CREATION OF THE GODS II: DEMON FORCE

Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force, Well Go USA

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Review by Mark Dujsik | January 30, 2025

With everything—and maybe then some—set up in its predecessor, Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force allows co-writer/director Wuershan to unleash as much spectacle as he can imagine. The first movie hinted at that potential in its story of human politics and war, various supernatural players working with or against each side, and the gods of heaven watching as their creations fail to do the good they had hoped for humanity. It felt like a lot with little payoff.

The second entry, apparently, is the payoff. Well, it's the first part of the payoff, at least. After all, Wuershan has had a trilogy in store for us from the very beginning, as he and fellow co-screenwriters Ran Jianan and Ran Ping adapt the 16th century novel The Investiture of the Gods. Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms teased some of what is fulfilled in this installment during some post-credit scenes. After witnessing what the filmmaker actually does with those elements here, it's tough to believe that he could have anything else up his sleeve. If the scenes that play out during the credits in this entry are any indication, Wuershan may surprise yet again.

Such predications, of course, are meaningless in discussing the film at hand, but surely, anticipating what's to come must, to some degree, be a sign of this installment's success. Either way, this one is a lot of fun.

It's also, in a strange way, almost a stand-alone story. Sure, anyone coming to this sequel without seeing the first movie would be lost, but given how much exposition and how many characters were introduced in that original entry, those who did see it might also feel a little out of the loop from the very start here.

The screenplay barely offers a recap of the story so far, and as it turns out, that's surprisingly fine for what's to come. We're re-introduced to Yin Jiao (Chen Muchi), the former crown prince of one of several kingdoms in ancient China. He's former in two senses, with the first being that he was disowned by his tyrannical father Shou (Kris Phillips) after the father became seduced by an evil spirit. The second sense is that Jiao was decapitated near the end of the first movie.

All things considered, he looks good, and after the prince's remains are brought to heaven, the gods determine that he should be given a second chance to fulfill his possible destiny as the Ruler of All Realms. Jiao ends up absorbing all the powers of the gods, and that's just the prologue of the tale.

The rest of it is more grounded—mostly and with several caveats, of course. It revolves around Shou's war on Xiqi, a kingdom that stands against his rule. The rebelling province's current leader is Ji Fa (Yu Shi), who was a hostage-son and like a brother to Jiao, but that's mostly irrelevant. Here, the plot and characters are as simple as can be. The king wants to defeat Fa, conquer Xiqi, and retrieve the magic scroll known as the Fengshen Bang, which could give him the power of the gods. Fa wants to stop Shou's attack and, along with the monk and scroll-protector Jiang Ziya (Huang Bo), prevent him from getting the scroll.

From there, the plot is pretty much non-stop fighting or preparing for imminent battle. This unfolds in a string of imaginative action sequences, which are as relatively straightforward as an ambush on a floating bridge, which separates and sends Shou's forces into a rushing river or leaping across the broken sections, and as over-the-top as, well, just about everything else here. Some may recall, for example, that the first movie promised the participation of a quartet of giant brothers—as in literal giants of myth. They're here from the beginning of the war, plucking opponents from the ground with their sizeable hands, biting off one foe's head (not the grisliest moment, surprisingly, which belongs to the mass transformation of prisoners into an army the undead), and using their various magical weapons. Some of those, such as a lute and an umbrella, don't seem too threatening, until they're used—pulsing destructive soundwaves or spinning to capture an onslaught of arrows, only to open and send the projectiles flying back.

The scale of the battles, however, is even bigger than those giants, and the variety of the sequences is considerable. There are massive armies riding across the desert, stealth attacks in a ravine and on an enemy camp at night, sieges against the walled city of Xiqi, and even more supernatural characters, such as Ziya's elemental-magic-yielding disciples—Jian (Ci Sha) and Nezha (Wu Yafan)—and the surprising entity that Jiao has become, to take part in the fighting.

That's not even taking into consideration the various spells and curses that aid Shou's forces, led on the ground by General Deng Chanyu (NaErNaXi), whose own story and evolving relationship with Fa become the down-to-earth heart of the tale. The film's climactic battle is quite the feat of staging and editing, bringing in every previous supernatural character and element, adding a sky-based threat, and even playing with the timeline of the skirmish in a clever way.

In the previous movie, one could occasionally sense the giddy fun Wuershan was having in between the stretches of introduction. Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force lets him work in that jovially creative mode the entire way through, and it is very entertaining to behold.

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