User reviews

I liked this movie but I was not awestruck by it. It has some excellent characters and a very engaging plot. There are a few lines that will make all but the most jaded filmwatchers smile.

But this movie has a couple of drawbacks which mark it as a notch below other films like "Crouching Tiger" and the infinitely superior "Hero." Both of these films also had excellent characters and stories but were visually far a cut above. A BIG cut.

"Warriors" uses jump-cuts and too-tight camera angles in an effort to hide the fact that many of its stars are not actually martial artists. The resulting fight scenes are very frustrating to watch. Like I said, the plot carries the movie along and it is indeed a good film, but I hate getting snookered by creative editing.

Compare any fight scene in "Warriors" with, say, the extended battle scene between the two women warriors in "Crouching Tiger," most of which is filmed in medium shots that allow your eye to follow the line of action. IMHO this is a lot more impressive. Even the goofy wire work doesn't take away from that.

But "Warriors" is worth a rent. You will care what happens to the characters. And you will see a very nice meditation on the question of what, as people of honor, we must do.

Warriors of Heaven and Earth is a decently made movie with some good plot developments.

The fighting scenes. All of the fighting scenes were done relatively well, being more towards the real side of battle, instead of the fighting scenes from the other big names (Hero, House of Flying Daggers). My only complaint with the action scenes, is that nobody is affected by the death of their comrades. I understand you cannot stop fighting unless you want to join your brother in heaven, but they all took their deaths as the grim reality. I suppose in a way, it is more realistic (we're all going to die anyway, maybe he was lucky to get to heaven sooner). The camera work and plot however did do an excellent job of making you feel sorrowful when a character died.

The romance. Wait, excuse me, romance? Vicky Zhou? What?

This point nearly ruined the movie for me until I got back into the mindset of hey, there are good fight scenes, let's enjoy them. Vicky Zhou's character is completely extraneous and was a waste. Although her voice is nice as the narrator of the story, and she still has a pretty face, she was utterly useless. Not only did she not fight (unless you call the one to two minute scene in the end "fighting"), she had about 10-15 minutes of full, on-camera footage - mostly devoted to questioning Li's criminal activities.

Overall. Lai Qi (Kiichi Nakai) and Li Zai (Wen Jiang) carry the entire movie. It's interesting that Jiang is not in the credited cast as he probably had the most screen time in the entire movie.

Should you see it? There are a couple things to take into account. 1) If you're not used to HK films, this isn't a good one to start with, unless you abhor the Chinese humor in older less epic films 2) It will probably make you depressed. Maybe it's just me... What else has made me depressed you might ask? Let's see: So Close, Hero, House of Flying Daggers...

I give it a 7 out of 10. I had hoped for something slightly better, but then again, it was realistic and the final battle scene reminded me of what the LOTR battle for Helm's Deep would have been if the good guys hadn't all survived -- Classic.

Warriors of heaven and earth

This is an excellent film. While I do not personally think it is as good as Hero I can see why the film commission in China choose this film as it's official selection. This film is somewhere in between the magic and fantasy of Hero and brutal realism of MUSA. The Wire-fu is kept to a minimum only used to slightly punctuate certain scenes. There is a element of fantasy but it does not make it'self apparent in every frame of the film.

The acting was good, the battles were pretty good. Personally however if you had not seen either and were thinking about a film to buy I would suggest MUSA. The most major complaint I had with this film was the costumes some times looked a little corny.

One last thing…While the marketing department tried to sell the lead female role as a woman warrior empowered much like the characters of Crouching tiger or Hero don't buy it. She is window dressing and while her characters has awesome dramatic and story potential is mostly wasted.

Warriors of Heaven and Earth is an interesting film due to the fact that it had so many great elements that just didn't come together. The cast was fine, the setting and backdrop were fine, the outline of the story was interesting, but the ingredients of this picture did not mix.

The problem with the film was timing, budget, and the script.

Excellent Cast including Jiang Wen, Kiichi Nakai, and Vicki Zhao. Beautiful Scenery of the Gobi Desert and the far reaches of China.

