The Heroic Trio / Executioners 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

The Heroic Trio / Executioners 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 15, 2024

Johnnie To's "The Heroic Trio" (1993) and "Heroic Trio 2: Executioners" (1993) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include new program with actor Anthony Wong; new program with critic Samm Deighan; and vintage trailers. In Cantonese and English, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

It is obvious why Johnnie To reunited with screenwriter Sandy Shaw for The Heroic Trio in 1993. Only a year earlier the two had collaborated on Justice, My Foot!, a period screwball comedy, which became a box office hit in Hong Kong and Taiwan and earned multiple award nominations at the Hong Kong Film Awards and Golden Horse Film Festival. Not only it must have seemed inevitable that To and Shaw would deliver yet another box office hit with The Heroic Trio, but a lot of important industry people were probably convinced that it would outperform Justice, My Foot! as well. How could they not be? The Heroic Trio gathered three of the biggest female stars in Hong Kong -- Anita Mui, Michelle Yeoh, and Maggie Cheung. But in 1994 The Heroic Trio did not become the massive, hugely successful blockbuster it was expected to be. It did well at the box office but won only one statuette for Best Original Film Song at the Hong Kong Film Awards. (The Best Film award went to Corey Yuen’s The Legend).

More than three decades later, it is perhaps just as obvious why The Heroic Trio turned out as it did. It is not a great film. In fact, considering its star power, which is enhanced by the likes of Anthony Wong and Damien Lau, it is an enormously underwhelming film. Star power can be a terrific magnet, but there must be more that comes with it to transform a film into a great film. The Heroic Trio does not have the “more”. At best, it offers variations of the fireworks that the likes of Tsui Hark and Wong Jing had been doing for years -- much, much better, too.

The Heroic Trio is set in that classic most fluid place every Hong Kong director who has made a period action film knows well. In this place, the real and the surreal coexist in harmony, gravity is a myth, and good and evil are constantly dominating each other. In the latest battle between good and evil, three brave female characters -- Tung aka The Wonder Woman (Mui), Ching aka The Invisible Woman (Yeoh), and Chat aka The Thief Catcher (Cheung) -- unite and confront The Evil Master (Yen Shi-Kwan), who has been stealing babies as part of a most sinister plan. Despite possessing unique superpowers, however, the female characters are presented with numerous challenges that gradually decrease their chances of defeating The Evil Master and saving the babies.

Even though The Heroic Trio produces some memorable visuals, the story it tells is essentially a collage of clichéd situations where paper-thin characters spend most of their time uttering moralistic statements and engaging in fights that highlight what makes them superior. Unsurprisingly, all contrasts and the drama they are a part of are every bit as artificial as the ones that are present in the big superhero films Hollywood has been mass-producing during the last couple of decades.

As is usually the case with these types of genre films, a wide range of special effects bombard the audience as often as possible. Some are very good, even by contemporary standards, but it is not long before their efficacy diminishes greatly. It is then that it becomes crystal-clear how clichéd The Heroic Trio is.

Heroic Trio 2: Executioners reunites the three female characters in a much darker place. After a devastating nuclear war, in a crumbled, in some areas still radioactive metropolis, the survivors have organized each other into rival factions and started competing for access to non-contaminated, drinkable water. An ambitious businessman, Mr. Kim (Anthony Wong), who controls the biggest source of non-contaminated, drinkable water, teams up with The Colonel (Paul Chun Pui) to oust The President (Shan Kwan) via a manufactured conflict that involves the religious leader Chong Hon (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Commissioner Lau (Damen Lau). After the first shots are fired, The Wonder Woman, who has willingly demoted herself to an ordinary wife and mother, comes out of retirement and once again teams up with The Invisible Woman and The Thief Catcher to help good triumph over evil.

Everything that did not work in The Heroic Trio looks even more problematic in Heroic Trio 2: Executioners. The quality of the writing is especially bad and as a result various sections with supposedly crucial developments do not even look coherent.

To worked with cinematographers Tom Lau Moon-Tong and Poon Hang-Sang. Their credits include such popular genre films as Peking Opera Blues, A Chinese Ghost Story, Shanghai Grand, and The Iceman Cometh.

