its impact on me.

Heroic Trio is 9/10 film, and is among the greatest (if not the cleverest) Hong Kong fantasies ever made. There are many many others, too, but Heroic Trio is proudly among them.

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.

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 !

"The Heroic Trio" is a ridiculously over-the-top, magnificent living comic book that marks China's biggest foray into the martial arts-superhero genre by giving birth to three originals - super-heroines, who definitely know how to kick a** and seem to be riffs on iconic American super-heroines (the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four and DC Comics' Wonder Woman come to mind) - and assembling three top Chinese actresses (Michelle Yeoh, the late Anita Mui, and Maggie Cheung) to play the leads. The director in charge of this flawed, albeit spectacularly entertaining flick is Johnny To. True to most Asian martial arts cinema, To keeps the action fast, furious, and completely unbelievable. For example, in one sequence, are heroes are battling an evil henchman who has taken hostages at a subway station. The train is in for a head-on collision. The henchman, who's packing the dreaded flying guillotine, has already offed several hostages. In crashes our heroines, riding full-throttle on a motorcycle, and they somehow ride up on the wall and jump off - spiraling - toward the henchman. The day you see a flying motorcycle in an American martial arts movie (or any other movie) is the day pigs fly (and CGI can make it happen, unless you stuff a hog in a cannon). But the story of "The Heroic Trio" is that the three rival super-heroines Invisible Woman (Yeoh), Wonder Woman (Mui), and Thief Catcher (Cheung) must band together if they are to find out who is responsible for several baby-nappings in Hong Kong. All possess great powers and abilities, and their mission will take them from the streets and back-alleys of the city to the demonic underworld. The three leads are pretty and tough, and handled themselves accordingly. The shoddy script gets in the way of To's over-direction, and never quite lives up to the potential that I think it was truly capable of. A flawed, though hyper-active and entertaining entry in the Chinese superhero genre.

7/10

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.