The Heroic Trio (1993)
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Cast: Anita mui, Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, Anthony Wong, Damian Lau
Extras:
Rating:

In their quest to mutilate every Hong Kong move that crosses their path, Miramax and Buena Vista Home Entertainment are now throwing the superb apocalyptic fantasy tale ’The Heroic Trio’ in the market in yet another loveless release. The film was previously released by Tai Seng – please see our full review of the DVD here – and once again it is blatantly obvious that Buena Vista Home Entertainment has no understanding for the genre at hand. And what’s up with that horribly out of focus cover artwork?

The only good thing about this DVD is the new anamorphic transfer. While it still shoes quite a bit of grain, it is somewhat superior to Tai Seng’s non-anamorphic transfer of five years ago. The print is cleaner and details are a tad better reproduced and colors appear slightly more saturated. On the downside however, Buena Vista Home Entertainment’s release is riddled with ringing artifacts from excessive edge-enhancement, giving the film an unnaturally harsh look.

The worst offense has been committed once again in the audio department as ’The Heroic Trio’ is available only with an English dub. There is no sign of the original Cantonese or Mandarin language tracks, making this release effectively worthless to anyone halfway serious about Hong Kong movie. Add to it the fact that the movie appears slightly edited, Buena Vista Home Entertainment has once again done a disservice to a superb movie.

The verdict is simple and clear. Stay away from this release and try to find Tai Seng’s release instead.