The Magnificent Trio (1966)

A very young Jimmy Wang Yu, Lo Lieh and Cheng Lei team up to take down a corrupt magistrate who is causing his people to starve and kills his citizens indiscriminately.

Initially Jimmy Wang Yu, the main hero, is on his own with a few towns people who are trying to get a petition to the magistrate's overlord to bring justice to the town. Lo Lieh works for the magistrate but though a skilled swordsman is not into his work. Cheng Lei starts out in prison where he got himself incarcerated just so that he has food to eat. An unlikely trio find their way on the same side during the course of the movie.

The story starts out slow and repetitious, the sword fights rather dull and uninspired. The bodies start piling up as the movie goes along and Jimmy Wang Yu's character dances a fine line between being heroic and ineffectual. Eventually, the sword fights improve but were not memorable. The story does pick up as well as more and more people are galvanized into action.

Magnificent Trio has been re-mastered, the colors and clarity are vibrant. The music and sound effects came through clearly.
The subtitles were easy to read as well. It's worth mentioning because some of these older films have been neglected and treated poorly. The colors can be faded and the subtitles can run right off the screen. Thankfully, MT was lovingly restored.

I didn't find Magnificent Trio thrilling and the fight scenes were okay. What I did like was the chemistry between the three heroes and the sacrifices they were willing to make to better the lives of others. Overall I enjoyed the movie though I doubt it's one I'll ever re-watch.

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