The Heroic Trio (Dung fong sam hap), the first half of an early ’90s Cantonese action-fantasy-sci-fi double feature, offers a heady dose of Hong Kong inanity, where rules don’t apply to anything—character, story, setting, gender norms, or the laws of physics. Set in a slightly futuristic city that resembles the set of Tim Burton’s Batman (1989), the story centers on three female action heroes who straddle different moral lines. Tung, also known as Wonder Woman (Anita Mui), is the most overtly honorable of the three, balancing her everyday life as the doting wife of a police inspector (Damian Lau) with her nocturnal sojourns as a masked vigilante. Chan Chat, also known as Thief Catcher (Maggie Cheung), is an amoral bounty hunter who is only in it (whatever “it” is) for the money. And Chan San, also known as Invisible Girl; (Michelle Yeoh), is the most conflicted, as she operates at the behest of the film’s villain, the ever-so originally named Evil Master (Yen Shi-kwan), only because she is in love with a professor (James Pak) Evil Master is using to perfect the art of invisibility.

The plot is thrown into motion with the kidnapping of 18 babies by Evil Master, who plans to use them to help restore the great monarchal dynasty to China (or something like that). Wonder Woman, Invisible Girl, and Thief Catcher all get involved in various ways for various reasons, initially operating in open conflict with each other (early on Wonder Woman tries to stop Invisible Girl from kidnapping the newborn baby of the police commissioner, but ends up causing the gruesome death of another infant in the process); however, by the third act they are working together, proving that there is strength in numbers and that their unique girl powers are best utilized in concert.

Although it is uneven and at times awkward, The Heroic Trio has its merits, most of which emanate from its three stars, each of whom brings a unique and memorable quality to the screen. Michelle Yeoh, who was on the verge of international stardom with her turns in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and Ang Lee’s crossover action-art film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), combines nobility and beauty, as well as martial arts prowess. Anita Mui, who was also a successful pop singer, embodies an intense desire to right all wrongs. And Maggie Cheung, who was graduating from “pretty girlfriend” roles in male-dominated action films, has an endearing sense of throwaway charm and comical grit, which leavens her otherwise amoral sensibilities. As the title suggests, their heroism is fundamentally connected to their working together, which supplies much of the film’s gender-flipping pleasure.

It is too bad, then, that it isn’t a better film. Director Johnnie To, who started in Hong Kong television in the 1970s before moving on to feature films, had only recently co-directed his first action film, The Big Heat (Seng fat dak ging, 1988). For The Heroic Trio, he focused most of his attention on the dramatic scenes, leaving the action sequences to stunt coordinator and co-producer Chung Siu-Tung, who was elevated to co-director on the sequel, Executioners (Yin doi hou hap zyun, 1993), which is a demonstrably better film. The Heroic Trio feels all over the place, which is part of its whacked-out postmodern design. It is meant to be comical and gross and sentimental and exciting all at the same time, and at various points it works like gangbusters. But, at other times it feels strained and kind of cheap, as if To was just throwing anything he could find at the screen and hoping that something stuck. The unevenness of the film’s look and design contributes to its awkwardness, which is also reflected in the screenplay by Sandy Shaw Lai-king, which offers a lot of ideas, but not much cohesion. Evil Master is not a particularly interesting villain, even though he is a decadent visual delight, and his wordless henchman (Anthony Wong), who at one point munches on his own severed fingers for no particular reason, doesn’t offer much charisma, either.

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