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SUMMARY

In the near future, Hong Kong has pretty much gone to hell.  Crime runs rampant, and the police seem unable to stop it.  To top it all off, an invisible foe has been stealing babies from local hospitals.

Fortunately, there is Wonder Woman, the mysterious hero of the city.  With her impressive martial arts abilities, and powers of deduction, she may succeed where the police have failed.

During her investigation, Wonder Woman encounters Chat, a "Thief Catcher", who is trying to recover the missing children.   The two of them learn that the thief is called The Invisible Woman.  They discover that she is being forced to kidnap the children for an evil creature called the Emperor of the Dark.  His goal is to find a worth successor for his underground empire.  The remaining children will be turned into an army of inhuman fighting machines.

Now, if the city is to survive, then the three of them must band together and stop the evil monster that lives under the city.

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: Technically, the transfer is very well done.  There are no pixels, color bleeds, or wrinkles to be found.  Unfortunately, there has been 0 clean up of the source material.  There are nicks and scratches all over the place.  There is also a high degree of film grain, betraying the low budget of the film.

AUDIO: There are two mono audio tracks, Cantonese and Mandarin.  The Cantonese is pretty loud, but there is little to no directionality.  The Mandarin track is horrible.  It's muffled and has 0 directionality.

EDITS: No edits that we noticed.

EXTRAS: Some actor and director bios, the original trailer, and the trailer for the sequel "Executioners".  You also get trailers for Cannonball Run 1 and 2, featuring Jackie Chan.  Oh, and don't forget the English subtitles.

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

STORY: Truly a comic book movie.  Sandy Shaw's script has it all.  Ass kicking babes, super powered villains, and a clueless police detective.  There is also drama, comedy, and plenty of fighting.

ACTING: Well, it's kind of hard to judge at times, due to the audio being re-recorded.  However, Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Chung, and the late Anita Mui play their parts well, and draw you in.  

Michelle Yeoh's Invisible Woman doesn't say a lot, preferring to use her face and body to express her feelings.  You can definitely tell what she is feeling by her body language.

Maggie Chung is the perfect bad ass with a heart of gold.  She plays Chat the Thief Catcher as a woman torn between doing the right thing, and making a quick buck.

Anita Mui is very sexy as the awesome Wonder Woman.  When innocents are harmed in the course of her battle, Anita starts the water works. Just with her tears she shows that Wonder Woman not just a superhero, but a woman with feelings.

FAN SERVICE: Well, you have three of the hottest actresses ever to come out of Hong Kong in tight outfits, and nighties.  No nudity, but you will be so into the action, you won't care.

CONCLUSION

Before the "Charlie's Angels" movies, there was "The Heroic Trio".  Truly a living comic book, featuring three of the hottest women ever to grace the screens of Hong Kong.

This is a B-movie, make no bones about it.  The script is threadbare, the production values are cheap, and the special effects are down right bad.

So, why would anyone want to watch this film? Well, there are three reasons; Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Chung, and Anita Mui. These three women are prime examples of what super star power looks like. They are beautiful, smart, and very physical. They can also act, which can be the key factor that elevates a film from "crap" to "cult classic".

Visually, I like the style of the movie.  It's sort of a retro-future, advanced technology mixed with 1940's fashion and vehicles.  Like "Max Headroom" and "Cat's Eye", the city is a character all it's own.

The fight sequences are very cool, as are the Trio's weapons.  If you love biker chicks with guns, then Chat will fit the bill.  She is a total bad ass, who carries an big ass gun.  Wonder Woman has these cool "throwing V's" and a whip that turns into a sword.  Despite the name, Invisible Woman is only transparent when she is stealing babies.  She has the "steel bones" that can be used as a whip or as a long ass numchuck.  No one, not petty criminals, nor the minions of the Emperor can kick these women's asses.

For those of you who have never heard the talented Anita Mui, you will get your chance with the opening theme of the movie.  It's pounding beat combined with her powerful vocals makes this one of the best theme songs out there.

I wish that they had made more than one movie, or at least a comic book series.  I am sure that there are many more adventures that occur between this movie and the sequel "Executioners".  If anyone wants to make a "Heroic Trio" comic book, look me up!

I will warn you that there are some intense scenes involving children.  One has a baby being injured during a fight.  They also have to kill some kids because they are being transformed into inhuman fighters.  Since we almost never see harm against young children and babies, these scenes may make you feel a little uneasy.

"The Heroic Trio" is nothing but fun with three hot women.  Forget that this is a low budget film and just enjoy the ride.  I guarantee that you will become a fan of Hong Kong cinema after watching this movie!

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