The problem was the script. It was clichéd and most of all boring. There was nothing unique, in fact the dialog seemed taken from other films. You have the two guys that are suppose to be opponents who become buddies (aka 48 Hours)who take on an evil warlord and his thugs and defeat them in Battle. The supporting cast (the other warriors) get picked off one by one like (The Magnificent Seven).

Vicki Zhao has a meaningless role in the film. It is pretty much just stand around and look pretty and helpless and do a little narration work while you are at it. If you have Vicki Zhao in a film, you should use her. They made her character as clichéd and one dimensional as possible.

This film can't compare to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Musa", or "House of Flying Daggers". It is what you call a big budget B movie. The fight scenes look uncoordinated as well. After watching the "How the Film was made", I was a little more sympathetic towards the director. The Director Ping He had a daunting task of getting the film made due to weather and the timeline. I think he did not have enough time or money to do this film right. It was just too massive of an undertaking given the time constraints. It looked very rushed and disorganized.

The scenery and the backdrops are breathtaking, actually the highlight of the movie, the script itself was weak. The most memorable moment in the film is the scenery and Vicki Zhao in the bathtub. Now that was some nice scenery too.

Personally I think it's a rip off of Musa, but besides that, it does a terrible job of developing characters. You feel no attachment to any of them. Vicki Zhao was did nothing except play eye candy. You didn't know exactly what was going on until at least 45 minutes into the movie, and the main villain was absolutely laughable. There were scenes that were stuck there for no apparent reason at all. Either He Ping rushed this, or he had to clip out practically half the movie to make budget.

Poorly developed characters and storyline. Even the music seemed inappropriate or cheesy at times. The only redeeming grace of this movie is its extraordinary cinematography. That and an attempt to add some symbolism in the movie with water and blood.

Terrible movie. Not worth your money or time. If you want the same style but awesome story/characters, go for Musa.

Though this is a "heroic epic" telling of the Golden Age of China, director Ping He does an outstanding job of blending depth of character with period- and action-realism within only 115 minutes.

The springboard/wire-fighting is kept to a minimum and is subtly crafted. These are heroes who have skills far beyond the ordinary, and the fighting effects merely convey that without rubbing it in or going over the-top.

Every major character is developed in this story except for the young monk, and you'll understand why at the end. We even spend a little time with Lai Qi's 3 loyal soldiers and their families, getting to understand what they've been doing and what is important to them.

The plot does involve a magical object, but there are only two scenes with associated special-effects, which were as nicely done as any Hollywood CGI. The first time, it is essential to developing the story and our understanding of why these men will fight so hard to protect it. The second time, only to establish its proper role in the epilogue.

There is a hint of a love-story, which I find unnecessary in films like these, but I didn't moan or groan here because it is kept deep in a minor subplot and used primarily to demonstrate that the protagonist is not truly a criminal or a bad man. Not that Ping He doesn't know how to tell a good love story, as he did brilliantly in 1994's "Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker" (Pao Da Shuang Deng). I think he was forced to add it, and simply relegated it to the lowest priority.

I don't understand how someone could like "Jet Li: Hero" or "Crouching Tiger..." better than this film, unless they have little taste for dramatic, action-adventure epics, and must have a perfectly happy-ending every time. I thank thee, Buddha, that Hollywood hasn't taken over the Chinese film-making industry!

This movie had all the trappings of a successful film, but was obviously did not come together in editing. Much of the third act was simply not there, and the use of voice-over to advance the plot was an obvious sign of internal problems. The movie as a whole is incredibly uneven, and the sudden inclusion of CGI hoodoo after the half-way point was jarring and unwelcome.

Even still, just about all of the plot devices have been done better in other movies. Comparing this movie to Musa, Hero, and CTHD is doing those movies a disservice. While this movie is not bad, nothing raises it above mediocrity.

