Dung fong saam hap (1993)

Director:

Johnnie To

Writers:

Sandy Shaw (written by)
Jack Maeby (English version)

Release Date:

12 February 1993 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Fantasy

Plot:

The all-female Heroic Trio are Tung (Wonder Woman), Chat (Thief Catcher), a mercenary, and Ching (Invisible Woman)...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Blood | Bullet Catching | Levitation | Severed Head

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Michelle Yeoh	...	Ching / Invisible Woman / Number 3 (as Michelle Khan)
Anita Mui	...	Tung / Wonder Woman / Shadow Fox
Maggie Cheung	...	Chat / Thief Catcher / Mercy
Damian Lau	...	Insp. Lau
Anthony Wong Chau-Sang	...	Kau (as Anthony Wong)
Paul Chun	...	Chief of Police (as Pei Chun)
James Pak	...	Inventor
Shi-Kwan Yen	...	Evil Master (as Yee Kwan Yan)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Zhuoxin Chen
Haowen Jiang
Siu-Kei Lee	...	Leader of robbers at chemical factory (as Zhaoji Li)
Zhaoxiang Ruan
Yut Fei Wong	...	Car thief (as Yifei Huang)
Tao Xu
Ruisheng Zheng
Mimi Zhu

Also Known As:

Dong fang san xia (China: Mandarin title) (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Eastern Three Heroes (International: English title) (literal title)
The Heroic Trio (Hong Kong: English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence.

Runtime:

88 min | USA:86 min (edited version)

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Germany:18 | Hong Kong:IIB | UK:18 | USA:R

Company:

China Entertainment Films Production

Quotes:

Insp. Lau: You can run along now Chat, we don't need your services here.
Chat: Services? Commander, you make me sound like a hooker. But don't worry, I'm not offended. And this one's a freebie.

Movie Connections:

References Xue di zi (1975)

It's not the substance, it's the STYLE!!

This film is superhero comics fare, nothing more. In said genre, character depth and acting weighs lightly.(As long as the principals are beautiful) With that in mind I have to say that HEROIC TRIO ROCKS! The first thing that stands out in the movie is the overall look of it. The production value is excellent and the atmospheric cinematography is done as deftly as any Tony Scott film. The action choreography with heavy usage of Hong Kong style wire effects is the finest I've ever seen and the fights(especially the one in hell against a demon who kidnaps children and turns them into cannibals-remember it's a live action comic book!)are frenetic kung fu masterpieces. I realize that this type of film may not appeal to all(I enjoy subtlety as much as the next guy)but I would ask you to give this one a chance because it really is much more interesting than the average Hollywood action pic.