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{{tropework}}
[[File:exe_largeCover_4028.jpg|frame]]
 
The ''[[Heroic Trio]]'' is a 1993 Hong Kong action film directed by Johnny To, featuring an [[All -Star Cast]] including [[Michelle Yeoh]], [[Maggie Cheung]] and the late Anita Mui as the titular trio.
 
This film is an example of Hong Kong [[Wuxia]], [[Wire Fu]], and [[Heroic Bloodshed]]. The three main characters form a [[Power Trio]] of [[Action Girl|Action Girls]]s. The [[Rule of Cool]] helps to excuse some of the more over-the-top action sequences. The fight scenes are all highly choreographed [[Unnecessary Combat Roll|whirling mayhem]] filmed with sweeping tracking shots and plenty of ringing and swishing sound effects.
 
'''Characters:'''
 
* '''Wonder Woman''' (no, not [[Wonder Woman|THAT]] one) or Tung - played by Anita Mui, is a mild-mannered domestic [[Housewife]] by day and a super ninja-skilled [[Action Girl]] with a [[Cool Mask]] by night. Her weapons of choice are a sword and [[Absurdly Sharp Blade|absurdly sharp]] throwing shurikens that can [[Implausible Fencing Powers|deflect and destroy bullets in mid-flight]].
* '''Thief Catcher''' or Mercy or Chat, depending on who did the subtitles - played by Maggie Cheung, is the [[Plucky Comic Relief]], a spunky wise-cracking [[Biker Babe|biker girl]] with a fondness for [[Shotguns Are Just Better|shotguns]] and [[Stuff Blowing Up|dynamite]]. [[So Bad Its Good|Delightful outfit]] includes [[Goggles Do Nothing|goggles]], leather [[Badass Longcoat]], and kneepads. Her main superpower seems to be always being [[Crazy Prepared]], as she never seems to run out of ammo or explosives. Practices [[Gun Fu]].
* '''Invisible Girl''' (not [[Fantastic Four|THAT]] one, either) or Ching or San - played by Michelle Yeoh, is a [[Byronic Hero|brooding assassin]] who steals an [[Invisibility Cloak]] from her [[Mad Scientist]] boyfriend. Slave to the Evil Master, she carries out the grim task of kidnapping male babies for her master. Her weapon of choice is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_whip chain whip], constructed of bullet-proof [[Variable Length Chain]].
* '''Evil Master''' - This guy's the [[Big Bad]]. Commands Invisible Girl to kidnap babies for his evil plan to find a successor. Turns babies into demon cannibal evil babies, when he's not killing them. Throws [[Poisoned Weapons|poison darts]]. See [[Weaksauce Weakness]] below.
* '''Kau''' - This guy's [[The Dragon]]. Fully grown version of one of Evil Master's demon babies. This guy's [[Made of Iron|tough]] and, it seems, [[Immune to Bullets]]. [[Obviously Evil|Eats songbirds.]] Decapitates victims with an [[Impossibly Cool Weapon]].
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=== Other examples of tropes in this film: ===
 
