Director: Wuershan
Writers: Ran Ping, Ran Jianan, Wuershan
Stars: Yu Shi, Kris Phillips, Nashi
Synopsis: Taishi Wen Zhong led the army of the Shang Dynasty, including Deng Chenyu and four generals of the Mo Family to Xiqi. With the help of Kunlun immortals such as Jiang Ziya, Ji Fa leads the army and civilians of Xiqi to defend their homeland.
An adaptation of Xu Zhonglin’s Investiture of the Gods has been on Wuershan’s mind since 2014, after he gained considerable experience in blockbuster filmmaking, helming such differing works as The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman, The Resurrection: Painted Skin, and Mojin: The Lost Legend. In 2018, cameras began to roll for one of the most ambitious productions in Chinese cinema history: three parts, shot back-to-back, spanning several decades in chronicling the overthrow of the Shang Dynasty through mythologically charged images and parallel narratives. In some ways, one can compare what Wuershan is doing to Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which was once touted as unfilmable and far too ambitious, and went on to become a commercial success and received multiple accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Picture for the final part of the trilogy The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
The jury is still out on whether or not Wuershan will deliver a towering conclusion with the final part of the Creation of the Gods trilogy, but as it stands, the first two installments are some of the most inspiring mainland Chinese films made in a very long time. The first part, Kingdom of Storms, contained one visually expressive action scene after another and created a singular cinematic language that, no matter how far-fetched or galaxy-brained some of the images may look, you ultimately bought into its proposition, even if nothing (and I genuinely mean nothing) is explained to the audience. It just is.
For people who like to have their hands held, entering the Investiture of the Gods may feel daunting. Wuershan directly thwarts you in the story, with little to no contextualization, and demands of you to put the pieces together in its constant shifting from one narrative arc to the next, with no meaningful denouement until, of course, the final part. However, for the audiences who fully accept its endless imagination at capturing vivifying action and potent moments of drama through the immersive lens of IMAX, the viewing experience on a gargantuan screen will be incredibly rewarding.
In that regard, the second installment, Demon Force, acts like Wuershan’s The Two Towers. Not only does it follow the same broken storylines of Jackson’s second installment, alternating between several characters on their own mini-adventure before most of them eventually intersect, but it also culminates in a battle scene where all forces must stand together to protect one village (their version of Rohan/Helm’s Deep). Of course, it’s far more out-there in its presentation of dazzling visual effects and sequences no person who isn’t blazed out of their damn mind could come up with, but the similarities in its pace and structure are staggering.
The Fengshen Bang plays a significant role in the battle of Xiqi, between lord Ji Fa (Yu Shi) and King Yin Shou (Kris Phillips), who vie for control of the Investiture of the Gods. A good chunk of the narrative is dedicated to scattershot exposition, either in depicting the King’s plan of taking over the Fengshen Bang under the influence of her concubine, Daji (Narana Erdyneeva), who, in the last film, was possessed by a Demon Fox, or in setting up a romance between Ji Fa and Deng Chanyu (Nashi), a general in the Shang dynasty who eventually grows fond of Xiqi’s lord. Her loyalty to the Shang dynasty will be tested when the Grand Perceptor Wen Zhong (Wu Hsing-kuo) tasks her to kidnap Jiang Ziya (Huang Bo), a former Kunlun immortal carrying the Fengshen Bang.
But can she accomplish the task when Xiqi is set to be destroyed through Wen absorbing the moon’s powers with his third eye and creating “eye portals” that paralyze its inhabitants to death, including someone for whom she has developed strong affection? This moral question is at the front and center of Demon Force’s storytelling, even if the narrative this time around is way more fragmented than the first. At its best, Demon Force contains bravura action sequences of great technical and kinetic mastery, with one occurring early on in the picture that is a cathartic fistfight between Deng Chenyu and Ji Fa worthy of Chang Cheh that made my jaw drop in pure awe.
These scenes, while occurring on sparser occasions than the first, look as astonishing as they did in Kingdom of Storms and are perhaps even more ambitious when one views the climax. That entire battle looks and feels impossible to visualize, especially when one takes into consideration Ne Zha’s (Wu Yafan) and Yang Jian’s (Ci Sha) place in the battle, flying around the environment as they attempt to avoid the paralyzing powers of Wen’s eye moon portals. Wuershan also does justice to Ne Zha in ways that no Chinese film has ever depicted, and draws the best interpretation of the character seen in any movie. Describing how they engage in the action through words is futile. It’s something you have to experience – and feel – for yourself because when such a set piece is over, you may think that cinema has evolved in a completely new direction than before.
Narratively, though, Demon Force doesn’t have the same emotional potency as the first installment. That may be because none of the storylines Wuershan expands in his middle chapter are resolved in any way, except for Deng Chenyu and Ji Fa’s relationship, which is arguably the best part of the movie. Representing a burgeoning love that grows far stronger as Xiqi becomes the target of a cataclysmic attack, Nashi portrays Chenyu with a stark emotional complexity that makes us feel for her plight as soon as the two characters lock arms up until its sobering conclusion.
When the climax is set in motion, our investment in other character arcs isn’t as substantial as when the focus is directly on Ji Fa and Deng Chenyu. However, their presence elevates some of the larger-than-life stakes developed through its IMAX photography and always ensures we’re on our toes as the story continues to over-complexify itself to set the stage for a truly memorable ending with its planned third installment.
What Wuershan has so far depicted on screen is so creative and of sincerity in its image and mythmaking that it becomes hard to resist its audaciousness, something that feels rare in the stale moviegoing era we currently live in. Demon Force gets even crazier when a caption tells us to remain seated during the end credits (thank you very much, honestly, I wish every movie would do this) for not one but THREE five-minute-long stingers to prepare us for the third installment. After what was shown, I will be there for Creation Under Heaven on day one – and that’s a guarantee.