Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

[angora]

Yeah, they really don’t make them like Tony Leung Chiu-wai anymore. He acts with such layered subtlety and has this intense magnetism that really feels so classic/timeless. It’s criminal that it took so long for Hollywood to find him something to do, but it warms my cynical heart to hear Feige recognize how lucky Marvel is to have him.

[tv echo]

FYI: You can see the previous character posters at Shang-Chi's Marvel page here (scroll down to bottom of page).
https://www.marvel.com/movies/shang-chi-and-the-legend-of-the-ten-rings 

Edited September 17, 2021 by tv echo

[arc]

On 9/6/2021 at 7:23 AM, tv echo said:

Shang-Chi's Budget Reportedly Smaller Than Black Panther, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Most MCU Movies

Yeah, honestly I did feel like some of the outside-the-bus CGI looked a little cheap =(

On 9/8/2021 at 11:17 AM, tennisgurl said:

I also love how in comic book worlds there are about a billion different secret evil organizations with aspirations of world domination as well as all of these secret societies and countries and moon colonies and magical subcultures all founded totally independently from each other all just running around never bumping into each other until the plot brings them together. Is it awkward if a Ten Rings assasin is lining up to snipe some politician when some assasin from Hydra is already there?

Hydra unfortunately is mostly defunct by now and I guess the Red Room is too, but I’d definitely like to see a Marvel Disney+ show set back when all three were active, and as you say, probably competing with each other.

On 9/6/2021 at 7:44 PM, Dani said:

I assume you mean Morris. He is a dijiang. 

Wow, I had no idea those things were from an existing myth/lore rather than made up for the movie.

I did love the lion-dogs, which were straight out of lion dances.

I wonder why Shang-Chi, who didn’t start the movie wanting that life, kept the Ten Rings and Xialing didn’t get them. Or at least split them, five rings for each heir.

[Raja]

10 hours ago, arc said:

I also love how in comic book worlds there are about a billion different secret evil organizations with aspirations of world domination as well as all of these secret societies and countries and moon colonies and magical subcultures all founded totally independently from each other all just running around never bumping into each other until the plot brings them together. Is it awkward if a Ten Rings assasin is lining up to snipe some politician when some assasin from Hydra is already there?

10 hours ago, arc said:

Hydra unfortunately is mostly defunct by now and I guess the Red Room is too, but I’d definitely like to see a Marvel Disney+ show set back when all three were active, and as you say, probably competing with each other.

 

That reminds me in Ant-Man, Darren  Cross was marketing Pym Particles to representatives from Hydra and the Ten Rings tattoo was spotted on one of the potential buyers.  In this I think the MCU should have followed the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  example that an organization that survived after WWII and the hunt for Nazis would have cells that were not part of S.H.I.E.L.D  still surviving but with a lower profile

Edited September 18, 2021 by Raja

[tv echo]

One Name | Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings
Marvel Entertainment   Sep 17, 2021

 

Edited September 18, 2021 by tv echo

[arc]

Shang-Chi is what, 27 in MCU 2023? Wenwu gave up his immortal life of crime and power for Shang-Chi's first seven years, plus whatever time he and his wife had together before their first kid. But he restarted the whole enterprise pretty darn quick after that, so from 2003-(approx) 2016, the Ten Rings had to share secret world domination with Hydra and the Red Room. Honestly the Red Room is such a latecomer to the secret Great Game that it's impressive they got in the game at all.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, arc said:

Shang-Chi is what, 27 in MCU 2023?

24. He left at 14 and spent 10 years on his own. He would have been born in 1999. This is consistent with him wearing a class on 2017 shirt early in the movie. 

1 hour ago, arc said:

But he restarted the whole enterprise pretty darn quick after that, so from 2003-(approx) 2016, the Ten Rings had to share secret world domination with Hydra and the Red Room.

Wouldn’t it be 2006-2014 when Winter Soldier was set. 

Edited September 19, 2021 by Guest

[angora]

Also, while we’re talking timelines, half of the “I gave you 10 years to live your life” were during the Blip, which kinda sucks for Shang-Chi. Xialing too, for that matter - I wonder if the Snap was what pushed her to leave, something like, “Half the world is gone and my brother STILL hasn’t reached out? Guess he’s really never coming back for me.”

