Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force

Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force
Theatrical release poster
Traditional Chinese	封神第二部：戰火西岐
Simplified Chinese	封神第二部：战火西岐
Directed by	Wuershan
Written by	Ran Ping Ran Jianan Wuershan Xu Zhonglin
Based on	Investiture of the Gods by Xu Zhonglin
Produced by	Jiang Zhiqiang Huang Bo
Starring	Yu Shi Fei Xiang Li Xuejian Huang Bo
Cinematography	Wang Yu
Edited by	Huang Shuo
Music by	Gordy Haab Tian Mi
Production companies	Alibaba Pictures Group Beijing Culture Huaxia Film Distribution Mongketengri Pictures Jiangsu Film Group
Distributed by	CMC Pictures (China) Well Go USA Entertainment (United States)
Release date	January 29, 2025 (2025-01-29) (China)
Running time	145 minutes
Country	China
Language	Mandarin
Box office	$161.21 million

Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force is a 2025 Chinese epic fantasy film directed by Wuershan. The sequel to Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms, it is the second film in the trilogy, adapted from the 16th-century fantasy novel Investiture of the Gods by Ming dynasty author Xu Zhonglin.

Following the ascension of the tyrannical King Zhou of the Shang dynasty in the first film, Demon Force depicts the city of Xiqi's defense against a siege by the Shang army.

The film premiered on 29 January 2025, coinciding with Chinese New Year, with a wide release starting on 31 January.

Plot

Set after the events of the first film, the city of Xiqi falls under attack by the Shang dynasty army. Now Jiang Ziya and Ji Fa, with the help of the Kunlun immortals, must gather civilians to defend Xiqi.

The dead body of Yin Jiao, the former crown prince of the Shang dynasty, is brought to the great Kunlun Mountains by Nezha and Yang Jian as instructed by Jiang Ziya to be resurrected by the great Saints. Despite protests that resurrecting the dead goes against natural order and will bring grave consequences, The Great Saint decides to resurrect Yin Jiao anyway. During the resurrecting process, he finds that Yin Jiao's soul is not in peace and instead filled with hatred towards his father King Yin Shou as well as a burning desire for revenge. Because of this, Yin Jiao's soul absorbs the power of the Great Saint, who loses much of his power and is weakened as a result.

King Yin Shou, newly resurrected by the fox spirit but severely weakened, welcomes Grand Preceptor Wen Zhong and his armies home to Zhaoge after 10 long years away at war; his generals include Deng Chanyu and the Four Demonic Giants. While greeting the King in the palace, the King requests Wen Zhong to capture Ji Fa and Jiang Ziya and bring home the Investiture Scroll. However, Wen Zhong declines and requests retirement considering his long hardship of protecting their dynasty. Deng Chanyu voluntarily requests to lead this mission to honor her late father's wishes for her to become a renowned warrior, and is bestowed royal armour.

Yin Shou sends an emissary to Xiqi, ordering Ji Fa to commit suicide or risk a full invasion of Xiqi, which Ji Fa refuses. Despite his troops laying traps along a bridge and gorge for Chanyu's troops, they prove no match for her forces and hastily retreat; Chanyu doggedly chases after Ji Fa which leads the latter to send them both tumbling down a cliff while evading pursuit. Ji Fa barely manages to escape Chanyu, reuniting with Jiang Ziya who he finds captured by Shen Gongbao's crows. Ji Fa confesses that he has ordered a full evacuation of Xiqi, Jiang Ziya convinces him to continue fighting as the last remaining resistance to Yin Shou's power.

Meanwhile, the fox spirit, severely weakened by its efforts in restoring Yin Shou to full health, is unable to keep Daji's body fresh any longer. The two search for a new vessel for the fox spirit to possess, only to find that the fox spirit is unable to leave Daji's body, much to the fox spirit's devastation.