There is only one word to describe this movie, dull. Dull plot, dull acting, dull special effects and dull fighting scenes. I saw other highly rating reviews, mostly 10 stars, but after watching it, what a waste of time. Different people has different taste, but this one is definitely not my cup of tea. This movie focuses too much on the characters, but there are nothing exciting about these characters, they are really boring. I should stick to the Xmen, cheesy movies like this one really put me to sleep. It's very disappointing. Anyone who wishes for a better epic movie should consider the 90s "Once Upon a Time in China" or "Fong Sai-Yuk" series if they haven't seen them already.

This is not a Kung Fu action movie, so those looking for fight scenes will be disappointed. It is a thrilling story of two warrior knights acting under their own sense of honor and called to action in circumstances beyond their control, against the backdrop of the turbulent and multi-cultural Silk Road. China being the vast country it is has birthed many such thrilling adventures of wandering warriors, itinerant mercenaries, Buddhist monks and pretty maidens. Think of romance or adventure novels based on the Middle Ages! The thrill of the story is to watch the two warriors meeting, one supposedly as the imperial agent sent to eliminate the renegade and intent on his mission, the other as the free agent warrior trying to live a life according to his own personal code of honor. When the two of them unite to fight hordes of greedy bandits, we see hand to hand combat, pursuits on horseback and sieges of a fort.

The unusual angles in this movie, for most movie goers, comes from the time and place: the warriors are from 700 A.D, a T'ang Dynasty era. The location is in the far western reaches of China and the locales are not traditionally "Chinese". The landscapes change from mountainous to woodsy to desert. There are thrilling scenes of camel caravans and desert towns and forts. The protagonists wear battle gear and the long hair of that period, which remind me vividly of French and English knights and crusaders of that era! The final siege of the desert fort reminds of the male warrior bonding in desperado scenes like in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"; or the "Alamo"; or the "Three Musketeers".

The Buddhist relic transported by the caravan reminds me of the Catholic relics from dead saints found in many mystery or adventure stories based on the Middle Ages. The finale reminds me of the movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark" when the bad guys seem to be on the edge of acquiring the treasure, only to be annihilated, leaving some of the good guys to move on...

It is great entertainment and gives one yet another view of the Chinese culture about warriors of its complex past.

Came across this movie looking for something else and thought I would give it a watch. The storyline was decent enough and not too confusing with an interesting look at individual's commitments to their beliefs and their journey and how they dealt with changes to their commitment once situations changed. It was not your typical Chinese action movie and was located in some beautiful areas, with the scenery and imagery quiet nice. Costumes where nice and suited the characters being portrayed. The only thing that could have been done better where the combat scenes, which had a lot to do with the way they were filmed, the view was quite close so made for some confusion by the viewer. Still it was nice to see the resistance to the usual highly choreographed fight scenes.

Read at your own risk.

Don't waste your good money watching it. This movie just reaffirmed my decision not to watch Hero. I had the chance and figured it would be Americanized with implausible plots.

One of the aspect I enjoyed was the cinematography. In one scene, the camera looked up at Lieutenant Li reminiscent of Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. Parts of the sound track was enjoyable, more so if father dearest didn't open his mouth and buries the good dialogue way way below the obnoxiously loud music. Dear Ping He, please watch either volume of Kill Bill and learn how to mix soundtracks. Finally about the second viewing, my ears adjusted and picked up the words. I suppose the slightly jarring music was a foreshadowing of the sloppy weaving of the story leaving gaping holes where the audience is left to fill them in. For example, what is the Japanese doing at the military post? what was the relationship between Japan and Tang Dynasty? Wen Zhu (played by beloved formerly saucy Huan Zhu Ge Ge) didn't receive a decent chance to break out of the pretty girl mold. Instead, poor dear was reduced to narrate the obvious like when they were sneaking of the Big Steed Post (their translation, not mine), "Lai Qi spotted them heading for Red Rock Gorge. He didn't want the bandit steal the caravan, nor does he want Li killed until they reach the capital." (not word for word) This is only slightly less painful than Legolas stating "those are orc horns." Bah!

