Notable Cast: Kris Phillips, Li Xuejian, Huang Bo,
Yosh Yu, Luke Chen, Naran, Xia Yu, Yang Le, Chen Kun, Yuan Quan, Ci Sha, Yafan
Wu, Luoyong Wang, Hou Wenyuan, Tim Huang
Now that the Chinese film industry has punted many of its
lower-budget films to streaming services, it’s not shocking to see a massive
CGI-heavy multi-film adaptation of a classic fantasy story look and feel so
much like modern Hollywood blockbusters. The initial trailers for Creation
of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms were brimming with massive superhero-like
action set pieces, while the promise of this being a “part one” of a trilogy
indicated that this would be E.P.I.C. Truly, this looked like the Chinese fantasy
blockbuster to end all blockbusters.
Director Wuershan’s adaption of the Investiture of the Gods
story is undoubtedly just that. Nothing in Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom
of Storms is subtle or straightforward. This is a big scale to the blockbuster
nth degree, and it shows for better or worse. As the first part of this
trilogy, it’s still a highly entertaining film; for that, it does get credit.
It’s just par for the course that its stunning visual feasts and entertaining
action sequences come with a script that is scattered in trying to jam in
dozens stacked upon dozens of characters, plots that never feel fleshed out,
and a narrative that feels elongated and still rushed.
But it also features two massive stone monsters possessed by
an occasionally headless evil wizard chasing a god stripped of his powers on
horseback. So, you know, give a little, take a little.