League of Gods

I'm surprised to read so many low ratings on this movie, this is my favorite movie to date in this genre, I love Martial Arts movies , especially fantasy ones and this has everything you could possibly want. The characters are creative, great costumes/make up, lots of fun CGI, cloud cities, immortal warlord bad guys, evil demons, out of this world kung fu, and action action action. Wuxia movies are a ton of fun, not to be taken too seriously, after all they're literally out of this world stories about demons and heros. If you liked The Serpent & the White Snake, or Monkey King, True Legend, The Four series, or the Tai Chi Hero / Zero, then you'll love this.

Before attending the preview of this Chinese summer action fantasy blockbuster, this writer came across an online article about how the movie is being billed as a "Chinese X Men". Next, he watched the trailer and had a nagging feeling that he will have nothing good to say about this star studded production (if you are not the hugest fan of overdoses of special effects and computer generated creatures, then you are on this reviewer's side).

True enough, the 110 minute movie throws scene after scene of pompous action sequences at its viewers. There is nothing particularly original about this production – it is really a messy mashup of things you have seen elsewhere.

Based on the Ming Dynasty novel Fengshen Yanyi (Investiture of the Gods) by Xu Zhonglin, the story starts of with a tyrannical king (a bored looking Tony Leung, who had seen better days in movies like the recent Cold War 2), who is also bewitched by a beautiful empress (Fan Bingbing, who is the best part about this movie), who is in fact an ancient fox demon (watch out for her giant tentacles!). Just as the evil duo are about to kill off a good guy who is holding the secrets to destroy the ultimate baddie known as the Black Dragon, good guys in the form of a righteous young man (an earnest Jacky Heung who can't save the movie) and a powerful sorcerer (Jet Li, who can definitely do much better than this).

Elsewhere, there is a villainous general who rides on a CG black panther (Louis Koo, who probably is happy from earning some easy bucks), a rebellious warrior who flies around on CG fire wheels (Wen Zhang, who took over the role from Cecilia Chung after she was fired for poor behaviour) and a righteous warrior who yields CG weapons (an underused Huang Xiaoming). Oh, there is also the love interest character (Angelababy, looking as pretty as ever with her big dreamy eyes) who looks really happy when she sees CG blue butterflies. The good guys are supposed to hunt down a mighty sword which is supposed to save the world (but of course).

To be honest, the story does have quite a bit of potential to capitalise the characters' campy abilities and the demons' out of this world powers to produce an entertaining piece of work. Unfortunately, when you have HK$300 million to blow on a movie, budget is spent on trying to impress the masses with CG scenes (this columnist might have been more impressed if there were animatronics on display). Money was probably also spent on "foreign talents" like composer John Debney (The Jungle Book), animation director Randall William Cook (The Lord of the Rings), sound designer Brent Burge (The Hobbit) and editor Wayne Philip Wahrman (I Am Legend).

The result? A mess that can hardly be salvaged. We just need to mention one scene for you to know what to expect – A CG Nezha invades an underwater palace and destroys CG sea monsters with CG fart. Yup, you read it right. We rest our case here - till the sequel comes along (yup, there will probably be one).

A 2016 movie with the production values, special effects, script, costumes, backgrounds and dialogue of a 2005 video game.

I don't normally write reviews but this movie is just God awful. A reviewer said that you shouldn't view the movie with western eyes because it's an Asian film. I'm Chinese and this film is the worst Chinese film I've ever seen. The actors are under utilized; the cgi is over the top, ugly, and unrealistic; the plot is just terrible. I'm so confused on who the main actor is, because there are so many subplots. You can develop characters without the subplots. What is that under the sea scene about? Didn't the evil general perish in the sky? How did he appear on the battlefield? The editing is just terrible. The edit at the beginning of the movie when the king is having a celebration while a jailbreak is going on is just risible. It's just a terrible terrible film. Please, no sequel.

The Good= Love the Lore and the How Crafted this Fantasy World seems to be. Also Loved the Visual. I just loved how everything just looks From the Use of Magic to the Costumes to even the World of this film itself. And I also Enjoyed the Opening Narration to Introduce us to the word. Which was really cool IN My Own Personal Opionion. And although I'm Not sure if this is considered a Positive but I'm going to anyways, to me I found the First Fight of the Film So Epic it kind of feels like a Climatic Caliber Fight from an Average Fantasy Film. I also just liked how easy it is to know what's going on. At The start of the Film to a certain extent, and hare's what I mean by that although they don't tell you they got to that point but what they do tell you is the Mission of the Band of Heros. And I also Like how clearly they explain Emperor's Backstory, through Flashbacks. And Finally I think that last thing that I Like about this film is that it's pretty much Clean and Cut in terms of what kind of Fantasy Film this is and what they are trying to achieve in the film. And Unless I'm Missing anything else that should do it for the Positives.

The Bad= What Really Bogs me down about this film is how much the First Two Traveling Companions Really Grinds on my Nerves Especially The Frist One. I wouldn't say they are Annoying but close, and because of them I always stop at the very spot every time that I watch it so Far. And speaking of I found the Animation the Both of them Really Bad, so much so they Feel and Look Obvious Out of Place, maybe that's their intention I don't know? Because Unlike with say Space Jam where The Live Action Actors Both look and feel like they are Actually interacting with the Cartoon Characters be it in the Cartoon World or in our Real World, that doesn't seem to be the case with this film. In This Film the Animation for the Two Traveling Companions just Feels and Looks Really Disjointed to me. As to the Regards of them Interacting with the Live Action Actor, Jet Li, I Think? In this Case? Anyways I think the I think the Reasons Might be is that the First is I just feel Both of the Traveling Companions just Both Looks and Feels way Too Small. Because to me they both Feel and Look about the Size of a Two-Inch Action Figures. And Unless I'm Seeing things, I think their Sizes Changes from Scene to Scene? And finally moving away from the Two Traveling Companions, The Dubbing Just Feels Really Funny and Not in A Good Way to me, as I feel that the Movants of their Mouths just simply don't Match the Dialog.

Final Thoughts= I Really Hope that the Next Time if there is a Next Time that I Decide to give this Film Another Chance I'm able to Ignore the Personalities, along with everything else about the Two Traveling Companions, because I think that is the only thing that is really hold this Film Back for me Personally.