Home :: DVD :: Art House & International :: Asian Cinema  

Asian Cinema

British Cinema
European Cinema
General
Latin American Cinema
The Heroic Trio

The Heroic Trio

List Price: $19.95
Your Price:
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 >>

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: What Every Superhero Movie Should Be Like!
Review: '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.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I wanna be a superhero!
Review: And I wanna be a superhero in China!

Being a FEMALE superhero in China is optional at this point, but after seeing this movie S.R.S. seems kinda attractive.. I mean, Michelle, Anita (whom I want for my new girlfriend along with Tori Amos, Emma Thompson and Jodie Foster) and Maggie all kick serious butt throughout the movie, putting the men to shame.

They spin!

They fly!

They run on telephone wires!

They ignore gravity and all of Newton's Laws!

They use heavy artillary and ride into battle on horses, motorcycles and oil drums (! )!

They make American superhero movies seem ... well, like an American superhero movie - poorly written, woodenly acted, lacking in tense battle scenes, trite dialogue. I mean, one only has to look at "The Fantastic Four", "Nick Fury", "The Punisher", the last few "Batman" movies (ever notice that Drew Barrymore and Chris O'Donnell disappeared for a few years after that last one?) to realize that China KNOWS so much better than we do how do draw an audience along into a fantastic story, build tension and make seemingly normal people fly and beat the snot out of evil... evil, black, bilious snot! Even the skeleton puppet made me cheer wildly at the screen.

By all means, get this DVD!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Nothing less than 5 stars
Review: Anyone giving this movie less is full of it. Heroric trio is a cult classic for a reason- it da-- good! Its funny, action packed, and leaves you wanting to at random full on blast some dude's chest.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awesome movie.
Review: definately a movie u wanna buy! everything is top-notch, the actors (3 good lookin ladies), the music, fighting scenes, special fx and all. so all in all, it's a dope movie u wanna see if u like martial artz.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Disrespect of foreign films continues.
Review: 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.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good, Cheesy Fun
Review: First of all, this review is based on the original (subtitled) version, not this Disney-edited DVD.

Don't watch this movie expecting something of the caliber of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon; you'll be disappointed. An obvious take-off of stories like The Three Musketeers and with a mood similar to the Batman movies, this film is often confusing and melodramatic, at times simply absurd.

That said, the acting is decent and the fight scenes engaging, making for an enjoyable film. It's entertaining, if not earth-moving.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What isn't to like?
Review: First off,3 seperate personalities converging to fight a villain who rivals the Emperor in Star Wars.How the three interreact is great,it's not the old 20 minute fight scenes,and you can see how American films lifted many elements from it.The acting is great,the effects aren't perfect-but come on!Any comic book,action fan is missing out not owning this one.
Mui is a great 'Wonder Woman',taking her role serious while being a devoted humorous wife.Yeoh is in conflict with her teachings and friends,while Cheung plays a light hearted "Dark Angel" bounty hunter.Not to be missed.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Please note!
Review: 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.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Extremely stupid, tasteless, and disappointing movie
Review: Having seen Michelle Yeoh in "Wing Chun" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", where she is superb, I wanted to get another one of her movies. "The Heroic Trio" turned out to be a terrible disappointment. The story is silly, incoherent, confused, full of sentimentality of the worst kind. Be prepared for scenes of bad violence and graphic images of blood and slaughterhouse style decapitation. What worse, with all this violence, this movie is boring. For amateurs of martial arts, it does not have much to offer either....

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fantastic and stylish action film with a feminine side.
Review: Hong Kong films have a tradition of blending the fantastic with realism. Heroic Trio upholds this tradition beautifully.

In a modern day Hong Kong, a sewer-swelling albino sorcerer seeks an heir and plots to overtake the world above with his legions of animalistic warriors. Opposing him are the Heroic Trio, three women from disparate backgrounds who realise that they must join together to defeat the monster, and learn that they can overcome their differences to become friends.

The three actresses portraying the heroes of title are among Hong Kong's finest actresses. Michelle Yeoh is perhaps the best known to Western audiences. Her portrayal of San, the Invisible Woman reveals more of her acting skills than many of the other action films she has done. San's character has a darker side, a memory of a moment in childhood when her destiny was decided and she had to turn away from all she had known. The conflict that San endures as she battles between her belief that she is unredeemable and the poignancy of forgiveness and love gives this film more emotional depth than most action films.

Anita Mui's character, the masked Wonder Woman is a fairly straightforward justice-upholding hero. Wonder Woman's life is much less emotionally intense than San's. She is the happy housewife of the police chief who is a capable (if not *quite* as equal) a hero as Wonder Woman. Mui is a terrific actress, however, and her character's own conflicts between family and heroic destiny are solidly portrayed.

The third member of the Heroic Trio is Maggie Cheung's flighty Chat, a fishnet wearing, gun-toting bounty hunter. Cheung might be known to Jackie Chan fans as, among other things, his chirpy girlfriend Mei in the Supercop series. Her character here has less emotional depth than the other two members of the trio, but provides fierce comic relief during tense moments.

The storyline is fantastic and the atmosphere is very stylized. Although some of the special effects are a little cheesy, the overall visual effect of the film is stunning. The fight scenes are equally stylized, relying on unusual fighting techniques - Wonder Woman running across the sky on telephone wires, chasing an invisible San, for example - and utilizing Yeoh's ballet training for fluid and beautiful fighting moves.

You could spend the the last few minutes of the movie ticking off the similarities to popular American flicks - Terminator, etc. - or you could just sit back and enjoy it. I reccomend the latter, because this is a fun action film that lacks neither action nor depth. And hey, I like the theme song, too...anyone want to teach me some Cantonese so I can understand it? END


<< 1 2 3 4 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates