Last updated on 20-Sep-02

Distributed by:

Tai Seng

Runtime: 88 minutes

Language: Cantonese, English

Subtitles: English

 

 

 

 

This was a fun movie. Anita Mui stars as Wonder Woman, Michelle Yeoh is Invisible Girl, and Maggie Cheung is the Thief Catcher. In the tradition of movies like Batman, X-Men, and Mystery Men, comes a movie that no comic book fan would want to miss. Bear in mind that the characters bear no resemblance to those found in Marvel and DC comics. So don't go in expecting to see guest appearances of Superman or Mr. Fantastic because the names given to these actresses were just coincidental.

The special effects were great, considering that the film was made in 1992. This film had great choreography, memorable fight scenes and a surprisingly decent plot. Being an old school comic book fan, I enjoyed comics when they were much more simpler, and fun to read. Comics today have become so confusing and unoriginal that I miss the good old days when comics were fun. Kirby's Fantastic Four and Avengers. Stan Lee's run in Spiderman. John Byrne's Fantastic Four and X-Men. Frank Miller's Daredevil and Batman. George Perez's run in Wonder Woman. And don't forget Walt Simonson's run in Thor. These were great comic book eras. Nowadays comic books have become so confusing that you need an encyclopedia to understand what is going on. It's not surprising why comic book fans are now turning towards "alternative" underground comics like Strangers in Paradise, Sin City, Sandman, Watchmen, and Preacher (which are all great books). But I digress.

It was interesting to see how these three came together to form this super team called the "Heroic Trio." Wonder Woman (Mui) is a well-established super heroine who protects her city much the same way Superman protects Metropolis. The Thief Catcher (Cheung) is a mercenary for hire similar to the Punisher, except that she doesn't kill her criminals and she actually gets paid. As for the Invisible Girl (Yeoh), I won't mention her role in this movie for fear that it will spoil the film.

I've seen many great martial art films in the past and this one ranks up there as one of the few greatest. I admit, I've seen better fight scenes from better movies but watching the three main characters displaying their super heroic skills was fun. There's no supernatural hurling of thunderbolts from their hands or flames coming out of their mouths like we've seen in Mortal Kombat. It's just good, clean, martial arts fighting with a few exaggerations that we normally expect from the modern kung fu films.

The same people who did "A Chinese Ghost Story" were behind this film. I haven't seen that movie yet but I heard great things about it. We also have stellar performances done by Mui, Yeoh, and Cheung who are three of Asia's top stars. American fans will remember Yeoh from her recent films "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Tomorrow Never Dies", and "Supercop" (Police Story III). If you like her there I recommend watching "Wing Chun" and "Tai Chi Master". Her martial art skills really shined in those films, much more than it did here. As for the other two, they are not as well established as Yeoh in the American public eye, but they're very huge in Asia. Anita Mui starred in Jackie Chan's "Rumble in the Bronx" and Jet Li's "The Enforcer" (My Father is a Hero). As for Maggie Cheung, she starred in Wayne Wang's "The Chinese Box", which she played alongside with Jeremy Irons and Gong Li.

Summary: More of a Super Hero film rather than a martial arts film. Fans of both genres will enjoy this film. It contains many captivating scenes that are just so cool to watch and it is actually a decent movie to take your kids to watch (if they don't mind reading the subtitles).

 

 

Overall Score: B-