[arc]

3 hours ago, Dani said:

24. He left at 14 and spent 10 years on his own.

I don’t think I can fully suspend my disbelief that Simu Liu is playing 24 in this, but also that means Meng’er Zhang is playing, like, 20-21? And for the ten years Shang-Chi was away, Xialing spent six of them waiting for her big brother to come back home, so she built a fight club empire starting at 16? I mean, I guess, but we’re starting to get into anime territory for overachieving teenagers.

Separately, I just realized that going to Ta Lo is basically going to the Xu kids’ ancestral village (“heung ha” in Cantonese, sorry, I don’t know the Mandarin/Putonghua words). This is kind of a medium big thing in Chinese culture, I dimly understand. Not so much making a visit or pilgrimage back there, but just knowing where you’re from.

(Also, yes, technically Chinese culture is patrilineal so going back to their mom’s home village isn’t quite their heung ha, but still. Wenwu’s own home village might not have any great-great-etc grandchildren alive of people who would have known Wenwu.)

Edited September 19, 2021 by arc

[paigow]

3 hours ago, arc said:

(Also, yes, technically Chinese culture is patrilineal so going back to their mom’s home village isn’t quite their heung ha, but still.

An Ancestral village protected by a magic dragon beats a few farms inhabited by some oxen and dogs... 

[Chyromaniac]

One of the signs that I really love a movie is when I figure out what theme park attraction I’d want based on it.  For this film, I decided it’s the Ta Lo Drive-Thru Safari Tour.

[tv echo]

Estimated weekend box office...

Box Office: ‘Shang-Chi’ Set to Lead for Third Weekend as ‘Free Guy’ Climbs Up to No. 2
By Ellise Shafer    Sep 18, 2021
https://variety.com/2021/film/box-office/shang-chi-box-office-third-weekend-free-guy-1235067895/ 

Quote

In its third weekend of release, Marvel and Disney’s “Shang-Chi” is set to remain in the No. 1 spot with an estimated gross of $20 million to $22 million. That would bring its domestic total earnings to a sizable $175 million to $177 million. On Friday, the Simu Liu-led superhero adventure brought in $5.8 million from 4,070 theaters. It won’t be long until “Shang-Chi’s” gross beats that of fellow Marvel film “Black Widow,” which has collected $183 million so far.

In the video below, VFX Supervisor Christopher Townsend talked about what went into bringing the Ten Rings to life....

Finding the Ten Rings | Marvel Studios' Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings
Marvel Entertainment   Sep 18, 2021

Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings | Visual Effects
Marvel Studios Movies   Sep 18, 2021

Production designer Sue Chan posted a b-t-s pic of Benedict Wong standing in front of an advertisement for the Wong vs. Abomination cage match...

https://www.instagram.com/p/CT7wd81JQvj/ 

Quote

sue.chan.pd Behind the scenes @shangchi on the fight club set with @wongrel Thanks to @destindaniel for sharing this great photo with me and to our great graphics team led by Brian Carlin with Ken Lau creating the magnificent Asian street art for Xialing’s Golden Dagger club!

 

Edited September 19, 2021 by tv echo

[AimingforYoko]

4 hours ago, tv echo said:

Box Office: ‘Shang-Chi’ Set to Lead for Third Weekend as ‘Free Guy’ Climbs Up to No. 2

Shang-Chi will be the first movie to gross $200m domestically since, you guessed it, Frank StalloneBad Boys For Life. (R.I.P. Norm Macdonald)

[Guest]

14 hours ago, arc said:

I don’t think I can fully suspend my disbelief that Simu Liu is playing 24 in this, but also that means Meng’er Zhang is playing, like, 20-21?

It’s about as believable as Shuri being a teen. Whether it’s believable or not it’s how old they are in the MCU. Although, Simu really doesn’t look that much younger in the stock photos when he was early 20’s. 

 

14 hours ago, arc said:

And for the ten years Shang-Chi was away, Xialing spent six of them waiting for her big brother to come back home, so she built a fight club empire starting at 16? I mean, I guess, but we’re starting to get into anime territory for overachieving teenagers.

Yes. Isn’t it stated in the dialogue? I could have sworn Katy has a line where she is in awe that Xialing built her business at 16. 

It is being on overachieving teenager by American standards but their childhood effectively ended when their mother died. Being ready to leave at 16 seems pretty reasonable when you have no parenting or anyone who cares about you. In a lot of other countries teens are more independent than US teens. 

Plus as @angora points out she would have left post snap and we know from FatWS that created a very unique situation that she could use to her advantage. 