I can't say that I know the costume from Tang Dynasty but the helmets look suspiciously like shiny plastic. I could be wrong. I could also be wrong but half way through the movie, there were more camels than they started with. The key parts of the journey cuts through the desert. If they were true desert people, even with wells, Master An would not give water/spit at Lai Qi, nor would the girl take a luxurious bath.

And what is with the mysticism of the pagoda? If the plot is believable and characters true to their environment, anything valuable could replace the pagoda. Anyone who thinks this is good need to watch Chinese television series Yang Jia Jang about the rise and fall of a family of warriors serving their emperor. Or San Quo Yang Ye/Tale of Three Kingdoms.

How should we call this genre? Chinese film-makers take their rich history and repack it into action movies very much shoot in accordance to the Hollywood action and western movies conventions. If the Clint Eastwood movies of the 6os were spaghetti westerns, these should be noodles westerns, right? The result is quite entertaining, I confess. As a warning, 'Warrior of Heaven and Earth' do not get to the level of 'Tigers' or 'Hero' from a story budding, fights choreography or cinematography. It's what is called in American cinema slang a B movie, but not a bad one. Acting is good, there are good moments of cinema, and I actually enjoyed the fact that the fights avoided this times the physically impossible choreography in some other movies - no jump records broken in this one, no walking on the ceilings and walls, sorry! The less successful parts in Ping He's film are related to some cheap low-budget effects, discontinuities in the story and a tendency to solve conflicts through super-natural effects which are quite in contrast to the down-to-earth tone of the rest of the story. But this may be where the Ewnglish title comes from - the Earth action, and the Heaven dramatic solutions.

Worth watching, although not the best in his category. 6 out of 10 on my personal scale.

A Japanese soldier travels across the Gobi to chase a deserter, but they have to join forces against a common enemy to reach their destination.

Japanese actor Kiichi Nakai and Chinese actor Wen Jiang lead a brilliant cast that includes Xueqi Wang as leader of the desert bandits and the incredibly beautiful Chinese actress Zhao Wei, who will be appearing with Infernal Affairs actor Tony Leung next year in John Woo's The Battle of Red Cliff. She starred with Leung in Chinese Odyssey 2002.

The battles were fierce, but the incredible scenery and special effects are what grabs you as the duel between Kiichi Nakai and Wen Jiang were delayed not only to fight the bandits and the Turks who wanted to control Western China, but to deliver a sacred relic to the Buddists. This relic had special powers that made this film beautiful.

Reading all the reviews they covered most of the relevant points. The thing about this film it is not a kung fu movie, it's not about demonstrating the great skills of kung fu, so I think it is a bit unfair to compare it to the movie Hero, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon or House Of Flying Daggers. And the characters are not meant to be martial artists but swordsman, which is a totally different skill set. I would compare this more to road movies, because it is more of a road movie, (where characters physical moving through an environment is symbolic of the character's inner change.) If your looking for a movie with amazing battle scenes this is not it. It's a character driven movie, about ethical and moral dilemmas, loyalty and honour and the bonds of brotherhood. For me what blew me out of the water was the acting, it's been a long time since I've seen demeanor acting like that. I don't know if it was perfect casting or perfect directing but the main actors looked completely involved in their character, in the way they moved , the way they walked even just sitting in a chair you'd think that is how that character would sit in the chair. They got all the nuances right never once you thought that's the actor coming through. Been a long time since I've seen acting that particular. My only real gripe, is if you are going to get a Japanese actor to play the Japanese character, couldn't you get Turks to play Turks? Or at least someone more passable for Turkish because Chinese looks nothing like Turkish.

I first saw the making of this movie on AXN and thought it would be a great film. It had some major stars and the location looked beautiful. Considering I had worked in that part of the world for a year, I knew how it felt like in the summer heat and winter cold.

The story is a simple one with a renegade soldier being hunted by an emperor's Japanese emissary. The renegade soldier is in charge of escorting a Buddhist artifact and they get hounded by bandits in the desert. The emissary and renegade predictably band together to save the artifact from the bandits.

