Customer Reviews

The Heroic Trio [VHS]

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Starring Anita Mui ('Rumble In The Bronx'), Michelle Yeoh ('Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon') and Maggie Cheung ('In The Mood For Love') as three crime-fighting superheroines in Hong Kong's answer to Gotham City, 'The Heroic Trio' is a high-kicking, crimson-soaked comic book action romp that could only come out of our favourite country for hi-octane beat-em-ups. As you might have guessed, it's hardly Oscar-winning stuff; the plot is at times incomprehensible, the sets cheap and the acting camp, but it all adds to the charm. This is, after all, not a film to be analysed, but enjoyed with popcorn on a Friday night. And, as that, it succeeds - the action sequences are very exciting, the wire work is well done, the original score is superb and, of course, our three leading ladies light up the screen at every turn. But those weak in the knee may wish to turn away at certain points as it does get a tad grisley at times, what with decapitations, exploding body parts, cannibalism and baby-murdering. Indeed, the violence is so over-the-top at times that it becomes not so much offensive as it does laughable. Which was probably the idea.

So while the movie itself is recommended, Buena Vista's DVD release definitely isn't. The Disney company has once again seen fit to edit yet another Asian movie for its Western market - this time by three minutes to remove the aforementioned gory moments. And, as expected, the original Cantonese soundtrack has been replaced with a dreadful English dub and generic score - denying us the pleasure of hearing Anita Mui's two excellent songs. Still, this is what we've come to expect from the distributor that seems to delight in infuriating hardcore Chinese film fans. Those wishing to own the uncut version of the film would be advised to seek out the 'Universe' DVD from Hong Kong or the now out-of-print 'Tai Seng' American release. Better still (if you have PAL/Region 2 capabilities), waiting for the forthcoming remastered Special Edition from British DVD label 'Hong Kong Legends' would be the ideal solution.

Disney continues to butcher the work of foreign directors. THey bought the rights to most of the famous Asian action films, prohibit the sale of the original version, and then release a version on dvd without the original soundtrack, scenes cut, titles changed, etc. For a company that attempts to market it's own movies worldwide, it shows a total disrespect for the art of other countries. This movies is entertaining, but I would seek out a copy of the Tai Seng company version. It includes english subtitles. Anyone realize how easy it is to add a second audio track,not to mention widescreen and fullscreen on the same disc. Disney continues to refuse this. Don't get me wrong, I buy all of there major animated release, and they can show great care and respect for their own work, I just wish they'd cater to the collector as well as the Kmart crowd.

For those of you thinking of purchasing this DVD, please note that the dialogue is dubbed in English completely. For those of you who prefer it in its original language (Cantonese), give this a miss.

Otherwise the movie is great and the acting superb, plus we get to see the late Anita Mui in action. What can you say... top notch performance from Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung and Anita Mui.

The Buena Vista version of this film has been cut by roughly 20 MINUTES (compare running time in the specs with the other version on DVD), rescored, and otherwise cheaply altered. Disney/Miramax do this with ALL of their DVD releases of Hong Kong classics, which they have more or less monopolized the rights to in terms of US distribution. I wouldn't mind so much if they would simply release the movies as they were intended to be seen -- but this is ridiculous. The changes are all completely unnecessary. Thanks for nothing, Miramax. Harvey Weinstein fails to realize that nobody -- NOBODY -- who truly likes and wishes to own a movie like The Heroic Trio is going to prefer a heavily cut down, edited, altered version, once they realize that is what they are getting. So pointless. Anybody who values asian cinema at all should avoid buying any foreign films from Disney/Miramax/Buena Vista. A lot of American distributors are guilty of these practices, but some are helping improvements along -- for instance, Columbia TriStar's domestic release of the "Once Upon a Time in China" trilogy is perfectly satisfactory. It is in its original widescreen ratio, uncut, with its original score and audio tracks; clear subtitles are offered, as well as an English dubbed version for those so inclined. Is such a basic package really asking so much?

When it comes to this particular movie, I recommend seeking out an import version if you are going to purchase it. The import versions have failings of their own, but at least you'll see the COMPLETE movie as it was intended to be seen.