Edited September 19, 2021 by Guest

[tv echo]

Box Office: ‘Shang-Chi’ Remains No. 1 in Its Third Weekend
BY MIA GALUPPO    SEPTEMBER 19, 2021 
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/box-office-shang-chi-no-1-third-weekend-1235016120/ 

Quote

For a third weekend in a row, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has battled its way to the top of the box office.

The superhero stand-alone earned $21.7 million at the domestic box office from 4,070 theaters, dropping 37 percent, bringing its total North American ticket sales to $176.9 million. The PG-13 movie, which boasts an A CinemaScore, stars Simu Liu as Marvel’s newest hero and is the studio’s first to center on an Asian lead.

All | Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings
Marvel Entertainment   Sep 19, 2021

 

Edited September 20, 2021 by tv echo

[Guest]

‘Shang-Chi’ Heading Into Homes On November 12, Which Bob Chapek Announces As “Disney+ Day”; Here’s Lineup Of Content

Chapek’s previous statement talked about Shang-Chi being on Disney+ after the 45 day theatrical window. I wonder if he misspoke or if the movies strong box office made them change their mind. I’m assuming it will be available as PVOD after 45 days. 

[tv echo]

Morris' Origins | Marvel Studios' Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings
Marvel Entertainment   Sep 22, 2021

 

[arc]

It took me till today, idly rewatching some trailers, to realize Shang-Chi doesn't have two bomber jackets in the same style but different colorways. He has one reversible jacket. Now I really want one.

[Starfish35]

I got to see this Saturday night, and really enjoyed it.  We got a late showing, and the theater was practically empty.  But it was fun, and now I’m looking forward to it coming to Disney+ so I can rewatch it.   Not sure it would make it into my Top 5 favorite MCU movies, but it would definitely be in the Top 10.  

[tv echo]

(Just in time for Halloween)

[angora]

Saw the movie again today, still love it. I'm still thinking about Wenwu. Even putting aside Tony Leung Chiu-wai's impeccable performance, he's just such a DIFFERENT sort of antagonist for Marvel.

He's an undeniable "bad guy," albeit a sympathetic one given his obvious continuing grief over Li's death. He's someone who devoted 1000 years to conquest and seeking more power, who only put it aside briefly and went right back to it after losing Li. (This is the danger of the "redeemed by the love of a good woman" trope: if your "goodness" hinges on one person, what happens to it when that person is removed from your life?) He casually takes what he wants and is fueled by rage and loss. He's TERRIBLE to his kids and damages both of them in different ways, too blinded by his own grief to see what it's doing to them. (When Wenwu intervenes during Shang-Chi's fight with Death Dealer in Macau, my overriding thought is, "Oh, you KNOW that's not the first time he's used the Ten Rings on one of his kids.")

And yet, he's not a "villain" in the sense of having an evil plan. Although Wenwu has to be stopped at all costs, his actions in Ta Lo aren’t in aid of conquest, destruction, or even vengeance, not really (he's prepared to raze Ta Lo to the ground if he can't recover Li, but he's not going there expressly TO destroy Ta Lo.) And he's not in the vein of Killmonger or the Vulture, two villains he gets compared to for being similarly well-executed. The two of them are doing wrong for good/understandable motives, letting their sympathetic intentions take them too far down a road they can't pull themselves back from. But if what Wenwu THINKS is going on were really true, he wouldn’t be the villain at all. He’d be the romantic hero moving heaven and earth to save his wife who’s been held captive for 17 years, finally bringing his family back together after Ta Lo drove them apart (because of course, he's still not going to own his hand in destroying his relationships with his children - Mr. "I blame Shang-Chi for not protecting his mother against killers as a mostly-untrained 7-year-old" isn't big on taking responsibility for his actions.)

Hell, even his intention to destroy Ta Lo if he can’t rescue Li from them, while not “good” in an ethical sense, wouldn’t be straight up villainous in terms of Hollywood morality. Plenty of movies feature a hero, or at least an antihero, laying waste to dozens of bad guys who are holding the woman he loves prisoner. If the people of Ta Lo really DID magically fake Li’s death and then hold her prisoner for 17 years, all because they disapproved of her marriage to Wenwu, then they’d be the bad guys and Wenwu would be well within his rights to come at them with the full power of the Ten Rings.

