'Warriors of Heaven and Earth'

Rating: R for violence. In Mandarin, subtitled

Starring: Kichi Nakia

Director: Ping He

During an ancient Chinese dynasty, an emissary of the Emperor is sent on a dangerous mission to central China to execute a renegade warrior. When the soldiers finally meet, after hundreds of miles of hard traveling and dozens of dice-and-slice military confrontations, they find they have more in common than either of them can comfortably admit.

Put them in America's Old West and give them Colt revolvers instead of samurai swords and "Warriors of Heaven and Earth" could be a campy spaghetti Western with an awkward supernatural twist. While some of cinematographer Zhao Fei's vistas are beautifully panoramic, the leading actors are never mussed or flustered even after fierce battles that require inhuman leaps and Cuisinart swordsmanship.

Awkward computer graphics fail to enhance the myth, but story flaws cause bigger problems. Incomplete subplots fail to provide closure in a tentative romance and backstory for a silent Buddhist monk and a musically inclined villain. And while aspects of the story could be getting lost in translation, director He takes giant leaps in logic worthy of the greatest martial arts heroes.

-- John Hayes

'Woman Thou Art Loosed'

Rating: R for violence, sexual content and drug use

Starring: Kimberly Elise

Director: Michael Schultz

Woman thou art, what? The title beseecheth moviegoers to think it's about Shakespeare or something -- a poor choice for a dark, contemporary morality screenplay intended to appeal to black audiences.

Too baddeth, because it's a good movie based on a self-help novel by Bishop T.D. Jakes, a rising star of evangelical TV and leader of several evangelical ministries. Through a series of flashbacks delivered from a death row prison cell, it's the story of a woman whose history of sexual abuse and drug use put her on a path of insecurity and self-destruction.

Kimberly Elise, convincing as the wife in "John Q," leads an impressive cast that includes Jakes as himself. When her character is released from prison, she struggles to straighten out her life by avoiding bad influences and studiously attending revivals at Bishop Jakes' church, where she learns to be "loosed," in the biblical sense, from her sins by accepting the teachings of Jesus.

Director Michael Schultz keeps the chronology navigable and focuses on the major junctures of her life, leading to her spectacular final confrontation with her abuser. "Woman" is a compelling story that deserveth a broad audience.

-- John Hayes