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