Except that ISN'T what's happening. That’s ultimately why Shang-Chi has to stop his dad – not because Wenwu is an evil villain trying to destroy the world, but because he’s a widower whose grief has been exploited by a malevolent force that’s fooling him. I find that so interesting about him. He's not someone who's been corrupted/radicalized by harsh circumstances, a decent person whose experiences have twisted him until he takes his sympathetic goals to extreme lengths. By contrast, he's a decidedly-bad person who thinks he’s actually doing good for once, having been unwittingly manipulated by an unambiguous evil. There isn’t really another character like him in the MCU.

[Bruinsfan]

Kaecilius in Doctor Strange has some similarities, though we only hear about the family whose loss motivates his crazy plan in the service of a mystical horror rather than actually meeting them.

[Anela]

I saw this tonight, at the drive-in, and we enjoyed it. I'm not a big Marvel person, other than the series they made for Netflix. I haven't seen all of the movies, I don't know the back-stories, but I have friends who know all of them, and are obsessed. My dad watched the movies, when we had cable, but other than that, he's the same as me. 

[arc]

@angora, do you think the movie suffers any that the actual bad guy has no lines and little to no apparent personality? Or would fixing those take focus off Wenwu?

[angora]

@arc, that's a tricky question to answer. I mean, I definitely think the CGI-fest against the Dweller in Darkness is the weakest part of the film, but I don't think the way to fix that would be, "Give me more insight into the Dweller in Darkness." I think the film would've benefited from keeping its climax more centered on the fight between Shang-Chi and Wenwu. Something more like Civil War - or maybe The Winter Soldier, where bigger action-y stuff is happening AROUND Steve and with the other characters as Steve is having his more personal/intimate fight with Bucky. One, I love-love-love the look of the Ten Rings in action, and nothing the Dweller in Darkness does is cooler than that. And two, so much of the heart of Shang-Chi's story is about his family and its influence on his own sense of self, and pivoting to the big CGI battle at the end loses those personal stakes.

I would've still had Xialing, Katy, and the Ta Lo folks fighting the small soul-suckers that get through the gate, and Shang-Chi still could've ridden in as the Cavalry on the Great Protector. But while that larger fight was going on around them, I would've stuck with Shang-Chi and Wenwu, gradually shifting from a fight to Shang-Chi getting through to him instead. If you still HAVE to kill Wenwu, maybe the Dweller in Darkness is on the brink of escaping and Wenwu's killed as he and Shang-Chi force it back behind the gate together.

In theory, the hero riding a dragon while fighting another dragon is a lot more exciting/impressive, but for me, I'm more interested in the personal storyline. Shang-Chi fighting/deciding he won't kill his dad tells me about Shang-Chi - Shang-Chi destroying the Dweller in Darkness doesn't.

[arc]

TBH it's been just a week and a half since I saw it and I had already forgotten it was called "the Dweller in Darkness". At least "Dormammu" from Doctor Strange is catchy.

I totally agree with you that the climax takes away from the good parts of the movie. What really got me the whole time was how little the Xu kids really tried to address their dad's driving desire. They don't really insist their mom is dead for real. Even during the last stages of Shang-Chi and Wenwu's fight, Shang-Chi doesn't use the soul suckers as clear evidence that he's right and there is no dead Ying Li behind the big dragon-scale door. And they don't really talk about the emotional damage Wenwu wrought on his kids either.

One great idea the Mass Effect 1 videogame had was to personalize the stakes of the final boss battle. On one hand there's a kilometer-sized bad guy having a massive fight with the good guys' fleet, but on the other hand it also directly possesses a human-sized alien so you can have a human-scale fight. That might have been something to try, esp since MCU Ta Lo rips heavily from comic book K'un Lun: the Great Protector could have imbued Shang-Chi with its power directly vs the Dweller powering Wenwu.

[tv echo]

Shang Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings | Visual Effects Breakdown
CG Record   Sep 29, 2021

 

[tv echo]

Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton and co-writer Dave Callaham share secrets behind Marvel hit
Yahoo Entertainment   Sep 27, 2021

Quote

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings writer Dave Callaham and writer/director Destin Daniel Cretton talk with Yahoo's Kevin Polowy about their early drafts, bringing back Ben Kingsley's "fake Mandarin" and hearing from fans about what it means to see an Asian superhero on screen in a Marvel movie.