The Heroic Trio / Executioners 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Criterion's release of The Heroic Trio/Heroic Trio 2: Executioners is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray is Region-Free. However, the two Blu-ray discs are Region-A "locked".

The release introduces new 4K makeovers of both films. In native 4K, these 4K makeovers cannot be viewed with Dolby Vision or HDR grades.

The following text appears inside the leaflet that is provided with this release:

"These digital restorations were created from the 35mm original camera negatives and scanned in 4K resolution. The original monaural theatrical mix for The Heroic Trio was provided by Media Asia, while the one for Executioners and the English dubbed tracks were provided by collectors dedicated to the proper preservation of Hong Kong cinema. The 5.1 surround soundtrack was remastered by Media Asia.

Mastering supervisor: L'Immagine Ritrovata Asia.
Colorist: One Cool Production, Hong Kong."

Please note that some of the screencaptures that appear with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc

Screencaptures #1-21 are from the two Blu-rays.
Screencaptures #25-37 are from the 4K Blu-ray.

I viewed both films in native 4K and spent plenty of time comparing the native 4K presentations to the 1080p presentations because the former cannot be viewed with Dolby Vision or HDR grades. To be honest, I do not think that there is much of a difference between the two presentations. However, I find both equally unconvincing. Why? It is obvious that both films have been regraded because now they look like recent streaming content, not 1990s productions. Some of the most dramatic alterations affect the color blue and blue nuances, which are almost completely replaced by different ranges of turquoise and teal. Plenty of warm/creamy yellow is introduced as well. Greens and green nuances are affected too, but select few could appear somewhat decent. Additionally, the native dynamic range of the visuals is destabilized. In the most problematic areas, some visuals now look filtered and produce that very typical digital gray flatness that is associated with a destabilized dynamic range from improper grading. Unsurprisingly, delineation, depth, and clarity, can fluctuate quite a bit, but not because of unique lensing choices. Image stability is outstanding. I did not see any surface imperfections either. All in all, the new 4K makeovers of The Heroic Trio and Heroic Trio 2: Executioners replace the native appearances and make them look quite artificial now.

The Heroic Trio / Executioners 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Each film can be viewed with the following tracks: Cantonese: LPCM 1.0, Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, and English Dolby Digital 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the both films.

I spent time with each track, but at the end chose the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Why? The English track is quite anemic and completely misses all the great energy that is channeled through the two films. The Cantonese Mono track is very nice. However, during the action footage, it does not produce the type of dynamic contrasts the Cantonese 5.1 track does. In both films, on the 5.1 track separation is pretty effective as well. The English translation is excellent.

The Heroic Trio / Executioners 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

BLU-RAY DISC ONE - THE HEROIC TRIO

• Trailer - presented here is a vintage trailer for The Heroic Trio. Music only. In (3 min).

• Superhero Sisterhood - in this new program, critic Samm Deighan discusses The Heroic Trio and Heroic Trio 2: Executioners. The program was produced for Criterion in 2023. In English, not subtitled. (18 min).

BLU-RAY DISC TWO - HEROIC TRIO 2: EXECUTIONERS

• No Ordinary Actor - in this new program, Anthony Wong discusses his career in Hong Kong and contribution to The Heroic Trio and Heroic Trio 2: Executioners. The program was produced for Criterion in 2023. In English, not subtitled. (8 min).

• Trailer - presented here is a vintage trailer for Heroic Trio 2: Executioners. Music only. In (3 min).

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring Beatrie Loayza's essay "To the Power of Three" as well as technical credits.

The Heroic Trio / Executioners 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hollywood has never had a monopoly on the bad superhero films. For example, during the 1970s the Turks intentionally produced numerous very bad superhero films, some of which acquired cult status because they were simply in a category of their own. Johnnie To's The Heroic Trio and Heroic Trio 2:Executioners were not conceived to be bad superhero films, but for various reasons are. I am sorry, but it is the truth. The second one, in particular, is so poorly scripted that very large parts of it are borderline incomprehensible. It is unfortunate because from time to time both films produce some pretty good-looking visuals. This upcoming three-disc set introduces new 4K makeovers of these films that are not convincing. If you want it in your collection, find a way to test it first.