Classic fantasy action flick combining the talents of Johnnie To and Ching Siu-Tung, and giving three of the best leading ladies in the biz (Yeoh, Cheung, and Mui) the spotlight to serve up dizzying crime fighting action.

A Dark Master, who appears to dwell in some kind of mystical realm accessed via the city sewers (!), is kidnapping babies with the hope that one will become the new emperor he can control and thus take over China with. The police are unable to stop him and turn to the city’s superhero Wonder Woman (Mui – quiet wife of the chief of police by day, masked crime fighter by night) who along with Thief Catcher (Cheung – rowdy motorcycle riding gun-for-hire), team up to battle the evil baby snatching demon master and his mute, flying-guillotine brandishing right-hand man (Wong). Along the way, they also fight and then team up with Invisible Girl (Yeoh – former lackey to the Dark Master, now out to stop him), the three forming The Heroic Trio and being the city’s only chance at escaping the evil baby-snatching Dark Master’s grip.

Hitting the ground running and rarely letting up, ‘The Heroic Trio’ is a dazzling display of creativity, kineticism, style, and what-the-fuck moments that could only have come from the 1990s Hong Kong movie factory. Style may be in more abundance than substance but when the visuals, momentum, and action are this good it doesn’t really matter: and one should just go along for the ride. Swooping cameras, wind machines, wirework, and tons of dry ice are all thrown into the mix to create a heightened comic book world where To’s creativity and Siu-Tung’s action choreography let rip. All practically rendered, the makers go full-tilt creative crazy as trains ram through buildings, motorcycles spin through the air, flying guillotines sever heads, and in perhaps the film’s most memorable segment Maggie Cheung jet propels herself into the air with a dynamite blasted oil drum to thwart some bad guys!

It’s a rollicking good time with Mui and Yeoh unfortunately given the straighter roles as everyone else goes off the chain or hams it up. Cheung is great as the biker rebel girl, her infectious charm carrying the film through its cloying sentimental segments: and looks great mowing down bad guys with a massive machine gun! Wong is also cool as the mute henchman, severing heads with glee and Ching Siu-Tung packs the film with outlandish wire-infused set-pieces and fight scenes, soaking the action with a dynamic edge.

The tone does get a little darker towards the end, there’s some sort of subplot with a scientist trying to create an invisible cloak (!), and some may find all the babies being put in harm’s way a little off-putting but as a slice of imaginative Hong Kong fantasy action from the glory days, ‘The Heroic Trio’ is hard to beat. Don’t think about it too much, just go along for the ride and bask in the beauty and talent of the incredible action scenes and the trio of leading ladies.