 

Edited October 2, 2021 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Shang-Chi Spoiler Special: Destin Daniel Cretton And Dave Callaham Talk Marvel’s Martial Arts Epic
By Chris Hewitt   October 11, 2021
https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/shang-chi-spoiler-interview-destin-daniel-cretton-dave-callaham-marvel/ 
 

[Browncoat]

I finally got to see this last night, and I enjoyed it.  It was interesting, though, how many other movies I "saw" in it, including "Speed", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", pretty much any Jackie Chan movie, "How To Train Your Dragon", and "Black Panther".  The hidden village really put me in mind of Wakanda, but with dragon scales instead of vibranium.  I can't decide if the water dragon was more Atreyu and Falkor from "Never-ending Story" or Haku from "Spirited Away".  Either way, it was a most excellent dragon.  

I love Awkwafina way more than I ever expected to when I first saw her in "Crazy Rich Asians", but I know she's more than capable of just being the quirky sidekick.  She's great in this movie, but I hope she gets more than just sidekick roles in the future.  She was really great in "The Farewell".

I know it sounds like I didn't like the movie, but I really did!  It was beautiful, and a really nice introduction to Shang-Chi.  I hope we see more of him and all the rest.

[Lantern7]

Simu Liu will host Saturday Night Live on November 20.

[tv echo]

There will be a Shang-Chi fight choreography panel at San Diego Comic-Con: Special Edition on November 27, 2021...

https://www.comic-con.org/ccse/programming-schedule 

Quote

Shang-Chi: Cultural Impact and Celebration of Fight Choreography

For decades Asian American audiences have enjoyed the works of stars like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and many others. But there has never been a movie quite like Marvel’s Shang-Chi. The first Western Asian superhero film has proved to be an entirely unique filmgoing experience, even when compared to the vast and impressive lineup of its MCU peers. Jessica Tseang (international comics historian) and special guests from the stunt team discuss the process of bringing to life Marvel’s first-ever Asian superhero (and how they succeeded in making him look so darn cool), as well as reflect on the emotional journey of being a part of creating a new kind of hero, a higher caliber of representation, and joining the MCU blockbuster film roster.
*  *  *
Start time: Nov 27, 2021 4:00 pm (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)

End time: Nov 27, 2021 5:00 pm (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)

 

Edited November 7, 2021 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will be available to all Disney+ subscribers starting tomorrow (Nov. 12)...

Disney Plus Day marks the streaming service's 2-year anniversary on November 12 with new releases like 'Shang-Chi' and 'Jungle Cruise'
Reece Rogers    Nov 10, 2021
https://www.businessinsider.com/disney-plus-day-2021-11 

Quote

On November 12, Disney Plus will celebrate its second anniversary with a special event called Disney Plus Day. ...
*  *  *
Many new movies and shows will become available to stream on Disney Plus Day. All subscribers will be able to watch the highly anticipated Marvel movie "Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings," and several films will be available to stream in IMAX's extended aspect ratio for the first time on Disney Plus.
*  *  *
From blockbuster movies to kid-friendly series, many new entertainment options will be available to stream on Disney Plus Day. Below, is a full list of everything set to premiere on November 12 on Disney Plus: 

• "Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings"
  ...
• "Marvel Assembled: The Making of Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings"

 

Edited November 11, 2021 by tv echo

[Kel Varnsen]

Watched this tonight on D+ and really liked it. That first fight between Shang-Chi's parents was beautiful. And the dragon was pretty awesome. Curios where Ta Lo actually is though is it like another planet or something. 

The scene with Bruce and Carol was fun. Although if you are someone who doesn't age would your hair still grow? Also after Endgame I figured Bruce being Professor Hulk was a permanent thing but I guess not. And it is interesting that his arm is still messed up. 

Edited November 13, 2021 by Kel Varnsen

[Cobalt Stargazer]

On 9/19/2021 at 2:32 PM, Dani said:

Yes. Isn’t it stated in the dialogue? I could have sworn Katy has a line where she is in awe that Xialing built her business at 16. 

It is and she does. When asked, Xialing said that her father refused to let her join his empire, so she decided to build her own. She wasn't even allowed to train with her brother before Shang Chi ran off, she taught herself to fight. After Wenwu first takes his children and Katy back home, Xialing advises Katy to just "nod and don't talk", that her father would forget she was even there after a while. That that was how she survived after her mom died, because he said he couldn't look at her since she reminded him of Li. Ouch.