After watching the film I was disappointed with the story and how it panned out. I thought the fighting sequences were ordinary and the last part of the story a cop out. I think the whole film could have been done much better with a better script and the fighting choreographed much better. My low voting mark reflects this disappointment.

This film was a really great surprise.

The characters were a lot of fun without being goofy or two-dimensional, and the story was complicated enough to be interesting without being overwrought and confusing. The locations were beautiful, and the costuming was great, too. The action was practically non-stop -- lots of chases and sword fights. It didn't have any of the hokey mysticism that so often appears in films like this (although there was a lot of acrobatic swordplay), opting instead for a grittier approach (with a notable exception or two).

Definitely worth seeing.

Wow, such a waste of time. I had to stop in the middle. The actors performed just bad. The characters introduction was a total joke. The costumes looked so fake. There's historical errors in the props. The sound effects weren't convincing. The plot didn't capture me at all. The CGI looked totally laughable. And the soundtrack felt like a copy of Titanic. The English overdub is a total catastrophe.

One of the most laughable scene is the sandstorm. They are in the desert, suddenly a huge CGI sandstorm appears out of nowhere. Everybody runs in a circle for 10 seconds. Next cut everything disappeared and a guy is yelling for the others. I've seen high school kids with better dramaturgic talent than what I've seen in this movie.

I did like the performance of the many animals in the movie. And the scenery was very watchable. But the rest was getting in the way of enjoying, so only 2 stars.

This movie is the story of an Imperial Agent sent to bring to justice a murderer, his final mission before he is allowed to go home to his family in Japan. The murderer, a former army officer accused of mutiny when he refused to kill a group of women and children. The movie is the tale of their trek across the desert fighting against each other and with each other. The dialog was great, short and delivered impeccably by an incredible cast of characters. It has been a long while since I have seen such thoughtful, dramatic acting. The movie is shot mostly in the desert but it is all done beautifully and with exactly the right tone and feel. I enjoyed the period costumes and the fight scenes were extremely well choreographed. It is seldom that I watch a hollywood movie and come away feeling satisfied, I can only hope that Asia continues to pump out incredible movies like this one and that Hollywood will wise up and stop trying to feed me drivel like the Last Samurai.

well,I seen this movie just now,the first impression is the scene and action.we talk about the scene first.if you had seen Directed Ping He's forepart movie,you'll know the movie <<Shuang-Qi-Zhen daoke>>(english title is the swordman in double flag town.but "DAOKE" in chinese it means the blade man[a use blade's fighter]),it show the west of china's view and action.in this movie,is show west too.TIAN DI YING XIONG's scene hugeness,and costume is beautiful,character background preciseness.second is the action,the action is great,very without further ado,is an other genre's action,different to WO HU CANG LONG and YING XIONG.they are pay attention to action vision,but it was inauthenticity.TIAN DI YING XIONG's action is true-life,the action vision it was good too(but it was an other genre's action,you must accept it).

ok,i must talk about disadvantage.story & film editing is bad!crassitude story and film editing!if they was good,i will vote this film 8/10,but now i just can vote this film 6 or 7/10!because maybe international edition is different to chinese edition,so i just say that all.

Desiring an Oscar? Even shortlisted... It's like a rule that most epic movies, namely Gladiator, Lord of the Rings can win the apples of the eyes of the judges. Why lost? Maybe the awkward digital animation, computer effect, the unclear storyline or the weak presentation about the Buddhist importance. But anyway, it's not a Chinese movie or a movie for Chinese. It's a movie to attract the international attention.

Well, millions of people fighting in a battlefield, gallons of blood, high decibel of noise, lethal weapons, dexterous martial arts, romance between foes... When it comes to acting, the Japanese actor Kiichi Nakai was serious to his profession like taking up the language and the martial art training, laudable acting. Sportingly speaking, Nakai, Xueqi Wang and Yun Zhou (the monk) outperform the main lead Wen Jiang. He is just writing his signature.