Upon Ji Fa and Jiang Ziya's return to Xiqi, Jiang Ziya cryptically suggests that Ji Fa's forces attack Chanyu's encampment at night. While Ji Fa's troops are successful in killing one of the Demonic Giants and causing brief mayhem in Chanyu's camp, they are unable to stand up to the remaining Giants in a confrontation the following day, who use their sacred artifacts and magic to assault the city. The Giants are finally subdued by an intervention from Yin Jiao, who has obtained a powerful three-headed, six-limbed form due to absorbing the Great Saint's power, fueled by his thirst for revenge. Ji Fa and Chanyu are swept away by the Giants' attacks; Ji Fa rescues Chanyu from drowning and offers to surrender in exchange for Chanyu's forces sparing Xiqi and its inhabitants. Meanwhile, Yin Shou coerces Wen Zhong into reassuming command of his forces.

Though Chanyu brings Ji Fa to Wen Zhong, Wen Zhong refuses Ji Fa's terms of surrender and orders a purge of Xiqi per Yin Shou's orders. Disgusted by Wen Zhong's willingness to kill innocents, Chanyu helps Ji Fa escape imprisonment. The two are pursued by Wen Zhong, only for Yin Jiao to hold Wen Zhong back and let them escape. Yin Jiao calls out Wen Zhong for his unquestioning loyalty to his father, swearing to kill Wen Zhong if the invasion continues. Yin Jiao reunites with Ji Fa, and Chanyu is accepted as a guest in Xiqi for saving Ji Fa's life. At the same time, The Grandmaster of Heaven grants Shen Gongbao a magical gourd full of Gu, which Shen Gongbao uses to kill Yin Shou's remaining forces and resurrect them as fully obedient undead soldiers.

Through a ritual, Wen Zhong cloaks the Xiqi in darkness and summons a series of giant floating bronze mirrors that project magical light, incapacitating anyone caught in their beams; Chanyu's forces, now under Wen Zhong's command, are protected by a sigil granted by a magic potion, allowing them to breach the city unimpeded to kill all Xiqi's inhabitants. Jiang Ziya recognises the sigil and, remembering seeing a similar mark on Chanyu, realises that Wen Zhong is also after him and the Feng Shenbang; a scene reveals that Chanyu bargained with Wen Zhong to bring him Jiang Ziya and the Feng Shenbang in exchange for sparing Xiqi. Jiang Ziya allows himself to be captured by Chanyu, who brings him to Wen Zhong's ritual altar. Chanyu is angered that Wen Zhong went ahead with the invasion and indiscriminate slaughter, but Jiang Ziya launches a flare to indicate Wen Zhong's location to Ji Fa. Ji Fa is barely carried out of Xiqi as his allies fall victim to Wen Zhong's lights.

At the altar, Ji Fa prepares to stab Wen Zhong in his third eye, but Wen Zhong boasts that the hour of his ritual is nearly complete and anyone affected by the light will die upon the ritual's completion; conversely, killing him will also destroy everyone protected by his sigil, including Chanyu. Grievously wounded from fighting off Wen Zhong's qilin mount and sensing Ji Fa's hesitation, Chanyu helps Ji Fa stab Wen Zhong to break the ritual. All of Ji Fa's allies regain consciousness, and Wen Zhong's troops dissipate into particles of light; a grief-stricken Ji Fa is left cradling Chanyu, singing to her as she also disintegrates.

In mid-credits scenes, Yin Jiao travels alone back to Zhaoge to kill Yin Shou, but is halted by The Grandmaster of Heaven who arrives his three disciples Yunxiao, Qiongxiao and Bixiao; a defeated Wen Zhong meets Shen Gongbao who has come to collect his head as per the King's orders, and commands the army of Gu soldiers to march onto Xiqi. In the post-credits scene, the Grandmaster of Heaven raises a brainwashed Yin Jiao from a pool of mercury and presents him to Yin Shou and Daji as their puppet.

Cast

• Yu Shi as Ji Fa, the lord of Xiqi
• Fei Xiang as King Yin Shou, leader of the Shang dynasty
• Chen Muchi as Prince Yin Jiao, Yin Shou's only son
• Huang Bo as Jiang Ziya, a former Kunlun immortal and keeper of the Fengshen Bang
• Ci Sha as Yang Jian, a Kunlun immortal
• Narana Erdyneeva as Daji, the concubine of Yin Shou, possessed by a fox spirit
• Nashi as Deng Chanyu, a general of the Shang army
• Wu Hsing-kuo as Wen Zhong, the Grand Preceptor of the Shang army

Production

Development

Wuershan started work on the script for the Creation of the Gods trilogy in June 2014, during production of Mojin: The Lost Legend, which he felt had given him "significant experience in commercially-backed filmmaking and the use of necessary technologies for creating visually heavy blockbusters".

