The Heroic Trio (Full Uncut Version) on PAL Laserdisc

• Cert: 18
• Running time: 84 minutes
• Year: 1993
• Pressing: 1996
• Sides: 2 (CLV/CAV)
• Chapters: 28 (17/11)
• Cat.no: HK 013L
• Sound: Mono
• Widescreen : 1.85:1
• Cantonese language with English subtitles
• Price: £29.99
• Extras : None

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Directors:

Johnny To (The Heroic Trio II, The Barefoot Kid)
Ching Siu Tung (The Heroic Trio II, A Chinese Ghost Story)

Cast:

Wonder Woman : Anita Mui (Heroic Trio II, Moon Warriors, Saviour of the Soul)
Thief Catcher : Maggie Cheung (Irma Vep, Heroic Trio II, Moon Warriors, Barefoot Kid)
Invisible Girl : Michelle Yeoh (Heroic Trio II, Wing Chun)

The Heroic Trio unites three of Hong Kong’s top battling babes in an orgy of bloodlust and violence as they aim to rid the city of the Invisible Master who has stolen eighteen babies in the past three months, and doesn’t plan to stop there, as he needs to find a son to succeed the king.

The film sports so many incredible action set pieces, it’s a good job there’s enough chapters on the disc to keep up with them. One of the first sees Thief Catcher taking over a terrorist-hostage situation, sitting on a barrel, putting what looks like a stick of dynamite inside which upon detonation lifts her up into the air and through a window into the hideout, whereupon she calmly executes each of the bad guys with a shotgun. Later on, she and Wonder Woman do battle with the Master’s right-hand man, Kau in the train station where one has run off the tracks and they’ve got to get everyone out before it goes one stop too far. However, it still leaves them plenty of time for a flying sideways somersault across the station which has to be seen to be believed, and is still quite hard to take in…
…and that’s all before we get to the action on side two which is presented in CAV for slow-motion and still-frame analysis of the continuing carnage. Don’t despair though about not seeing the side one action scenes in CAV, as most of these are reshown through the end credits, so you can slo-mo them then.

Picture quality is very good, and the soundmix is mono. The chapters are plentiful although the back cover states 19 on side one, and 10 on side 12. There are actually 28 though (split 17/11), although the chapter titles do apply to the sides they are listed on. Effectively, chapter 17 comprises of the three named titles at the end of side one (Poisoned/Train Station Carnage/ To The Rescue), and side two seems to blend Deep Fried/Challenge to the Master into one chapter (24), moving the rest down a number.