{{tropelist}}
* [[Absurdly Spacious Sewer]] - the Evil Master has quite a nice lair under the city streets.
* [[All Amazons Want Hercules]] - Averted with Invisible Girl and her somewhat nerdy boyfriend.
** Invoked with Wonder Woman's husband who is a [[Badass Normal]] cop that, in the first scene, jumps out of a window and intimidates a car-thief into putting handcuffs on himself.
* [[Anti -Hero]] - Thief Catcher
* [[Anti -Villain]] - Invisible Girl until about two thirds of the way through.
* [[Beauty Is Never Tarnished]] - All three main characters remain gorgeous for the most part, despite getting bloody and dirty.
** Lampshaded by Thief Catcher who, after escaping an explosion, turns and asks "Am I still pretty?". Wonder Woman brushes her off by saying "You look fine but I don't know what's wrong with you."
* [[Blood From the Mouth]] - When the Evil Master clutches Invisible Girl and Wonder Woman on the edge of the building, they cough a modest rivulet each.
* [[Blown Across the Room]] - Happens several times during the film.
* [[Body Horror]] - {{spoiler|The Evil Master's final form, and the fate of his victims.}}
* [[Brainwashed]] - Invisible Girl and all of the Evil Master's underlings. Invisible Girl got better at least.
* [[The Cape (trope)]] - Wonder Woman.
* [[Car Fu]] - well, Bike Fu, technically. Wonder Woman uses a flying, spinning motorcycle as a weapon against Kau.
* [[Catch a Falling Star]] - A number of babies are tossed around rather dramatically.
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* [[Creepy Child|Creepy Children]] - Raised on human flesh. Okay to kill, since they're also [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]]
* [[Deadly Nosebleed]] - Happens to the Invisible Girl's scientist boyfriend; clear indicator that this guy's research is slowly killing him.
* [[Do -It -Yourself Theme Tune]] - Anita Mui, a famous pop star at the time, does the theme and has a few songs on the soundtrack.
* [[Dramatic Unmask]] - Wonder Woman to Invisible Girl.
* [[Empathic Environment]] - Lightning and [[Dramatic Wind]] seems to follow characters feeling internal conflict.
* [[Enemy Civil War]]: A more personal example than most. While Invisible Girl was still employed by the Old Master, it seemed that she had a rivalry with Kau; to the point where when she enters the secret lair, he attacks her from behind. She ends up chopping off one of his fingers for it and continues on her way.
* [[EverythingsEverything's Better Withwith Spinning]] - Obviously the case with the flamboyant whirling Wuxia chop-socky, but also Thief Catcher can't seem to let off a single bullet without pirouetting. Also flying motorcycle.
* [[Extreme Omnivore]] - Kau not only eats humming birds but he also [[Squick|eats his own severed finger.]]
* [[Friend to All Living Things]] - both Wonder Woman and Invisible Girl have birds land in their hands in different scenes. Both Wonder Woman and Invisible Girl prove to be skilled equestrians. Wonder Woman saves a kitten (yes, a [[Tastes Like Diabetes|kitten]]).
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** When Invisible Woman learns that her boyfriend is sick, he types "Don't cry" in English on his computer.
* [[Gun Fu]] - Theif Catcher vs. [[Mooks]].
* [[Heartbroken Badass]] - Invisible Girl has this with a side of [[I Will Protect Her|I Will Protect Him]] and a glass of [[ItsIt's Not You, ItsIt's My Enemies]]. We get a little slice of [[Love Redeems]] as dessert.
* [[Heel Face Turn]] - Invisible Woman
* [[Heroic Spirit]] - They all perservere through some pretty heavy stuff in order to do the right thing.
* [[Hey, ItsIt's That Guy!|Hey, It's That Girl]] - Michelle Yeoh may be remembered by some as James Bond's [[Distaff Counterpart]] in ''[[Tomorrow Never Dies (Film)|Tomorrow Never Dies]]''. Or from [[Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon]].
** To say nothing of Anita Mui and Maggie Cheung co-starring with [[Jackie Chan]] a few times. Maggie was also in [[Hero (Filmfilm)|Hero]].
* [[Horseback Heroism]] - Two of the ladies ride horses in slo-mo with Thief Catcher on her motorcycle.
* [[Infant Immortality]] - Averted pretty damn hard, obviously.
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* [[Make Me Wanna Shout]] - The Evil Master screams and destroys Invisible Girl's chain weapon.
* [[Mood Whiplash]] - The movie can go from goofy, to heartwarming, to disturbing in the span of minutes.
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]] - Theif Catcher tries to lure the baby-knapper out in the open by using a baby as live bait. The baby ends up dying in a fight between the three ladies.
* [[No One Could Survive That]] - The Evil Master does this twice while surviving massive explosions.
** Kau also basically goes through this and stays gone {{spoiler|until the sequel.}}
* [[Off Withwith His Head]] - Kau has a very convenient and hilariously implausible portable guillotine that he chucks at people to attain this effect.
* [[Oh Crap]] - The Master has two of the women [[Neck Lift|by the throat]], only to realize a stick of dynamite had been shoved into his robes.
* [[Old Master]] - The Evil Master and the master who trained Wonder Woman and Invisible Girl.
* [[Only a Flesh Wound]] Each member of the Heroic Trio is pummeled to the point where they're squirting blood out of their mouths. They seem just fine by the end of the movie.
* [[Out of the Inferno]] - The Evil Master.
* [[Paper -Thin Disguise]] - Wonder Woman's mask only covers her forehead, nose, and cheeks. Even then, it's perfectly scultped to her face to the point where people should recognize her if they see her in her civilian identity and then see her as Wonder Woman.
** Granted, her husband eventually finds out... through completely different means.
* [[Power Trio]] - The most obvious time this trope is invoked is the brief fight between Theif Catcher and Invisible Girl right before Wonder Woman breaks it up and straightens them out.
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* [[Rocket Ride]] - Thief Catcher straddles a steel drum, tosses a lit stick of dynamite into the open end, and rides it into combat.
* [[Runaway Train]] - Kau makes this happen. Once said train ends up in Kau's path, he tries [[Trainstopping]]. It doesn't work as well as planned.
* [[Separated Atat Birth]] - Actually, separated in early childhood in the case of Wonder Woman and Invisible Woman.
* [[Shout -Out]] - The final battle with the [[Big Bad]] has a rather obvious homage to the first [[Terminator]] movie.
** [[The Dragon|The Dragon's]] weapon could also be a [[Shout -Out]] to the Hong Kong movie, [[Master of the Flying Guillotine]].
* [[Stuffed in A Fridge]] - The [[Spear Counterpart]]. The male love interests in this movie get put through the grinder.
* [[Take My Hand]] - At least three times between Wonder Woman and Invisible Girl
* [[Title Drop]] - The trio get their name in the last scene.
* [[Training Fromfrom Hell]] - All the girls gets this. Since Invisible Girl and Theif Catcher got this from the Evil Master, it's an almost literal example.
* [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]] - After Invisible Girl left Wonder Woman as a child, she found the Evil Master and was trained alongside Theif Cacther. This time, Theif Catcher was the one who eventually escaped. Invisible Girl wasn't as lucky.
* [[Use Your Head]] - Theif Catcher does this multiple times in a row against the Evil Master to no avail.
* [[Weaksauce Weakness]] - Evil Master - kick him, shoot him, burn him, blow him up. Nothing works. Except... Love. Yep. Love. [[Your Head Asplode|Makes his head explode.]]
* [[Would Hurt a Child]] - The Evil Master kills a baby rather randomly. We also get briefly treated to a serial killer who attempts to kill newborns (and fails, luckily enough).
* [[What Happened to Thethe Mouse?]] - So Wonder Woman and Invisible Girl were trained by an [[Old Master]] that wanted them to "fight for justice" and all we see are two flashbacks with no actual mention of even his name.
* [[What the Hell, Hero?]] - See: [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]. Both the cops and Wonder Woman give Theif Catcher this after the baby's death.
* [[Why Won't You Die?]] - Happens with both the Evil Master and Kau. Bad guys in this movie can survive quite a lot.
 