The Buena Vista DVD is cut but at least 2 minutes and is missing the original Cantonese soundtrack. Real fans of the movie will pass on this one and get the import from Hong Kong which is uncut.

Forget Batman, this is the way a super-hero movie should be done. Incredible imagery (some shots will take your breath away) prevails in a film genre that traditionally should not look as good as this does. There is also a plot (underground demon lord stealing babies to find an heir) and Anita Mui sings, too... what more could want? A warning the film is gritty violent, and contains a scene with an infant that may disturbing to sensitive viewers.

'The Heroic Trio' pits three female superheroes (linked, unbeknownst to them, by their past) against an ancient wizard who is kidnapping babies in the hope of locating the future emperor of China and restoring him to the throne.

The film has furious fight scenes that are of the calibre that EVERY comic book movie should sport--Marvel Comics kept popping into my mind--interesting costumes (with the amusing fact that the 'Invisible Girl' is the only character in the film who isn't dressed in muted colours or black), nice character interplays (even though the characters are rather thin), and is just a fun ride overall. To make it even better, the lighting, camera work, and set design are all perfect... all serving to underscore the 'film noir cool' tone of the film.

On the purely technical front, I really appreciated the subtitling of this film. Not only did they not use the annoying white lettering that is the standard--they used yellow which never got lost against the images on the screen--but they let the subtitling run onto the black bar left by the wide-screen formatting. The translation job was also excellent, with none of the bizarre, unintentionally funny turns of phrase that one occassionally sees when the translations are a bit too literal.

This would be a Five Star movie if it didn't suffer from a common problem among 'B-movies' of this type. The pacing seems off in many places, as a little too much time is spent dwelling on cool camera effects and characters striking 'poster poses' than is healthy for the movie.

Still, I recommend it for anyone who likes superhero movies and/or the Hong Kong school of action flicks.

That's all I needed to see to make this a classic movie. Some very good fight scenes, but you have to be pretty hard-core into these movies to really like this. Also some very weird fight scenes. The final fight I have never made it through to the end, not cause it was too sick, just because I did't like it. But I did like the whole movie up to that point. It is great to see Iron robe yim from OUATIC playing a REAL baddie.

The dubbing is a different story, this would have easily get a 4/5 if I could get my hands on the original language version. Seriously, this movie is like 86 minutes long, that is just a horribly done dvd, they remaster the picture to perfection, but can't give any type of other feature on this, how freaking hard is it to pu the original language on these.

Proud to say that I do own the Tai Seng release of this DVD. That itself is a good thing because it doesn't have the garbage sound actors, the good stuff isn't edited, and what's the point of seeing this movie if you're not seeing it the way it should be?

But, I will say that if you do decide to pick up this movie, first, look for the Tai Seng release of it. Though it is out of print, it is still around in places.

If you can't, then, fall down to the "mouse" and pick this copy up.

A little about the movie: It was influenced by the movie "Batman," and the directors (Ching Siu Tung & Johnny To) liked it so much, they wanted to make a film just lke that. And, how can you go wrong with Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Chung and Anita Mui? You truly can't.

I would have given this movie 4 stars, but, seeing I'm not too big a fan of what Disney did to this version, I can only give it a 3. Horrid dubbing and editing so obvious to those that have seen the original.

Disney, as well as all the other movie studios, you need to stop cutting and dubbing the Asian films - you do a horrible job. Leave it the way it was supposed to be, and give us the subtitles instead.

In Hong Kong, someone is stealing babies from local hospitals. Out of nowhere to help save them are a masked avenger who runs along buildings and telephone wires (Anita Mui) and a brash, but beautiful bounty hunter (Maggie Cheung). They soon find out that the culprit is a woman with the power of invisibility (Michelle Yeoh) and that they all share a link in their past. THE HEROIC TRIO is unusual in that it is the women who are the action-heroes, thus predating characters like Xena and Buffy. However, like most martial arts films, this film is very over-the-top and pretty hokey. The fighting scenes are eye-catching and both Mui and Yoeh take their roles fairly seriously. Maggie Cheung's bounty hunter, however, seems in on the joke and hams it up big-time. This ain't a great film, by any means, and there have been better super-hero type flicks. However, for a couple of hours it provides its share of laughs and thrills. Recommended if you like this sort of film.