Edited November 13, 2021 by Cobalt Stargazer

[tv echo]

Making History Featurette | Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings | Disney+
Marvel Entertainment    Nov 12, 2021

Quote

It’s all led to this moment 💥 Check out this brand-new featurette to see the journey of Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings from the first tweet to now arriving on Disney+. Stream it today! #DisneyPlusDay

Marvel Studios Assembled: Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings | Official Trailer | Disney+
Marvel Entertainment    Nov 12, 2021

Quote

See how the global phenomenon was brought to life in Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings. The Original Special is now streaming on Disney+! #DisneyPlusDay

 

 

Edited November 13, 2021 by tv echo

[Morrigan2575]

Watching this now on D+. I'm in love with this movie.

[BetterButter]

Finally watching Shang-Chi, here as a bus operator to rate the SFT transit factors of The Bus Scene:

[Kel Varnsen]

Thinking some more about this movie it is also a crazy baller move that the first ten minutes of a huge budget block buster movie are subtitled. It's basically marvel saying we can get away with just about anything at this point. I mean looking back at phase 1, you had scenes in First Avenger where Nazis were talking to other Nazis and speaking English.

[Spartan Girl]

I kind of love how the whole epic flashback at the beginning turned out to be: “And that’s how I met your father!”

Now that I finally watched the whole thing, I can how early say I loved it. Was not expecting Trevor to play a role but it was great to see him again.

Loved Morris!

Whether they’re just friends or an eventual couple Shang-Chi and Katy were great together.

Im totally cool with Xialing taking over her father’s empire. I have a feeling there’s going to be an alliance between her and Power Broker Sharon (whom I’m still hoping is a Skrull and not the real Sharon).

[Cobalt Stargazer]

1 hour ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Thinking some more about this movie it is also a crazy baller move that the first ten minutes of a huge budget block buster movie are subtitled. It's basically marvel saying we can get away with just about anything at this point. I mean looking back at phase 1, you had scenes in First Avenger where Nazis were talking to other Nazis and speaking English.

Another thing I really appreciated was Katy's WTF energy.  I didn't really pay attention to Awkwafina when she was in Ocean's Eight, but she was a very good foil for Simu's more solemn work as Shang. One thing Marvel has lacked for to me is every day people being randomly pulled into unbelievable events and not just rolling with it. Even Peter Parker can be a little too quippy with his movie references in the middle of a fight, so Katy going from complaining about not being her mom's ideal for a kid to driving the crosstown bus even though she doesn't know what the hell's going on was delightful. I do think there's more than friendly feelings there, since right after the battle she's the first one he looks for, and that hug was a bit more than brotherly IMO, so I look forward to seeing where they go from here.

[AnimeMania]

Is it just me, or were those bracelets?

[Anduin]

7 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

Is it just me, or were those bracelets?

It's just you. The movie isn't called Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Bracelets. Sheesh!

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

Is it just me, or were those bracelets?

Aren’t bracelets also rings? I just can’t see rings that go on fingers working as well in action. Plus it’s more accurate to Chinese martial arts. 

[angora]

Some types of kung fu, like hung gar, use iron rings during training to strengthen a person's arms as they're learning their forms. I assume that's the movie based the Ten Rings on.

 

[Camera One]

I enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would.  It was a solid popcorn flick and enjoyable most of the way through.  

A few of the scenes at the very beginning were a little shaky with the dialogue between the main leads, and I thought the backstory started off seemingly tired and predictable, but the movie won me over pretty early on.  Shang-chi and Katy had good chemistry, and the action scene with the bus was a fun way to jump right into the plot.  Having such a solid actor for Shang-chi's dad really deepened the story, even though I was initially unconvinced that the mom would actually fall in love with such a heartless selfish guy, though their fight was beautifully choreographed.  

I liked that the flashbacks seemed basic and trite, but then they went back and filled in the gaps.  I thought it was weird how Shang-chi told Katy on the plane that he was willing to do whatever his father wanted, but then he promptly ran away, but they went back and explained that.  The backstory made Shang-chi more interesting and gave him a nice character journey.  It was good how he incorporated aspects of fighting from his mother in the second half once he stopped blocking her out of his memory.

The movie was a nice mix of comedy, action but also nice character moments.  It wasn't afraid to slow down a bit with the visit to the ancestral village, though it's a little ridiculous that Katy could learn to be such an expert archer in 24 hours.  I really liked how they incorporated some of the mythical Chinese creatures.  The lion in particular was very cool visually.

You'd think they would have done more to prevent the father and his men from getting through the forest.  I'm surprised so many of their jeeps got through unscathed.  

