Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms movie review (2023)

You can tell that this would-be tentpole’s script was punched up and rewritten a few times to give it greater cogency and dramatic urgency, not just because American screenwriting guru James Schamus’ script consultant credit gets prominent placement during the opening credits. There’s still a lot more expository dialogue here than you might be willing to wade through, especially given how little forward momentum this movie has. 

Granted, “Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms” has a fairly low bar to clear, given its mid- to late-year release. It doesn’t really deliver anything that the bigger and better 2023 Chinese blockbusters already haven’t, not after the blackly comic Song dynasty conspiracy thriller “Full River Red” or the already conventional sci-fi prequel “The Wandering Earth 2.” But while “Creation of the Gods I” is not yet a personal, let alone essential, series, you can see glimpses of the epic that director Wuershan has arguably been working his way up to since “The Butcher, the Chef, and the Swordsman,” his wildly uneven, but occasionally disarming 2010 breakthrough. 

It’s hard to recommend the two-and-a-half-hour-long “Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms” to anybody except the already curious. It’s atmospheric and never boring, despite never being as assured or as focused as it could be. A few standout moments do, however, make Ji Fa and the boys’ dilemma seem somewhat more complicated, like when one character spells out the movie’s central premise: "Remember, it doesn't matter whose son you are. What matters is who you are." 

I don’t believe that these square-jawed characters or their lofty concerns are strong enough to pave the way for what comes next, either for China’s ever-looming global box office takeover or their filmmakers, some of whom struggle to synthesize Western genre conventions and marketing strategies to create the next big Chinese money-maker. There’s a lot to like in “Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms,” but you might still think of other (and better) recent movies.

Now playing in theaters.