Father Geek here with another of Moon Yun Choi's editorial submissions from HIFF... this one by our man on the scene opening night, Albert Lanier...

CHINESE EPIC SCREENED DURING SPRING FILM FESTIVAL IN HAWAII

by Albert Lanier

Director He Ping's WARRIORS OF HEAVEN AND EARTH--an action/ adventure film set in the Western desert regions of China--was shown during the opening night of the Hawaii International Film Festival's Spring Fling on April 2nd.

WARRIORS was screened to a packed house in the 300 plus seat auditoriums at Signature Dole Cannery theaters in Honolulu where the Spring Fling had its home during the week. The film was reportedly China's official Oscar entry for Best Foreign Film at this year's Academy Awards.

WARRIORS begins with portentous voice-over narration over a map of China. It is now, we are told, the Tang Dynasty era. We will soon be introduced to the film's two main protagonists: Lai Xi, a Japanese emissary and agent for the Emperor, and Li, a former Lieutenant in the Imperial Army who has been outlaw for a decade. Both men have mildly interesting backgrounds. Lai Xi has lived in China since he was 13 studying various disciplines within the Emperor's court and yearns to go home to Japan while ex-Lieutenant Li became a wanted man due to his refusal to kill Turkish women and children refugees and prisoners captured in battle which precipitated a mutiny amongst his unit.

Now, Lai Xi has finally been given his chance to go home but he must perform one task before he can return to Nihongo -- hunt down and kill Li.

Li himself has been somewhat elusive, roaming Western China. After a fierce sandstorm almost completely decimates a traveling caravan while trying to travel through a desert, a soldier guarding the caravan and looking for survivors--a young monk being the other survivor-- spies Li tumbling down a sand dune and ends up saving his life. Grateful for his lifesaving aid, Li is told by the soldier that he is delivering Buddhist scrolls to the Imperial Court. To repay the soldier, Li vows to escort the diminutive caravan to the Capital. Li, the soldier and the monk then take a detour to see Li's former army comrades at their lush homestead (which looks more like Idaho or Washington State than some spread in China, truth be told). Li tells his friends he intends to accompany the soldier and the monk to the Imperial Court. His brothers in arms perk up. They want to go with him despite the fact the many of them are married and at least! one of the wives is pregnant.

No, replies Li but he tells the men to build him a house. He obviously intends to return. This reunion doesn't remain relaxed for very long though. Lai Xi has tracked Li down to this lush, green retreat and the two draw their swords and fight.

However, the sword fight ends in a draw (Lai Xi has a dagger to his throat while Li has been maneuvered into a position where the blade of a sword stuck between a couple of the logs of a log cabin is at the back of his head).

Lai Xi pledges Li that he will allow him to escort him to the capital but will kill him once the caravan and its cargo has been safely delivered. The Imperial Agent will thus tag along. So, it turns out, will Li's old army buddies who suit up and move out much to his displeasure.

The rest of the film then charts the journey of this small band (which includes Lai Xi's female charge, the daughter of a fallen General) as they try to stay out of the clutches of the Desert Warlord Master An who sends his army of bandits after the group. In fact, Li and Lai Xi and their fellow travelers end up fighting off An's bandits on more than one occasion, leading to half the caravan of camels and material being lost.

This gets a couple of Li's comrades thinking out loud while the party wait it out for a while in a secret cave hideout. Bandits don't usually attack persistently. If they just wanted money, they could have attacked once and rode off. Therefore, there must be something far more valuable in the caravan that they want. It is at this point that the film's major plot twist and reveal occurs. I won't write about it here other to say it underwhelming to me. Actually, a good portion of WARRIORS OF HEAVEN AND EARTH was underwhelming.

That's a shame because the film has two interesting characters in Lai Xi and Li--two modestly thoughtful men making the best of what fate and choice has brought to their lives. Unfortunately, these characters are stuck in a barely watchable film with a timid plot and pedestrian story that swipes a plot point or two from RAIDERS OF THE LAST ARK.

That's not to say that WARRIORS is a horrible film. It's not. Director He Ping overall does a workmanlike job in directing this film. He makes nice of wide overhanging overhead shots and swoops his camera up and down on cranes nicely. The film's cinematography by Zhao Fei is quite good here especially in covering the sweep and expanse of the flat desert vistas and sand dunes and rocky locales filled with mountains and isolated fortresses. Even some of the performances contain their own rewards. Kiichi Nakai does a fine job portraying Lai XI, imbuing the character with a relaxed confidence and easy grace. The film's second lead Jiang Wen is especially good as Li and does a convincing job of illustrating Li's decency and honor as well as his reliability as a person. Even actor Wang Xueqi has some fun here as the villain An. He adds just a touch of the dandy to the character though Master An clearly demonstrates his tough-guy cr! edentials (such as a scene where he practices his sword fighting skills with a handful of his goons). Still, the acting, photography and overall directorial skills are in service to a lackluster script (co-written by He Ping) that takes a simple enough plot and story and adds nothing more of merit and value to it.

Actually, WARRIORS is an Eastern Western with all the standard archetypes (green-leafy ponderosa-type home, two evenly matched adversaries, a wagon-train like journey, a disgraced past and evil-enough bad guy who hold sway over a town, settlement or region in the desert) you might find in your average oater except this film is set in Asia not North America.

Too bad, the filmmakers of WARRIORS failed to grasp what a potentially interesting story they might have had had they focused more on Lai Xi and Li's lives and not fixated solely on the swordplay. I'll guess I'll have to ride off in sunset now. See you later buckaroos.