Feng Shen 1: Zhaoge Feng Yun

This is cinema on a grand scale, everything about it is breathtaking. The cinematography and visuals are stunning, the set pieces are immense, the scope of the story telling is wide and a large cast deliver polished performances. For western audiences, imagine a movie matching the scale and vision of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. The stories are completely different but there's something about the sheer scale and vision which they share.

The story is quite straightforward, good vs. Evil, the importance of family, moral corruption and the last for power, however it is done extremely well and makes for compelling viewing. The story is based on a classic story, I am not familiar with the original book so cannot comment on how faithful the movie is to the original.

Production values are very high and all of the cast deliver strong performances. If I have a criticism it is that the good vs. Evil story is very heavy. There is no nuance, no grey, the good people are paragons of virtue, the bad people full on over the top villainous caricatures. Although the main villain starts off as quite tragic in falling for the temptations of a demon that is quickly left behind as he becomes crazily over the top evil. That's why I give 9* instead of 10*, a little more nuance in the characters would have added a lot I think.

Overall a terrific movie for those who enjoy fantasy epics on a grand scale. They don't make many like this.

If you're not put off by subtitles, any fan of war films and heroic fantasy should watch this. Though it seems odd they haven't done an English-dubbed version, which would get it through to a much wider audience.

They could also try a different title. Maybe Superheroes of the Fall of the Shang Dynasty. For Chinese and other East Asians, the idea of mortals becoming gods is familiar and believed by the religious or superstitious. A belief also found in Classical Greece, but confusing for a Western audience.

It is an heroic fantasy, loosely based on the actual fall of the Shang, 3000 years ago. A concubine who was widely blamed in later histories is re-invented as a Fox Demon - another concept unfamiliar in the West. And it is actually simplified from the original legend, which has three spirits sent by an offended goddess to be destructive concubines who made a bad man worse.

Which may be no more historic than Shakespeare's Macbeth, but certainly makes a good drama.

It seems this legend is even better known than Journey to the West / Monkey, which is much better known in the West and had a recent much-rewritten film, as well as a Japanese television series that was popular in the West with dubbing into English. As I said, maybe humans become gods is too odd in the Western view, though the very popular superheroes are essentially the same.

The plot is complex, and I found the palace guards confusingly similar. But it was entertaining, and is the first of three.

GoT meets Shogun meets Indiana Jones meets LOTR meets Wheel of Time! Such a great show with interesting characters and plot, well-balanced with action and drama!

I love Chinese culture, and there are so many references to hostoric China and customs that I really enjoyed.

I am American but have always been interested in the concepts of Chinese culture from Taoism to the Tao De Ching. There is so much to learn.

The cinematography was beautiful as are the actors and actresses. I was hoping for a dragon throughout but there are some satisfying mystical elements for those who seek that type of thing. ENJOY!

It's a phenomenal movie, it revolves around the core of the prophase of the Chinese civilization--fatherhood and inheritance. The director has excellent taste in history and Chinese myth. Very clear storyline and character shaping, all of them correspond to the ancient Chinese value system, the kind intent to manipulate his sons equals he wants to dominate the whole regime, but he has the ambition to eliminate his ancestors to build his surmountable power which makes he be seemed as a villain in Chinese culture. The cinematography is top-notch, I am appealed to the whole time in the movie! Highly recommended, it's a stunning epical representation of the Shang Dynasty and Chinese myth!

Let's start with the pros. Some of the costumes, art, and casting in the movie are excellent. Fei Xiang's face has a very advanced sense of screen quality, Yang Jian's casting, styling, and action design are bright and eye-catching, Su Daji is more in line with personal aesthetics, and the fox's dynamic expression is very dynamic. Zhaoge and Xiji are each unified in terms of visual sensibility, color, and design language, and from an art perspective, the shaping of the worldview is successfully completed. Zhaoge and Xiji are unified in their visual senses, colors, and design language, and from an art perspective, the shaping of the film's worldview is successfully completed.

The biggest problem is that the script is too weak in literature and has too many contradictory points of logic. The whole movie is boring if you take away the art and special effects. The deaths of Empress Jiang and Bigan were awkward, and the deaths were meaningless.