Warriors of Heaven and Earth (Tian di ying xiong) (2003)

68% of critics liked it
(31 reviews)
56% of users liked it
(4,827 ratings)

Directed by He Ping, the multi-layered Warriors of Heaven and Earth combines traditional Chinese cinema with the hallmarks of spaghetti Westerns. Set in the eastern portion of the Silk Road, a popular eighth century Asian trade route, the film chronicles the stories of two heroes: Tang Dynasty… More Directed by He Ping, the multi-layered Warriors of Heaven and Earth combines traditional Chinese cinema with the hallmarks of spaghetti Westerns. Set in the eastern portion of the Silk Road, a popular eighth century Asian trade route, the film chronicles the stories of two heroes: Tang Dynasty imperial emissary Lai Xi (Kiichi Nakai) and soldier-turned-mercenary "Butcher" Li (Jiang Wen). After having served the Chinese emperor for some 20 years, Lai is eager to return home, though he must complete a final task before doing so; specifically, tracking down Li, as he once led a mutiny against the emperor's orders. Li, meanwhile, is busy recruiting a caravan to help him escort a Buddhist monk to the capital of China. While Lai is successful in finding Li, they agree to postpone their duel-to-the-death until the monk has been safely transported. Of course, after dealing with marauding Turks, the heat of the desert, and local bandits, it becomes unclear whether either man will survive to kill the other. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 2 hr.
Directed By: Ping He, He Ping
Written By: Zhang Rui, He Ping
Genres: Drama, Action & Adventure, Art House & International

In Theaters: Sep 3, 2004 Wide
On DVD: Dec 7, 2004
Studio: Sony Picture Classics

Critic Reviews

Andrew Sun, Hollywood Reporter
The acting is uniformly compelling.
Susan Walker, Toronto Star
Unfortunately, the two main protagonists, Lieutenant Li and Lai Xi, are too much the strong, silent type to engage us as heroes, or even characters.
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail
There's no denying its visual appeal.
G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
Monotonous.
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
Warriors ransacks enough of the dust-swept battle genre (start with Sergio Leone, Akira Kurosawa, and John Ford) to have no rousing or opulent B-movie personality of its own.
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
For eyes that have overindulged in the stylized razzle-dazzle of Hero, the grit, dust, and occasional cheese of Warriors of Heaven and Earth come as a corrective slap.
James Plath, Movie Metropolis
A solid entry in the genre of Far Eastern Westerns, with strong acting, a decent-enough script, some fun recognizable conventions, and action that's choreographed not to be poetic, but to reflect the grit of the Chinese West of the 8th century.
Christopher Smith, Bangor Daily News (Maine)
It's too busy courting genre cliches to mine anything transcendent, which runs counter to the promise inherent in the title.
Eric D. Snider, EricDSnider.com
Takes all the elements of the classic Westerns, mixes them with Eastern spiritualism, and comes out with a film that is at least noteworthy, if not especially brilliant.
Larry Carroll, FilmStew.com
Presiding over it all is an absurdly indestructible baddie who combines Zamfir's mastery of the pan flute with a flawless mimicry of Prince circa Purple Rain.
David Cornelius, eFilmCritic.com
There are scenes here that will stick in your brain for days.
Jeff Vice, Deseret News, Salt Lake City
For most of its two-hour running time, it's a pretty solid action yarn that echoes both the swordsman epics of Akira Kurosawa, as well as some of the Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Westerns.
Sean Means, Salt Lake Tribune
The movie has so much that's great that you forgive when it veers into Indiana Jones territory.
Anthony Del Valle, Las Vegas Mercury
An enjoyably pulpy story, occasionally slow-moving and pretentious
Liz Braun, Jam! Movies
There are extraordinary battle scenes in this film.
Tom Keogh, Seattle Times
Remarkable for its stimulating, metaphor-rich setting.
James Verniere, Boston Herald
Has everything you could possibly want from the genre.
William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
A fairly rousing example of the genre.
Luke Y. Thompson, New Times
Be patient, and you'll get rewarded with a good old-fashioned castle siege that's worth the wait.

Read all 19 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Dean !

A good big battle epic film with some good fight scenes with a Western style feel to it.
Cynthia S

This is a film you have to give about 15-20 minutes to before you give up on it. If you're willing to invest the time, there is an incredibly rich story waiting for you, replete with honor, duty, respect and love. Wonderful movie, but just give it a minute to grow on you. Well… More
This is a film you have to give about 15-20 minutes to before you give up on it. If you're willing to invest the time, there is an incredibly rich story waiting for you, replete with honor, duty, respect and love. Wonderful movie, but just give it a minute to grow on you. Well done film.
Dean M

Great extraordinary Chinese tale of battle, comradeship and honour. The excitement scenes between a Japanese emissary and renegade solider-turned-mercenary who team up to protect a sacred caravan travelling across the desert.
xGary X

An imperial emissary on a mission to bring a fugitive soldier to justice instead joins forces with him to defend a buddhist monk and his caravan. The usual mix of honourable men, swordplay and a beautiful princess is on offer, but during the first half of the film, swap the caravan… More
An imperial emissary on a mission to bring a fugitive soldier to justice instead joins forces with him to defend a buddhist monk and his caravan. The usual mix of honourable men, swordplay and a beautiful princess is on offer, but during the first half of the film, swap the caravan for a wagon train and the swords for sixguns and what you have is an old fashioned western. Half way through though, things take an unexpectedly supernatural turn as we find out what it is they are protecting.The cinematography, locations and costumes are as attractive as we've come to expect in these post Crouching Tiger times, but the narrative leaves more than a little to be desired; characterisation is minimal, so it is very difficult to care when one of the characters is killed off, and the plot consists of little more than an episodic series of strangely sterile and bloodless battle sequences. It is very attractive to look at though, and certainly does not bore; the siege sequence is particularly impressive and reminded me of Kingdom Of Heaven on a budget. On the whole it's reasonably entertaining but the weaknesses in the script mean it's not in the same league as the extremely similar The Musa.