Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms

The end of the Shang dynasty. King Zhou takes the throne and, with the fox spirit Daji, turns the country into an order of fear. The sons of provincial lords are held hostage at the palace; one of them, Ji Fa, is forced to see what the king he admires actually is. At the centre of the film is fathers and sons: four separate father and son relationships run in parallel. The subject is not mythology but where obedience ends. Ji Fa leaving the king does not mean returning to his own father; the film builds him as someone breaking with both authorities. The form is large in scale and relies heavily on physical sets. The palace was built for real, the riding was done with real horses, and the cast went through a long training period in horsemanship, archery and combat. It is among the most expensive projects in Chinese cinema. The whole trilogy was completed back to back in a single long production. The opening did not draw the expected interest, but a campaign run by audiences on social media pulled the box office back within weeks and it became one of the year's biggest earners. Wuershan directs. Kris Phillips plays the king and Yu Shi plays Ji Fa. Who it is for: viewers who like fantasy on an epic scale. Who it is not for: anyone overwhelmed by the number of characters; the narrative is crowded and dense without background.