HONG KONG -- "Warriors of Heaven & Earth" is fascinating as a new genre hybrid -- a Chinese Western. A creation of director He Ping, this big-sky epic, set in the wild, wild east of the Gobi Desert, derives as much of its visual and narrative power from John Ford and Don Siegel as it does from wuxia dramas and silk road classics. Financed by Columbia Pictures Asia, the film brings back the mythic spirit of pioneers and adventurers, reclaiming themes of heroic individual struggle against evil and injustice.

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