The Heroic Trio
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| The Heroic Trio | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Johnnie To |
| Screenplay by | Sandy Shaw[1] |
| Produced by | Ching Siu-tung[1] |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography |
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| Edited by | Kam Wah |
| Music by | William Hu[1] |
Production companies |
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Release date |
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Running time | 83 minutes[2] |
| Country | Hong Kong[1] |
| Language | Cantonese[1] |
The Heroic Trio (Dung fong saam hap, TC: 東方三俠, pinyin: dōng fāng sān xiá) is a 1993 Hong Kong action film directed by Johnnie To, starring Michelle Yeoh, Anita Mui, and Maggie Cheung as the titular trio. Other cast include Damian Lau, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Paul Chun, James Pak and Yan Yee Kwan. The main characters of the film are reunited in a sequel, another 1993 film, Executioners.
Plot[edit]
An invisible person is kidnapping newborn babies who're destined to be emperors and delivering them to the mysterious, subterranean villain known only as the "Evil Master" and the police are powerless to do anything. The only hope for the city is a motley trio of women who all share a terrible past, they are: Tung (played by Anita Mui), the mild-mannered wife of a police inspector who secretly fights crime as the sword-slinging, knife-throwing heroine, "Wonder Woman"; Chat (played by Maggie Cheung) a hard-boiled, shotgun-toting bounty hunter who goes by the nickname "Thief Catcher"; and Ching (played by Michelle Yeoh), the aforementioned "Invisible Woman" who acts as the troubled but determined right hand of the Evil Master.
Cast and roles[edit]
- Michelle Yeoh – Ching/San/Invisible Woman
- Anita Mui – Tung/Wonder Woman
- Maggie Cheung – Chat/Thief Catcher
- Damian Lau – Inspector Lau
- Anthony Wong Chau-sang – Kau
- James Pak – Professor/Inventor
- Paul Chun – Chief of Police
- Yen Shi-Kwan – Evil Master
- Chen Zhuoxin
- Jiang Haowen
- Lee Siu-kei – Leader of robbers at chemical factory
- Pamela Franklin – Chief of Police's Wife
Characters[edit]
Female Heroes[edit]
Tung the Wonder Woman[edit]
A crime fighting vigilante, trained from childhood by her strict martial artist father, she is also the wife of none other than Police Inspector Lau, who eventually finds out who she really is.
Aside from her incredible fighting prowess, Tung also utilizes a collapsible sword and numerous butterfly wing-shaped throwing knives.
She is played by Anita Mui.
Due to copyright reasons with DC, Tung's heroic name was changed to "Shadow Fox" in the English Dub of the film.
Ching the Invisible Woman[edit]
Ching (aka "Ching Ching") is the martial sister of Tung who ran away from their disciplinarian father and becoming a servant of the Evil Master; she's also the childhood friend of Chat, although they're only reunited as adults.
Using an experimental suit created by the Professor which renders the wearer invisible, Ching is the one responsible for the rash of kidnappings.
Later in the film, Ching's ordered to kill the Professor and take the invisibility suit by the Evil Master, however she is conflicted due to having fallen in love with him, eventually she deciding to fight in his memory after he dies.
Referred to as "Number 3" by the Evil Master.
Besides her use of the invisibility suit, Ching is also the most skilled fighter of the trio and utilizes a chain whip as her primary weapon.
She is played by Michelle Yeoh.
Chat the Thief Catcher[edit]
An irresponsible and greedy bounty hunter, Chat is initially hired by the Police Chief to rescue his own kidnapped son, stealing a baby from the hospital as bait for the kidnapper.
However, in the ensuing struggle with Wonder Woman, the baby is accidentally killed which causes her to reevaluate her life.
She grew up and underwent similar training with Ching as a child, though she escaped after three years (taking another ten in order to regain her humanity), being designated originally as "Number 7".
Chat is referred to as "Mercenary" (shortened to "Mercy") in the English Dub of the film.
Unlike Tung and Ching, Chat mainly uses modern weapons like firearms and explosives to fight (although she also has a boomerang-like sword) and is an expert motorcyclist as well.
She is played by Maggie Cheung.
Villains[edit]
The Evil Master[edit]
The main antagonist of the film, he compels Ching to steal newborn babies as part of his supernatural scheme to provide China with a new emperor.
Ching has worked for him for years and Chat likes to refer to him as "Damned Old Monster!" as she strongly dislikes him.
Played by Shi-Kwan Yen.
Production[edit]
On its release, the film was promoted as a "ground-breaking novelty for Hong Kong cinema"[1] Producer Ching Siu-Tung used the film to try to make a name for himself outside of his work with Tsui Hark while Johnnie To developed it as pitch to become accepted as one of Hong Kong's leading action film directors.[1]
Reception[edit]
In contemporary reviews, Tony Rayns (Sight & Sound), stated that the film was visually similar to Kirk Wong's Health Warning, but "predictably takes none of that film's risks."[1] He noted that both Mui and Cheung approached "their iconic roles with gusto and deliver the odd camp frisson, while "Yeoh seems dispirited from start to finish."[1] Rayns complimented parts of the film, stating that it "offers a number of simple pleasures. Its design and mise en scene are expansive and occasionally exhilarating, and it has a good sense of intersperse scenes of would-be pathos between its action set-pieces."[1] Variety called the film a "flashy kung fu superheroine adventure full of solid production values but marred by some disturbingly gratuitous plot elements."[3] The review went on to note that the ambitious plot does "not always mesh with recurring comic-book tone. Full-blown climax has heroines battling their nemesis both above and below ground as the villain, as in "Terminator 2", continues to struggle even when reduced to skeletal remains."[3]
From retrospective reviews, Donald C Willis described the film as "an amusing series of outrageous stunts" in his book Horror and Science Fiction Film IV.[4] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an aggregated score of 80% based on 10 critic reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10.[5]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rayns, Tony (1 March 1995). "Heroic Trio, The/Dongfang San Xia". Sight & Sound. Vol. 5, no. 3. British Film Institute. p. 56. ISSN 0037-4806.
- ^ "The Heroic Trio BBFC Rating". BBFC. 1 January 2004. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
- ^ a b Lombardi, Fred (2 January 1994). "The Heroic Trio". Variety. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
- ^ Willis 1997, p. 230.
- ^ "The Heroic Trio on Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
Further reading[edit]
- Willis, Donald C. (1997). Horror and Science Fiction Films IV. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-3055-8.
External links[edit]
- The Heroic Trio at IMDb
- The Heroic Trio at AllMovie
- The Heroic Trio at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Heroic Trio Archived 11 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine at Superheroes Lives
