Les guerriers de l'Empire céleste

Everything that makes for a great Action Adventure film can be found in Warriors of Heaven and Earth.

Chemistry between actors, excellent music, directing and cinematography, and a good story combine with some decent action sequences to make this tale of warriors a memorable one.

Fans of Gladiator, The Four Feathers, or Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

should enjoy this. Solid if understated special effects and and some excellent dramatic moments with a few surprises along the way make Warriors of Heaven and Earth a beautiful experience to behold.

As for Sound if you Can't see it in theatres... at least try to see it with an AC3 or THX/Dolby Surround System the sound and music is worth it!

If 100 is perfection this gets a solid 90.

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.

I knew nothing of this movie before I watched it.

I wish people would stop comparing every single Asian film to CTHD. The film is not trying to be CTHD or better it. It is trying to be something different from the wire-fu extravaganzas that are coming out of China.

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this film. Certainly one of the better Asian films to be released in recent years. It's not perfect but I found it to be entertaining and would recommend it to anyone who appreciates simple adventure yarns. The story is simple but why should stories be complex to be good? The best stories are often simple ones.

Go and see it but don't expect a wire-fu spectacle and you won't be disappointed.

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.

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.