The Heroic Trio (1993)

My first look at a picture by Hong Kong director/producer Johnnie To came courtesy of my local art house, cheerily cashing in on the renewed interest in Michelle Yeoh brought on by the big sweep by Everything Everywhere All at Once at the Oscars this year. Yeoh is indeed part of this heroic trio, along with the equally iconic Maggie Cheung, plus Anita Mui. They are ridiculously young. Cheung was close to 30 when this was made but she looks closer to 17. She rides a motorcycle and totes a shotgun. Tung (Mui) is known as Wonder Woman. She wears a mask and not even her own police investigator husband recognizes her. Well, that’s par for the course isn’t it when superheroes are involved, but really this movie came out well before the commercial juggernaut of superhero movies. I also noted a special effect around gunshot fire that looked to me like a reasonable approximation of “bullet time,” more often associated with The Matrix from 1999. It appears someone is kidnapping babies—18 of them and counting in a matter of weeks as the picture starts. No one’s asking for ransom and no one knows what it’s about, but police need to get it under control pronto. The first of several don’t-miss-it sequences in The Heroic Trio, arriving early, feature the rescue of many endangered infants, who are dropping from buildings, even in their swaddling, and of course helpless as babies as they plummet. The plummeting is generally leisurely, the rescue maneuvers impressively thought through. It’s all a good-hearted romp, built around sensational stunts, special effects, sight gags, and other random switch-ups. Some of them miss but there’s always another on the way. The narrative, coming at us so pell-mell, is confusing—though things like rescuing the babies is entertaining enough and they just keep coming. The humor is broad and transitions abrupt. I sometimes felt like I was at a drive-in show or a midnight madness picture. It never entirely makes sense (how could it?!) but it has a rousing, Terminator-like finish that’s thrilling to watch and hilarious too. The Evil Dead movies felt like still another touchpoint here. The Heroic Trio bristles with energy and resourcefulness and who cares if it’s trashy. Play loud.