Η Τριάδα της Δράσης 2: Οι Εκτελεστές

Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine3.5

Action! - Johnnie/Ringo's Hong Kong Actions: In The Mood For King To's Sweeping RealismA little less exciting and bit more convoluted than the first, but still fantastic. The villain isn't as memorable as the first, and the final battle is unquestionably more explosive, but I miss some of the horror elements with those practical effects.Still, the action and fight scenes are incredible. Johnnie To displays much more of his stylistic proclivities with plenty of amazing 80s and 90s slow mo action lighted in a way that gives the film this surreal atmosphere that improves the action, an example of which instantly comes to mind is the death of one of the characters from the previous film, which also does an awesome use of slow mo. All three of our leads give solid performances, but since this picture is more serious than the last, it lacks the magic of the original.All in all, an excellent sequel that does a great job of blending the wuxia genre with the action of John Woo and Albert Pyum for a film that will definitely show you a good time.TODAY SCHEDULEFull ContactThe Heroic TrioExecutionersApocalypse III: Tribulation

Bryan Espitia3.0

A more subdued version of The Heroic Trio, and so way less fun. Still has its absurd moments and the post-apocalyptic setting looks cool. I love that Michelle Yeoh inexplicably has a hunchback that just follows her around everywhere.

threepenny5.0

The 1997 handover in Hong Kong marked the end of a 99 year lease the British had on the "New Territories" surrounding the city. And though they still owned the city itself in theory, in practice it would've been impossible to maintain while China owned all of the surrounding infrastructure and services, especially, the water. Executioners imagines a world, then, where outside forces shut off the water, in collusion with the local government, and then move to take over Hong Kong in its entirety, using local police forces to suppress the citizens with tear gas and round up hundreds for incarceration. There's radiation, too, and nuclear fallout, that people must use masks to protect themselves from. This post-apocalyptic Hong Kong is a bleak vision of its future, and it is impossible not to see it as a parable of mainland takeover, some of the scenes looking quite familiar in Hong Kong today.Anita Mui is Wonder Woman - that's a statement of fact as well as her character's name, Michelle Yeoh the very obviously incorrectly named Invisible Girl, unless it means everyone else is invisible when she's on screen, and Maggie Cheung is the petulant young amoral explosive expert Thief Catcher, and she may be kicking, boxing, shooting, and throwing grenades, but her fishnet stockings never run. They have a tickle fight in a bathtub together, immediately earning this film an automatic five stars.Anita Mui just wanted to be a good mom but ends up as the political prisoner, tossed in jail to rot. Instead, she squeezes rats to drink their blood to stay alive and fashions a mask out of sheet metal using the head of a screw. Michelle Yeoh has turned over a new leaf and tries to protect the President, alongside Kuei (Anthony Wong, in one of two roles), a hunchback in a mask who can only growl and tear people apart. Not to worry, Yeoh manages him with a whistle. Maggie Cheung must quest to find the source of fresh water, with a young girl and her frenemy Lau Ching-Wan, looking cool as always in a cowboy hat. The action and stunts are only limited by the imagination of the creators, nothing else, and it's exhilarating for those of us who crave imaginative physical effects over pedantic worrying about whether it looks real. Punching through someone's body, using a Jeep as a weapon, firing explosive tipped crossbow bolts that explode people real good, decapitated head grenades. This is Hong Kong cinema at its very best. Mui, Cheung, and Yeoh once again prove themselves to be the Heroic Trio.List: Icons of Hong Kong: Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung