Starring Jiang Wen and Nakai Kiichi. In Mandarin with English subtitles. Rating unavailable.

Thirteen years ago, He Ping directed the first Chinese western (or, rather, spaghetti western, which means, I guess, chow-mein western). The Swordsman in Double Flag Town was a lot like Sergio Leone on the Silk Road, snaking through deserts as visually striking as Utah's Monument Valley. Because it was made on the Mainland, it seemed very much an anomaly at the time.

Warriors of Heaven and Earth is also a chow-mein western, but one made under very different circumstances. Although still lensed in Xi'an province, Columbia Pictures, Sony, and other high-stakes investors had a hand in bankrolling it. This time around, He Ping had the wherewithal to build a fake town and many other sets, not to mention hire hundreds of well-trained extras and fencing masters.

The plot is an interesting confluence of western and eastern ideas. Lai Xi (Nakai Kiichi) is a Japanese mercenary who has been killing rebels and Turks on behalf of the Chinese emperor for 25 years. His last assignment involves the dispatch of Lieut. Li (Jiang Wen), a former hero turned outlaw when he refused to massacre helpless women and children.

Li is now serving as a camel guard, protecting priceless Buddhist relics as these ships of the desert stride slowly forward, bringing enlightenment to the East. Opposing the caravan's passage are a horde of supposedly fearsome Turks (I say supposedly because they seem to be much more adept at dying than they are at killing) supported by deadly Master An (Wang Xue Qi), a murderer for hire with a lute, dreadlocks, and cold, blue eyes.

The action is fast and furious but not very bloody--a fact that will probably disappoint hard-core Asian action fans. As an ordinary western, Warriors of Heaven and Earth is more than acceptable entertainment. What it is not, however, is either an epic masterpiece or a wide-screen dream equivalent to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Which means, of course, that the film will disappoint only if you set your hopes too high.