Now available on home video
For the movie review, please click here.
The Creation of the Gods is going to be an epic trilogy when it all comes out, and in the meantime, fans of Chinese mythology can marvel at part one, titled Kingdom of Storms at home. The video is beautifully crisp and colour saturation in par with the film version I saw many moons ago, and to be able to pause and take breathers between chapters was heartily welcomed. Had there been a 4K release, I’m sure the flaws can be seen a mile away. Not all of the effects are immaculate and require a bit of suspension of belief (like setting the characters riding on a horse on fire during an early scene).
Also, to learn about the behind the scenes, there’s four featurettes made to reveal how this film was put together. From makeup to set designs to special effects and onset lighting, the gambit is well covered.
I think the look at how the past was brought to life from ancient scroll art is the best. The information revealed in the second piece shows just how much everyone wanted to create a film that is miles beyond the source material. Not only were attempts to replicate these paintings looked different in pre production, but also to reveal some techniques is important too. To decide between making it feel real to saying it can be done digitally must have been tough for director Wuershan. I like the fact that he wasn’t that fully reliant on using CGI throughout The Creation of the Gods. While some moments were quickly added on (like people still on fire while riding a horse), I’m sure some suspension of disbelief was required.
And I didn’t realise some parts of the story were filmed in New Zealand. To see the production team do some location scouting for places that aren’t China was a surprise to me.
Here, what’s adapted is revealed to be closer to the source material. Quite often, these other tales make the concubine Daji, who is actually a fox spirit, a key point of focus. She’s China’s ultimate femme fatale, and is the reason behind the fall of the Shang dynasty. When considering her motives are just as morally corrupt, to see her fully invested in destroying this country says something. In the novel, the celestial god Nüwa gave her this mission and promised to grant her immortality after King Zhou is destroyed.
Even the special effects need to be sharp. In this piece, the talents revealed that they spent four years developing and refining as they went along. They even hired Andy Serkis to learn the finer points about acting for motion capture, and that’s a lot of investment put in. Without that wow factor, especially in rendering a 10′ tall demon Lei Zhenzi.
I won’t tell all with the remaining two featurettes, but overall, this is a Well GO USA home video release to be proud of. When comparing this North American release to others, namely the region 3 version (if the information on YesAsia is correct), it seems distributor invested into getting these behind the scenes featurettes made. It’s not just them, but various production houses wanting a product to shine for those unable to see it on the big screen.
When considering this work is adapted from Investiture of the Gods (Amazon link), the effort must be exceptional. It’s an important piece of Chinese literature. And this story isn’t all that different from others by too much. I’ve seen takes which focus on other characters, like Jiang Ziya, and starts off in another chapter or is basically more of a spinoff than anything else. I’m still waiting for that continuation of the Fengshen Cinematic Universe.
The Creation of the Gods Movie Trailer
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