1207 The Heroic Trio / Executioners

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swo17
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1207 The Heroic Trio / Executioners

#1 Post by swo17 » Wed Nov 15, 2023 1:15 pm

The Heroic Trio / Executioners

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The star power of cinema icons Maggie Cheung, Anita Mui, and Michelle Yeoh fuels these gloriously unrestrained action joyrides from auteur Johnnie To and action choreographer Ching Siu-tung. The Heroic Trio and its sequel, Executioners, follow a new kind of justice league: a team of blade-throwing, shotgun-toting, kung fu–fighting heroines who join forces to battle evildoers in a dystopian, noirish city. Blending dazzling martial-arts mayhem with exhilarating blasts of comic-book lunacy, these beloved superhero movies reimagine the genre through the giddy genius of the Hong Kong film industry at its height.

The Heroic Trio

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With this outrageously entertaining cult favorite, director Johnnie To and his lineup of legendary stars gave Hong Kong cinema something new: its own homegrown superhero cinematic universe. Thief Catcher (Maggie Cheung), Wonder Woman (Anita Mui), and Invisible Girl (Michelle Yeoh) are kick-ass crusaders who must overcome their dark pasts in order to defeat an evil, baby-snatching eunuch terrorizing the city. Eye-popping motorcycle stunts, bloodthirsty undead, cannibal infants, and kinetically choreographed wirework are all part of the wall-to-wall delirium in this irresistible showcase for three of the coolest women warriors ever to hit the screen.

Executioners

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Maggie Cheung, Anita Mui, and Michelle Yeoh return in this gritty, postapocalyptic sequel to The Heroic Trio. Following a devastating nuclear attack, Hong Kong's supply of clean water has fallen into the hands of a masked maniac (Anthony Wong) intent on seizing political power—forcing the three fearless fighters to settle their differences and unite to stop him. Darker in tone than the original, Executioners finds Johnnie To and codirector/martial-arts choreographer Ching Siu-tung continuing to push their whirlwind action set pieces to new levels of cartoon craziness, while adding an abundance of grungy, dystopian atmosphere and a fresh dose of antiauthoritarian attitude.

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• 4K digital restorations of The Heroic Trio and Executioners, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
• In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of the films and two Blu-rays with the films and special features
• Alternate 5.1 surround Cantonese and English-dubbed soundtracks
• New interview with actor Anthony Wong
• New interview with film critic Samm Deighan (cohost of the podcast Twitch of the Death Nerve)
• Trailers
• New English subtitle translations
• PLUS: An essay by critic Beatrice Loayza

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ryannichols7
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Re: 1207 The Heroic Trio / Executioners

#2 Post by ryannichols7 » Wed Nov 15, 2023 1:22 pm

another instance where I feel they waited a bit long (if they'd put this out February last year, they would've easily capitalized on one of the main stars here), but I don't think it was expected this would be a UHD

also note this is Samm Deighan's Criterion debut

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Finch
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Re: 1207 The Heroic Trio / Executioners

#3 Post by Finch » Wed Nov 15, 2023 1:27 pm

I haven't seen those but the consensus seems to be that these are mid-tier Johnnie To, especially the first film, but the 4k announcement leaves me hoping that The Mission might get one too. I'm specifically mentioning The Mission as it has been restored very recently whereas Exiled, for example, hasn't been, no?

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Mr Sausage
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1207 The Heroic Trio / Executioners

#4 Post by Mr Sausage » Wed Nov 15, 2023 1:39 pm

These are more Ching Siu-Tung films than Johnnie To films. Here are my thoughts from elsewhere on the forum:

Mr Sausage wrote:Heroic Trio (Johnnie To, 1993)

A bizarre superhero film. A powerful eunuch is stealing babies so he can crown one of them Emperor of China, and it’s up to Anita Mui, Michelle Yeoh, and Maggie Cheung to stop him. You’d think with those three actresses, Johnnie To behind the camera, and Ching Siu-Tung as action director, this would be an action masterpiece and not a stilted, goofy mess. At least Maggie Cheung’s having a good time; she struts around in punky leathers, garters, and tousled curls, all sarcasm and cheek. It’s a fun performance. Anthony Wong’s here, too, being weird, eating his own lopped off appendages, grunting endlessly. As for the action, there was crazy stuff like the spinning motorcycle, and the finale was impressive (aside from the wanton child deaths anyway), but mainly the fights were brief and shot in confusing darkness or with running crowds obscuring the frenetic choreography. The parade of loony ideas and hard right turns was consistent enough to keep my attention, but the movie was flat overall, only ascending to the gonzo heights it promised right at the end. This movie is all about the last ten minutes. Aside from that, after all the great Hong Kong action I’ve been watching, this was a let down.


