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| A series of bizarre kidnappings of newborn babies is terrorizing Hong Kong. A superhero known as Wonder Woman (Mui) begins to investigate on her own, as another one known as Thief Catcher (Cheung) takes on the case for the money. Eventually their paths cross and they learn of a plot by a evil sorcerer to create an invincible army using the babies and a technology that will render them invisible, which a woman known as (guess what) Invisible Woman (played by Yeoh) holds the key to. The three eventually team up and form a fighting force known as the "Heroic Trio."
The Heroic Trio marks, for me, the climax of women in action movies. To start with, all three leads are incredibly sexy. Even though there are no gratuitous scenes as in many other action films with a female lead, you can't help but be attracted to at least one of the trio. Or perhaps that's why. In US movies, even when strong females are presented in movies (such as The Long Kiss Goodnight or True Lies), they must succumb to one of a few fates: showing skin (at least in some manner), eventually breaking down and acting like a "real" woman (i.e., becoming too emotional or overly attached to a "love interest") or dying. Very few movies in the US have gotten above this. While HK action movies are still very "macho" in nature, in many instances the female is as strong or stronger than her male counterpart. The Heroic Trio captures this perfectly. The three leads are very feminine in nature (let's face it, no one is going to mistake any of them for a female bodybuilder -- they're extremely easy on the eyes). Mui, in particular, shows this in her love for her husband.
But they are not the typical "stand-behind-the-scenes" women found in most action movies. They'll beat you six ways to Sunday. Some people have dubbed this the "Madonna and the whore" syndrome -- as in men want both someone nice to bring home to mom and one that will make you cry for mommy. Whatever. All I know is The Heroic Trio features three beautiful women kicking ass all over the place, a fast, brisk pace from director Johnnie To combined with a great soundtrack -- and, oh yeah, Anthony Wong in one of his best supporting roles as "Number 9," a guy so vile he eats his own severed fingers.
You can't ask for much more than that. |
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Three futuristic female warriors band together to take on an evil supernatural villain who is kidnapping babies for his own evil schemes. A fantastic looking production with a dark and bleak feel. The girls look great (especially gun-toting Maggie Cheung) and kick some serious ass. Unfortunately, the climax of the film is somewhat spoiled by its outrageousness. | | LOG IN TO COMMENT ON THIS REVIEW! |
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There are a lot of reasons to love this film, besides just watching three of Hong Kong's most beautiful actresses kicking butt and taking names. It's a very well-directed film, both in the dramatic scenes and in terms of action. Every scene of the film is imbued with the appropriate emotional feel, sometimes making it a very dark film, at other times presenting a very life-affirming vision. In terms of action, Ching Siu-Tung delivers the kind of kinetic, over-the-top fights he's become known for. And he certainly does a good job of presenting Anita Mui and Maggie Cheung, both of whom haven't been really known as fighting femmes, as competent masters of action. Still, it is ultimately the three stars who make the film. Strangely, there's almost a reversal of roles from the standard screen images of these three women. Anita and Maggie both show their skills as action heroines, while Michelle Yeoh, though getting her own share of the action, gets a little meatier character development than she normally does.
HKFlix Rating: 9.0/10 |
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