Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

In a world devastated by nuclear war, the powerful Mr. Kim (Anthony Wong) owns the supply of water to a city. He plots a coup d' etat with the Colonel (Paul Chun) to overthrow The President (Shan Kwan) and they use Inspector Lau (Damian Lau) and the religious leader Chong Hon (Takeshi Kaneshiro) to set in motion an uprising. Tung-Tung (Anita Mui) is imprisoned, but Ching-Ching (Michelle Yeoh) decides to protect The President and the Bounty Hunter Chat (Maggie Cheung) seeks potable water with her nephew Cindy and the agent Tak (Lau Ching Wen) that is loyal to the President. "Jin doi hou haap cyun", a.k.a. "Executioners", is an awfully lame, melodramatic and messy sequel of "Heroic Trio" that I have not seen. The screenplay and situations are muddled and stupid, like for example Tung- Tung drinking rat blood in a moment and removing the door of her cell later. Another example, Inspector Lau brings his annoying daughter Cindy to the bus station to leave the child alone in a crowd. Or Tak, who does not swim, but dives in an unknown water spring. I could number lots of nonsense plot holes in the story.The choreography is dreadful and the fights and action scenes are terribly edited. But maybe the worst is the unpleasant character Chat, who is the stereotype of a stupid woman. My vote is two.Title (Brazil): "Heroic Trio 2"

Johnny To's action/fantasy classic The Heroic Trio wasn't exactly helped by its convoluted plot and cloying over-sentimentality, but was made watchable thanks to its many bonkers action sequences; the sequel, Executioners, shares the first film's weaknesses, but lacks its exuberance and wackiness, making for a much less enjoyable experience overall.The film is set in a post-apocalyptic future where evil genius Mr. Kim (Anthony Wong) controls the city's only supply of uncontaminated water. Together with the help of a corrupt general, power hungry Kim leads a coup d'etat against the President, but his plans for total domination of the city are thwarted by The Heroic Trio (Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh and Anita Mui), who come out of retirement to battle the would-be despot.With much of Executioners' running time dedicated to establishing its politically unstable environment and detailing Kim's scheme to seize power, the film doesn't leave much time for action, meaning that those who enjoyed the first film purely for its energetic lunacy will find themselves less than satisfied with this effort; even when the action does eventually kick off in the final act, it doesn't come anywhere near to the sheer craziness of The Heroic Trio.The film's leading ladies are still worth watching, of course, with Cheung looking particularly sexy in her fishnet stocking and suspenders, but even with the appeal of three high-kicking Hong Kong hotties, Executioners isn't anywhere near as good as its predecessor.

This film is such a ridiculous stuff, totally undeserving praise. Poor script, laughable direction, ridiculous action and fight sequences, mediocre acting, poor lighting and camera work, phony special effects - mostly it takes place in a studio and u can see that. Mayeb when I was 10 years old I enjoyed a film like that, but heck what did I know anyway. The environmental" elements of the script are heavily handed and boring, the "psychological" parts about heroines's private lives are rubbish and the worst of all are action sequences. At least if they were good and convincing, but far from it! The film looks cheap and should appeal only to hard core fans of Chinese kung fu flying in the air artificial kicking stuff.

The story about the sharp-shooting-vigilante-chicks continues in a much more serious context. Set in a post atomic near-future Hong Kong´s fresh water supply has been contaminated by radiation and is on the brink of open rebellion. All available fresh water is controlled by the "Fresh Water Company" owned by the power-mad genius Mr.Kim. He plans to induce a rebellion (by raising prices and cutting water-rations)and with the aid of a corrupt army colonel and a devout religious leader restore order and take over the crumbling Metropolis.The three friends have separated since the first movie; Wonder Woman is married with a daughter (of course), Thief Catcher is a Water Smuggler and a Rouge (as always) and Invisible Woman works with the allieviating of the peoples suffering. They are brought together in order to find a rumored new source of fresh water, but Wonder W. and Thief C. lacks the motivation to break up with their new lives. Of course momentous events forces the trio together and the villains are in for a major beating.The settings and moods are much darker and has a strange gothic 1960:s air to it. It focuses on the motivations and fears of the main characters, their hopes to rebuild the future, hopes of escaping to a safer place, their hopes to rescue loved ones etc. Worries of the Chinese takeover are quite everpresent.When the first one was whacky rough-and-tumble this movie is more slow paced and thougtful and beautifully shot. (I just LOVE the train-station scene with it´s slo mo cartridges and yellow lighting). It has a more desperate theme where the villains succeed and the heroes fail and despair.Although the story contains a few glitches (like sudden and unmotivated slapstick in the midst of tragedy or the never seen before or again car-wrecker villain) the fan of the HK-cinema has learned to overlook (and enjoy) such anomalies. I highly recommend this beautiful and action-packed gothic drama.