Heroic Trio 2: Executioners (Johnnie To & Ching Siu-Tung, 1993)


Opens with a hard right turn: a nuclear explosion before the start of the movie has turned the world into a post apocalyptic wasteland populated by mutants. The few remaining cities are gripped by a water crisis. Meanwhile, a mutant who acquired genius from the radiation (and dresses like the Phantom of the Opera) has set himself up as a god of the wasteland, controlling all the water with his unique purification system. There’re some surprisingly complex politics going on, with the police, the governing elite, the protest groups, the terrorists, and the profiteers all forming the parts of a vast moving system the Trio have to navigate, with the Trio’s motives divided between duty, money, and motherhood. With images of police violence, riots, conspiratorial thinking, and social discontent, and a subplot about a coup against a democratic government by internal fascist elements, the film feels contemporary. It’s also stylish, with its racing camera, creative angles, and slow motion inserts; but, as with the first, the action can feel sluggish, the pace and rhythm of the fights interrupted by an overuse of slow motion. This is easily a much better movie than the first, really committing to the logic of its setting and the stakes of its narrative.

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ryannichols7
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Re: 1207 The Heroic Trio / Executioners

#5 Post by ryannichols7 » Wed Nov 15, 2023 2:36 pm

also, Frank Djeng is pretty absent here

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yoloswegmaster
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Re: 1207 The Heroic Trio / Executioners

#6 Post by yoloswegmaster » Thu Nov 16, 2023 12:16 am

Notes from Irongod:
The French release of the first film is actually cut by 30 seconds and doesn't have the original Cantonese mono track. This upcoming release has the original mono and the 30 seconds were added back. In addition, it was also given a new color grade.

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Finch
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Re: 1207 The Heroic Trio / Executioners

#7 Post by Finch » Thu Nov 16, 2023 12:21 am

Also, nice to see they got Anthony Wong for an interview.

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dwk
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Re: 1207 The Heroic Trio / Executioners

#8 Post by dwk » Thu Nov 16, 2023 1:27 am

ryannichols7 wrote:
Wed Nov 15, 2023 2:36 pm
also, Frank Djeng is pretty absent here
A couple weeks ago he posted a screenshot from Executioners on his Instagram page. So I assume he did the subtitles for these.

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Re: 1207 The Heroic Trio / Executioners

#9 Post by pistolwink » Sun Nov 19, 2023 6:04 pm

A lot of the imagery in these films is really wild and makes for good memes and animated gifs, so these films have had a robust afterlife on social media. The entire films don't always live up to those viral moments, but IMO they are a lot of fun. They are worlds away from the tone of the more celebrated later Johnnie To films. In fact, as folks above suggest, it feels like they are only incidentally "Johnnie To films" and have more obvious connections with the work of other of the film's makers.

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Elizabeth Corday
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Re: 1207 The Heroic Trio / Executioners

#10 Post by Elizabeth Corday » Thu Jan 18, 2024 3:50 am

Absolutely ADORE these. They're underrated imo
Like I genuinely wish someone would ask Michelle about her experience working with Anita and Maggie

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: 1207 The Heroic Trio / Executioners

#11 Post by Michael Kerpan » Thu Jan 18, 2024 1:49 pm

When is this due to be released?

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Jean-Luc Garbo
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Re: 1207 The Heroic Trio / Executioners

#12 Post by Jean-Luc Garbo » Thu Jan 18, 2024 2:11 pm

February 20th

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Matt
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1207 The Heroic Trio / Executioners

#13 Post by Matt » Thu Feb 22, 2024 9:01 pm

A couple of screen capture comparisons between the Criterion and Carlotta (no English subs) 4Ks

I think most would prefer the saturated colors of the Carlotta, but the Criterion looks more detailed and more like actual film to me.

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tenia
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Re: 1207 The Heroic Trio / Executioners

#14 Post by tenia » Fri Feb 23, 2024 4:08 am

The restorations in themselves are DNRed anyway.

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