The Heroic Trio (Three Heroines of the East, Ángeles Vengadores) is an action fantasy film directed by Johnnie To and written by Sandy Shaw. It stars Michelle Yeoh, Anita Mui, Maggie Cheung, Damian Lau, Anthony Wong and Paul Chun. The film became a pretty big hit and is one of the Hong Kong films that managed to reach a wider audience while being a cult favorite for genre enthusiasts. It is now considered to be one of Michelle Yeoh’s classic films.
The plot is set in motion as an invisible entity snatches babies around town. The wife of a police inspector (secretly a superheroine known as Wonder Woman), a tough and badass bounty hunter (known in the field as Thief Catcher) and the responsible for the baby kidnappings (a powerful warrior with supernatural techniques) unite their forces to fight the evil master behind the crimes.
An insane fantasy martial arts film that really delivers some hardcore action. The kooky plotline is actually simple and clear enough that you can properly follow it all throughout. The main characters have very distinct and likable personalities. The characterizations are fun, while the actresses are very good. I think a lot of the heavy lifting is done by the lavish costumes, props and simple writing in just 80 minutes. I wasn't expecting it to have such dynamic acrobatic action choreography, people don't just move or leap, they glide and hover through the air, but it is truly a very entertaining spectacle with people flying around and achieving impossible jumps and convoluted moves.
At first, you kind of have to put the puzzle of the storyline and the character relations and identities together because things are very slowly and eclectically established, they don't bombard you with information but everything comes together by the end of the first act. I think the tone is pretty perfect for the most part, being able to handle comedy, fantastical wonder and serious action quite well. I will also add that they had the balls to do something very shocking with a baby and that never actually hurts the established tone. I will leave it at that.
The wardrobe, art direction, production design and special effects are all expertly crafted and taken full advantage of by the meticulous and skilled direction. Johnnie To was able to take this somewhat disjointed and easy to mess up story and executed it perfectly and clearly, delivering a high caliber action classic from Hong Kong that fluidly tells its story with a variety of moods, tones, places and sensitivities.
A must watch for any martial arts fanatic. Quick and swift, The Heroic Trio is bound to thrill and amuse with its impressive filmmaking and imagination.
The film was followed by a sequel titled Heroic Trio 2: Executioners (1993).
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