They needed a few more scenes between Shang-chi and his sister.  I feel like she should have been the one to find out what his father's final mission was and why he ran away after that.  Maybe they will explore that further in future sequels.  I hope so.

The cast was good.  Partway through, it was amusing to imagine this as the sequel to "Crazy Rich Asians" since so many of the same actors are in it, and Aquafina felt like a similar person.  I liked that the 2 main characters in this movie felt more like regular people.

I watched some of the early Marvel movies but I've really fallen behind.  Maybe this will give me the push to catch up.  It's just that so many of them seem repetitive and too full of mindless action scenes for me to keep my attention.

[LydiaMoon1]

On 10/20/2021 at 8:12 PM, Browncoat said:

I finally got to see this last night, and I enjoyed it.  It was interesting, though, how many other movies I "saw" in it, including "Speed", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", pretty much any Jackie Chan movie, "How To Train Your Dragon", and "Black Panther".  The hidden village really put me in mind of Wakanda, but with dragon scales instead of vibranium.  I can't decide if the water dragon was more Atreyu and Falkor from "Never-ending Story" or Haku from "Spirited Away".  Either way, it was a most excellent dragon.  

I'm right there with you. I enjoyed Shang Chi, but, scene after scene, I kept thinking that I've seen this movie before. Mind you, that happens a lot with me these day, but this one more than normal.

For me, the Disneyfication of the movie hindered its impact. For example. if the movie had shown me what Wenwu had done to the gang of men that came to his house, their revenge would have held more emotional impact for me.  It also would have been easier for me to accept them as a ruthless gang if they hadn't allowed the children to go to bed before the killing began (that gesture was awfully polite). Instead, they gave me exposition and a montage to tell me that he was a warlord for a thousand years. Like I said, I just didn't feel the emotional impact of the mom's death the way I should have. Everything was too sterilized.

Lastly, all I could think of during the big CGI finish was that, instead of a big, epic battle, what the family really needed was family therapy and grief counseling. That would have benefited them the most.

[Kel Varnsen]

17 minutes ago, LydiaMoon1 said:

Instead, they gave me exposition and a montage to tell me that he was a warlord for a thousand years.

One thing I thought was weird was that Wenwu had lived for 1000 years, was nearly unkillable and had magic rings with crazy powers. They even talked about how he had a neverending thirst for power to the point where he wanted to invade another dimension. Yet on earth he didn't seem like he had that much power or influence. It seems like a random billionaire would probably have more power than he did.

[LydiaMoon1]

1 hour ago, Kel Varnsen said:

One thing I thought was weird was that Wenwu had lived for 1000 years, was nearly unkillable and had magic rings with crazy powers. They even talked about how he had a neverending thirst for power to the point where he wanted to invade another dimension. Yet on earth he didn't seem like he had that much power or influence. It seems like a random billionaire would probably have more power than he did.

Yeah, I thought about that too. If he had that much power and influence, why had nobody heard of him? Why hadn't he been mentioned before. So far my biggest problem with Phase 4 is that recent movies keep throwing in details that don't make sense in light of what we already know. It's a problem. the writing was so tight in Phases 1-3. It was clear that every detail was closely monitored and carefully managed. Now, it's like they've just said eff it. Write whatever you want. It's starting to give me Disney Star Wars make-it-up-as-you-go-along teas.

Edited November 15, 2021 by LydiaMoon1

[Fukui San]

1 hour ago, LydiaMoon1 said:

Yeah, I thought about that too. If he had that much power and influence, why had nobody heard of him? Why hadn't he been mentioned before. So far my biggest problem with Phase 4 is that recent movies keep throwing in details that don't make sense in light of what we already know. It's a problem. the writing was so tight in Phases 1-3. It was clear that every detail was closely monitored and carefully managed. Now, it's like they've just said eff it. Write whatever you want. It's starting to give me Disney Star Wars make-it-up-as-you-go-along teas.

It's the eternal problem of having a shared universe. (lower case "eternal", but also a problem with "The Eternals") You want to add huge new characters in the universe with backstories, but then you have to explain why they weren't there all along.  Eventually the MCU will want to add the Fantastic Four and X-Men and others into the mix if they legally can, but then we'll ask where they were for Thanos.

There's no simple solution. Either they'll retcon them in like Captain Marvel and The Eternals, or else make them fledgling versions of themselves like MCU Peter Parker.