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=== ''Contains examples of:'' ===
 
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* [[Batman Gambit]] - Mr. Kim manipulates a Colonel and a spiritual leader in a plot to become president.
* [[Battle Couple]] - Chat and her [[Love Interest]] Tak team up towards the end.
* [[Evil, Inc.]]. - Mr. Kim's water company.
* [[Furo Scene]] - It takes place in Wonder Woman's house and not at a public bath, but the effect is the same. There is even a [[Skinship Grope]] or two involved.
* [[Held Gaze]] - When it comes time for Chat to fall in love with [[The Rival]], she does this.
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* [[Love Confession]] - Chat and Tak both demand one from the other.
* [[Mama Bear]] - Wonder Woman has a kid now. Don't mess with her.
* [[Money, Dear Boy]] - Chat is interested in getting paid more than helping out, at first.
* [[RefusedRefusal of the Call]] - Ching tries to get the group back together to take out Mr. Kim. It basically takes the length of an entire movie to get the three women back together.
* [[Retired Badass]] - Wonder Woman's got a kid nowadays and doesn't have much time for heroics... at first.
* [[Sissy Villain]] - Mr. Kim seems more appropriate as a [[Sailor Moon]] villain. He giggles a lot, has a heavy case of [[Ho Yay]] with his understudy, and wears a guady 1700's era long coat/mask combo.
* [[Stuffed in The Fridge]] - As with the last one, the love interests for these women get put through the ringer. It's almost a [[Cartwright Curse]].
* [[Unexplained Recovery]] - Kau is back as an ally, is mute, and possibly deformed. There is little explanation why he has returned, although since he was so hard to kill in the last movie, it makes sense that he was [[Only Mostly Dead]].
* [[Why Won't You Die?]] - Mr. Kim proves much harder to kill than expected, resulting in Chat saying a variation of this.
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Trope{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
[[Category:Fantasy Films]]
[[Category:Hong Kong Films]]
[[Category:Film]]
[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]
[[Category{{DEFAULTSORT:Heroic Trio]], The}}
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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