Movie Review: Heroic Trio 2: Executioners

Heroic Trio 2: Executioners (Jin doi hou hap cyun) 

China Entertainment Films Production, Paka Hill Productions, Hong Kong, 1993. 

After the events of the "Heroic Trio" the city has been destroyed by nuclear attack. Still most of the city seems to be intact. Anarchy reigns and the Heroic Trio- group has dispersed. Ching (Michelle Yeoh) drives a truck and delivers medicine. Clear Water Corporation has monopoly on water. Chat (Maggie Cheung) is now water bandit stealing water mostly for herself. Tung (Anita Mui) has a daughter Cindy (Sze Ning). Tung's husband Inspector Lau (Damian Lau) tries to keep law and order but the people are rioting because water quality is low and price is rising all the time. 

Chat

Tung

Ching

Expeditioners tried to find clean water but the searchers were killed by radiation. White Solar Society's religious leader Chong Hon (Takeshi Kaneshiro) asks government for answers, but someone arranges a massacre in demonstration. Quite many Honk Kong movies of the 1990s had references to 1989 student riots in Tiananmen Square. Anti-government sentiment is rising and Colonel (Paul Chun Pui) wants Lau to assassinate Chong Hon. 

Chong Hon

Colonel

President's deputy (Eddy Ko Hung) sends Ching to find clear water. Ching tries to resurrect Heroic Trio but Tung has promised her husband to leave the Wonder Woman days behind. Also Chat wants to follow her own path and earn money. To make a point Ching destroys what I believe to be her invisibility cloak. Or might as well be Shroud of Turin. Somehow the cloth was important symbol for the Heroic Trio. Anyway Invisible Woman is no longer invisible. 

Chong Hon is the puppet of scarred Clear Water Corporation boss Mr. Kim (Anthony Wong). Kim wants to control the government. Ching and her friend Kau (Anthony Wong) prevent the assassination attempt. Both of them seem to be followers of White Solar Society. Ching is also an government secret agent. So Kau survived after all, reformed and became Ching's servant. Heck, whereas the first film had flashback scenes this movie sure does not bother explaining things!

Kau

Tak

President's deputy suspects some kind of conspiracy and puts Tak (Ching Wan Lau) to study it. Mr. Kim conspires with military. Lau is murdered and Tong is captured so Ching and Chat must stop the military coup alone. Chat, Tak and Cindy go to find pure water but Clear Water Corporation tries to eliminate all who find it. At one point Ching fights against a guy (Vincent Lau Tak) who can punch through things and people. Maybe he has learned some punches from "Riki-Oh." 

Michelle Yeoh

Killer (Vincent Lau Tak)

Finally the members of Heroic Trio combine thir forces. The final battle between good and evil occurs in the abandoned church. Also Mr. Kim knows "Riki-Oh" techniques. The ending reduces the Heroic Trio to Heroic Duo. 

Wonder Woman returns

Chat, Tung and Ching

The sequel to "Heroic Trio" abandons the superhero elements until the final moments and is more a post-apocalyptic political thriller. The first movie had dark moments too, but this is set in dystopian future without many comic reliefs. The darker story has many of the characters from the first movie killed. Sacrifices have to be done for greater good. The story is quite complicated and the three women all have their own adventures with less teamwork. Ching tries to protect the President (Guan Shan), Chat searches for pure water and Tung sits mostly in jail planning for revenge. 

Compared to the comic book style of the first film the second movie does not fully integrate to the same fantasy universe and would have worked better as a stand-alone film. Also when the Heroic Trio returns to full force in the end, the otherwise good fantasy-wuxia action mismatches the otherwise semi-realistic style. In the first film the Trio battled against ancient monarchistic demon, now against greedy corporation. Although the film disappoints as a sequel, it offers entertaining political thriller with some good gun fu and wuxia action. 

Bubble bath scene!

Anthony Wong appears heavily masked like psychotic "Phantom of the Opera" and if American remake is ever considered Mickey Rourke would be good candidate for the role of Mr. Kim. This movie was Takeshi Kaneshiro's first movie debut.

Mr. Kim

This review is based on the uncut German DVD-print "Johnnie To Double Feature Heroic Trio Teil 1&2"  published by HDMV that contains also "Heroic Trio." Although the two movies are on one disc this edition is highly recommended as the picture quality is good and the films contain English, Cantonese and German audio tracks and English subtitles. However the subtitles of "Heroic Trio 2" contain many translation errors.

Rating: Good 

Starring: Anita Mui, Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, Damian Lau, Anthony Wong, Kaneshiro Takeshi, Lau Ching-Wan, Paul Chun Pui, Guan Shan, Eddy Ko Hung, Sze Ning, Lam Kin-Fai, Vincent Lau Tak, Cher Yeung Suet-Yee, Dion Lam Dik-On, Yu Ngai-Ho, Leung Kei-Hei, Cheng Ka-Sang, Wan Seung-Lam, Kong Foo-Keung, Wong Wai-Fai, Ho Chi-Moon, Law Wai-Kai, Chang Seng-Kwong, Sam Hoh Choi-Chow, Kong Miu-Deng 

Directors: Siu-Tung Ching (as Ching Siu Tung), Johnnie To