![The Heroic Trio / Executioners (The Criterion Collection) [4K UHD]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81PVq50LJlL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg)
I saw this film several times when it came out in 1982 and I was still in my 20's. In the days of Star Wars, Star Trek, and Jane Fonda movies it was a real kick in the crotch to this (unknowingly) Naïve Suburbanite. The only "Art House" style films I had seen were in film class - and not many of those. I have watched it a few times more over the last 38 years and it is still incomparable to anything else out there in our suburban multiplex society where film analysis is more about story arcs on (yet another) Superhero Movie than on anything that actually challenges the viewer.
It would be better described as world cinema but made in America. Yeah, it IS a cheap production. But I'm sure they would've been happy to have had a bigger budget. So get over it if it bothers you. There's always another Avengers coming out so the faint-of-heart won't have their universe disturbed by things that are, you know, different. It does a lot with what it has, which is a collection of mostly amateur actors and made-on-the-fly props. One of the cast is even a NYC College Drama professor. (got to take 'em where you can find 'em!).
But for me, this is really a hilarious satire on the shallow, self-absorbed, mock-vicious, poseur-laden, post-Andy Warhol, NYC Art Scene of the 80's. No, I wasn't a part of that, but it is so obvious who the director's target is, and he really nails it! You almost feel sorry for these gaudy, creepy, drugged-out "Hollow People" (to steal a riff from old T.S.). At least they have a sense of their own humor! It's not important to re-hash the plot since that is merely a deus ex machina to carry along this moving feast of a freak show as it lurches from one set piece to another; much like the characters it depicts. It still has the power to shock with scenes of date rape, blatant drug use, and unrepentant psychological cruelty between the principles at times. I will update this review when I've watched the Blu-ray release on my 4K set-up. Truth is, I just came across this release 2 years after it came out as I've assumed for years the DVD was all there was. I am writing this at 2AM when I can't sleep, which is the best time to write anything. Buy it, watch it!
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