Creation of the Gods adapts the Chinese 16th-century historical fantasy novel Investiture of the Gods, which retells the overthrow of the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BCE) and the founding of the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BCE). Wuershan consulted anthropologists and historians during the research process, additionally including parts of other Chinese myths and classic texts: Wu Wang Fa Zhou Ping Hua (Chinese: 武王伐纣平话; lit. 'Story of King Wu's Campaign Against King Zhou'), the Book of Documents, and the Six Secret Teachings.

Filming

Filming of all three parts of the trilogy began in 2018 and was done back-to-back, spanning 18 months and involving almost 10,000 crew members working in technical departments. There are more than 2,000 special effects shots in Demon Force that cover battle sequences and various Chinese mythological creatures, including the qilin, a hooved chimera; the jiaolong, a scaled dragon; and the huli jing, a shapeshifting fox spirit. Visual inspiration for the demon generals came from Wu Daozi's painting "The Eighty-Seven Immortals" (Chinese: 八十七神仙卷), and the character of Deng Chanyu was based on historical figure Fu Hao, a female Shang dynasty general.

Visual effects

The first film, Kingdom of Storms, was released in 2023. Demon Force and the third film, Creation Under Heaven, were due for release in 2024 and 2025, respectively, but both were delayed by a year due to the complexity of their visual effects. During production, the film's English subtitle was changed from "Demonic Confrontation" to "Demon Force" at the suggestion of Taiwanese-American actor Fei Xiang.

Release

Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force received a limited IMAX release starting 29 January 2025 in China and North America. It was followed by a wide release on 31 January in China, North America, Australia, France, and Italy.

The film has an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 in regular formats, while IMAX screenings feature an expanded aspect ratio of 1.90:1.

Reception

Box office

On its first day of release, Creation of the Gods II earned $65.78 million in China and $451,899 in the United States. By the end of its opening weekend, the film had grossed $123.72 million in China and $1.29 million in the US, more than double the box office of Creation of the Gods I over the same period ($53.7 million).

As of 17 February 2025, the film has grossed CN¥ 1.16 billion (US$160.31 million) in China, trailing two other films that were also released on Chinese New Year: Ne Zha 2 and Detective Chinatown 1900.

Critical response

Creation of the Gods II received generally positive reviews from critics. Writing for RogerEbert.com, Simon Abrams gave it three out of four stars, saying, "[It's] refreshing to see a glossy, effects-driven fantasy adventure that not only delivers a wealth of action-intensive set pieces and battle sequences, but also develops those crowd-pleasing set pieces so that they’re consistently impressive. ... Would-be blockbusters always seem too big to fail, but very few actually pull off as much as this one does."

James Marsh of the South China Morning Post gave it four out of five stars, writing, "While it must be conceded that the alluring sensuality of the first film is sorely missed here, Wuershan delivers another rollicking fantasy adventure, bursting with vividly drawn characters, crackling set pieces and eye-popping visual effects ... a 16th century novel has spawned one of the most genuinely enthralling Chinese cinematic sagas in recent memory."

In FilmInk, Cain Noble-Davies gave the film an eight out of ten, comparing its scale to the Lord of the Rings trilogy: "Practical effects make up the heft of the visuals here, from the densely populated set pieces, to the labyrinthian etchings of the costumes, to the sheer scale of the warfare scenes ... [though] there’s plenty of room for quieter moments and even humorous asides. That, and the underlying philosophical tone of the source material, with the main conflict essentially serving as a large-scale duel of praxis between Confucianism and Taoism, which helps to keep the presence of gods, demons, and mystical immortals from being entirely surface-level."

External links

• Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force at IMDb
• Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force at Rotten Tomatoes
• Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force at Douban (in Chinese)