Heroic Trio (1992)

Literally: Eastern Three Heroes

Director: Johnnie To Kei-Fung

Producer: Ching Siu-Tung

Writer: Sandy Shaw (Siu Lai-King)

Action Director: Ching Siu-Tung

Cast: Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk, Anita Mui Yim-Fong, Michelle Khan/Yeoh (Yeung Chi-King), Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Damian Lau Chung-Yun, James Pax (Pak Chin-Shek), Paul Chun Pui, Yang Yee-Kwan (Yam Sai-Koon), Wong Yat-Fei, Chan Cheuk-Yan, Lee Siu-Kei, Yuen Siu-Cheung, Mimi Chu Mi-Mi

Running Time: 88 min.

Plot: This mystical, fantasy adventure in the tradition of Tim Burton's Batman stars three of Asia's top stars. The Heroic Trio boasts major studio production values including the foreboding surreal atmosphere of the demon underworld to a magnificently staged train wreck. Hang on to your seats as The Heroic Trio with their arsenal of traditional martial arts sorcery and weapons of modern warfare, wage special effect laden battles against the baby stealing Demon-Lord of the Underworld, and his sinister army of assassins.

NUMSKULL'S REVIEW: I ought to have learned my lesson by now: be wary of Hong Kong films with cult followings in the West. VERY wary.

Heroic Trio is a truly unique film with top tier talent in front of the camera, a distinct visual style, and production values the likes of which are rarely seen in Hong Kong cinema.

But I still think it kinda sucks.

There's no appeal for me here. The story is laughable, the wire-dominated fights are weak, and the humor falls flat. And the amount of violence is out of proportion. I am not opposed to the pushing of certain envelopes where movie violence is concerned, and I am very much a part of the "Don't like it? Don't watch it" side of the debate. However, the juxtaposition of cannibalism, severed body parts, and dead babies alongside crime-fighting women in campy-as-hell costumes just doesn't work for me. It's like topping pancakes with barbecue sauce instead of maple syrup. No go.

Also, having the villain's demonic lair accessible via an ordinary manh...uh, personhole is ridiculous. Don't you think some sewer workers would have uncovered it a long time ago? Hmm...perhaps they did, but failed to escape to tell the tale. That being the case, they just would have sent more guys down there, and then more, and then even more, until they finally got a fuckin' SWAT team to lay waste to the place. Or something. Yes, I'm bored.

I suppose star power is/was a big factor in this film's largely undeserved success. Anita Mui, Maggie Cheung, and Michelle Yeoh all in the same movie...that's kind of like a Hollywood film starring Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, and Lucy Liu. Oh, hey, wait a minute...they did that. Charlie's Angels. And what a surprise that Buena Vista's incomplete version's packaging owes such a debt to it.

The ubiquitous Anthony Wong has an extended cameo as the evil Number Nine, who is always in a foul mood and doesn't get along with anyone. Kinda like Bill Murray, I guess.

To wrap up this shitty review: "Bah." Another overhyped, inexplicably popular Hong Kong "classic" with high production value masquerading as genuine quality (see also: The Bride With White Hair).

NUMSKULL'S RATING: 4/10

ALEXANDER'S REVIEW: Leather and lycra clad superheroes generally fail to be as captivating on the big screen as they are in comic books. An artist's pencil can bend, flex and twist a hero into impossible poses. A colorist can paint a cityscape in unnaturally vibrant hues. A writer can invent entertaining story arcs intertwining humor, drama, suspense, terror with casts of incedibly proportioned super-men and -women. Filmmakers attempt to bring these imaginative heroes to life with the same energy and artistry as their creative brethren in the comics field but, unfortunately, fail far more often than they succeed.

Daredevil. The Fantastic Four. Flash Gordon. Captain America. X-Men. Dick Tracy. Swamp Thing. The Flash. Wonder Woman. The Superman sequels. Batman Returns. Batman and Robin. Judge Dredd. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The Punisher.

A roll call of crappy adaptations.

Arguably, all have failed to match their comic counterpart's color, depth and -- most importantly -- FUN. Some, like the original Superman, WB's Smallville, The Crow, Crumb, Blade, Ghost World and two of the Batman installments, have faithfully brought the fun of comics to the small and big screens. Whether due to unfaithfulness to the original (Punisher, Judge Dredd, TMNT and X-Men), sheer cheesiness (FF, Captain America, Swamp Thing, Wonder Woman and Superman 2-4), a director's vanity (Batman and Robin) or penchant for the bizarre (Batman Returns), or simply a network's restraint (The Flash), movies and television just cannot seem to get comic books RIGHT.

