League of Gods (2016)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The acting in this movie is really good.

This is absolutely by far, one of the worst Chinese mythology adaptation I've ever seen in my 28 years as a Chinese. The biggest flaw is how the characters had almost no resemblance to their original selves, they were "westernized" for the sake of appealing to the western audience. The story was all over the place, pointless and the screen play was obviously rushed - where it felt like the director had a checklist of what to do and just went with it. They took the essential core of Chinese mythology and just littered it with as much explosions as possible. I mean, space ships... really? As for any saving grace, I'd give the movie some props for having a very decent audio mastering prowess. The LFE was taut, it wasn't overbearing and it has a sense of weight whenever the scene asks for it. There's also some good usage of surround effects, voices pan with very nice and wide separation that makes it a little eerie to listen to at times.China's visual department has definitely came a long way. They're still a few steps behind Hollywood as a whole, but they're definitely closer than ever. Good effort by the VFX team, unfortunately the decision in making the whole movie look like the Avengers was a big turn off.This is a mediocre movie at best and most of the time, it's just simply bad. It deserves a 3 simply because of its audio presentation and a nod to the VFX team. Other than that, this movie belongs in the litter box of garbage movies.

LEAGUE OF GODS is another CGI monstrosity aimed at the Chinese market, although Hong Kong producers are criminally responsible for this one. First, the good stuff: it's big budget, based on a classic 16th century novel, and features an all-star cast of cameoing stars. Sadly, the whole thing turns out to be an overblown CGI mess of the kind I've never witnessed before, and that makes it very, very bad indeed.This film offers near constant CGI in a way that would make George Lucas proud. It has more CGI than in STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE which is saying something. Every scene features CGI in some regard: CGI monsters, CGI snakes, CGI magical blasts, CGI flying, CGI backgrounds, even CGI characters. The direction is a dizzying blend of quick cuts and endless CGI transitions, no surprise given that the director is an effects man best known for his assistant direction on Jackie's WHO AM I?. As for the actors, they don't even get a look in. I'm a martial arts fan, but the wirework-assisted action is in very short supply.Tony Leung is an evil king in thrall to an evil sorceress played by Fan Bingbing. There are so many CGI snakes and effects in their scenes that it's difficult to make them out. A bloated and weary Jet Li, suffering from real-life health problems, offers little more than an extended cameo in his role of a crusading priest (basically the same as his one in EMPEROR AND THE WHITE SNAKE). Louis Koo shows up as a bad guy riding a giant panther while Angelababy simpers and looks vacant (no difficulty for her).The film's bald-headed hero, played by Jacky Heung, has a single expression on his wooden face throughout. The CGI action scenes are endless and wearisome after about five minutes. The plot seems to be a blend of LORD OF THE RINGS, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, and STAR WARS with no sense or wit about it. The hero is accompanied by a creepy CGI baby and an annoying CGI plant in some scenes. A giant CGI centipede attacks at one point. Later, Louis Koo turns into a fantasy version of the Hulk. It's incredibly poor, laughably so in fact, and a complete waste of time, effort, and money.

I thought Chinese are getting better at making movies after watching the mermaid,dragon blade and journey to the west. The story is about an evil king with a beautiful empress who is a nine tail fox demon. Our heros must find a legendary sword and together defeat the villains.We have a villain general riding on black panther like he man, a hero who flies on weird rings, another hero with wings and more blah blah.Sooo much potential completely ruined. The movie is filled with cgi and action but no space for story or character development. They put too much in one movie.The scenes jump from one action scene to other without any connection. My head still hurts watching this mess.Even the action and visuals were very confusing and too fast. Just when an action scene ends another one starts without giving any room for the characters to interact.There was no proper introduction to the setting and any details about the life of character's.In the second half a little bit drama made me give this five stars. A disappointment from Jet li who tried to be gandalf in this movie. I couldn't stop laughing when they showed signs of a sequel at the end. Finally a great comment from a youtuber."It's all fun and games until a baby goes cgi".

I can't believe the low score for this movie and the bad reviews complaining about the effects. Yes, there's a lot of CGI in this movie but no more than you see in the Avengers or Star Trek. And yes the storyline is a bit weird at times, but it's an Asian fantasy movie based on a centuries old fable so things are gonna be a little different. I thought some of the action scenes were amazing and there was some funny moments and some great acting. Grab some popcorn, turn your brain off for 100 minutes and sit back and enjoy the show without overanalysing things and you'll have a good time. Can't wait for the sequel...