L.O.R.D: Legend of Ravaging Dynasties

L.O.R.D: Legend of Ravaging Dynasties (爵迹, 2016) is a Chinese fantasy epic you can watch online on iFILM. Writer-director Guo Jingming adapts his own best-selling novels into the realm of Odin, where four magical kingdoms have warred for ages over a single ultimate throne.

Each kingdom answers to seven elite alchemists and the spirit-warriors bound to them, and a young outsider is pulled into the conflict at the side of a powerful lord. The voice and motion-capture cast is stacked with stars — Fan Bingbing, Kris Wu, Yang Mi. The whole thing is built on performance capture and wall-to-wall CGI; it was one of China's first big swings at a fully digital feature on this scale, and the money clearly went into spectacle over restraint. It's a feast for fans of ornate Eastern fantasy — palaces, sorcery, clashing armies — rather than anyone after quiet character drama. Stream L.O.R.D (2016) online on iFILM.