Granted, acclaimed director Johnnie To's Heroic Trio is not based on a comic book but is instead the original creation of writer Sandy Shaw. Regardless, the film captures the spirit of comics with it's larger than life heroines, their relatively meek alter-egos, impossible action, bizarro villains, and an over-the-top plot. Sure, HT borrows bits from Bob Kane's and Tim Burton's Batman and Cameron's Terminator (retro cars from the '50s in a not-too-distant future; close-ups on Anita Mui's outrageously flowing cape and reflective leather mask; a powerless side-kick who's just REALLY athletic, ala Robin, and has the matching fiery personality to boot are just some of the more familiar bits), so it's not ENTIRELY original, but it does succeed where other comic adaptations have failed. It unfolds with drama and suspense; it's peppered with high-flying action and is populated by super-attractive super-heroes (including a scene-stealing Maggie Cheung who looks absolutely BAD-ASS when whipping out her 12-guage shotgun).

The wire-fu and choreography are perfectly suited for this campy, high energy story. Maggie Cheung's character straddles exploding oil drums as a make-shift rocket; Anita Mui's Wonder Woman runs Jesus-like across wavering power lines; and Michelle Yeoh perfoms kicks and somersaults higher than anything she attempted in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. All these fantastic feats are both cheesy AND believable because they're SUPERHEROES, dammit.

Sure, the film has flaws. The special effects are ridiculously low-budget at times and the sets look as fabricated and flimsy as the ones in Madonna's Dick Tracy. There's also an unnecessarily gruesome scene involving shackled cannibal children, but the rest of the violence is so campy as to evoke giggles, not groans.

With Spider-man, The Hulk, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Ghost Rider and others on the horizon, the future of comics on film looks promising. We can only hope they don't take themselves too seriously (Batman Returns, X-Men, et al.) and instead revel in their goofy premises of really big men and women in tights fighting crime in skin-tight costumes. We can only hope they're as fun as Heroic Trio.

ALEXANDER'S RATING: 8/10

MASSACURE'S REVIEW: This movie is strange. Its not one of my favorite hong kong movies, i dont think this film is for everyone, at times i thought it was a lil bit goofy. And some of the characters are sick as hell, like the guy he ate his own finger, and what happens at the end is really sick, the characters were very good, everyone was interesting, u wont ever say, hey why did they have that guy in the movie, Good action and the story moved along well, i would recomend this movie if you like the fantasy genre.

MASSACURE'S RATING: 7/10

S!DM'S REVIEW: Wire Fantasy at it's best, well almost. Evil demons are stealing babies, and it's up to a trio of heroines who are unknown to each other to team up and fight the baddies. That's pretty much the whole plot, and there's a few side stories along the way, but I won't go too much into the script side of things, because it tends to get kind of cheesy at points if you aren't in the right mood to watch it. The whole mood is pretty disturbing...Director Johnny To makes sure we know that it's the bleak future full of violence and that a whole 'nother world of supernatural evil lives in the...ahem...sewer. It's Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh, and Anita Mui to the rescue, and when they set aside their personal differences, nothing stands in their way, not even Anthony Wong with a "Flying Guillotine," a direct homage to the Wang Yu Kung Fu films of the past. Much of the fighting takes place in the air via wires, and if you're into that sort of thing, it's very good, and a small fraction takes place on the ground, just like "normal" kung fu films. The choreography is great, great pacing and rhythm, but sometimes with EXTREMELY odd camera angles. Pretty average stuff, by HK standards. But it's the ending that is the most eye-catching. I won't give it away, but it's like taking the exoskeleton from Terminator 2 and throwing it into a mix of fighting females, magic stuff flying around, lots of explosions and LOTS of wires.

S!DM'S RATING: 8/10

VIC NGUYEN'S REVIEW: Future Milky Way Image filmmaker Johnnie To Kei-fung helmed this over-the-top comic book actioner which is a favorite of Hong Kong film fans around the globe. Anita Mui, Maggie Cheung, and Michelle Yeoh, 3 of Hong Kong's most popular actresses, star as a triple threat superhero team intent on taking down a powerful underground dictator who is notorious for kidnapping babies. With breakneck wire-fu courtesy of Ching Siu-tung and the inventiveness that is worthy of the phrase "only in Hong Kong", this is an action masterpiece that is a must for anyone remotely intersted in Hong Kong cinema.

VIC NGUYEN'S RATING: 10/10