Shang Chi

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Thorpocalypse
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Shang Chi

Post by Thorpocalypse »

Just saw it. Loved it. Simu Liu was fantastic, Awkwafina was funny and they kept the humor mostly in line to where it didn't take away from the dramatic scenes and Tony Leung was great. They even made Razor Fist moderately entertaining. Some wonky CGI in the big action piece at the end, otherwise it was really well done.
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catsi563
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Re: Shang Chi

Post by catsi563 »

100++% to all the above. they made a great movie lots of fun very entertaining, and I LOVED how they did the humor in it, several outrageous LOL moments especially the end jokes

all around fun movie
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Neo-Paladin
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Re: Shang Chi

Post by Neo-Paladin »

I also thoroughly enjoyed it, far more than I thought I would. The return of
Spoiler
Ben Kingsley
totally took me by surprise and Morris is just beyond cute. The effects besides one or two hiccups also work really well and all the characters, including the "villain", were very relatable. No one was annoying or detracted from the story. I loved Katy and how expressive she was in all that she did. I feared she might be some sort of annoying sidekick but she was a joy to watch. Also, the film had Michelle Yeoh, whom I consider one of the most beautiful and graceful women currently walking the earth. Big plus.
And I absolutely loved the choreography in the fight scenes. The way they mirror the internal and external conflicts between the characters to the point where the fights are a way of communication in and of itself.
All in all I had the impression that everyone was having fun working on the film. There was heart in it.

I have seen the film twice now and once I get the DVD (next week), I'll probably watch it one more time.
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Ares
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Re: Shang Chi

Post by Ares »

I wasn't a fan of the film. I don't want to become the guy who is negative about everything and I mean absolutely no disrespect to those who did like it, but it just wasn't for me.

As "modern martial arts action film with superhero elements", it was okay. A lot of the fight scenes were well done, Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Michelle Yeoh and Fala Chen really sold their performances, the visuals were solid mostly solid and they managed to give the Mandarin some solid pathos in the movie, which was impressive. At the same time, the humor just fell flat to me most of the time, I didn't find most of the other actors performances particularly good or memorable (except when they grated, which Awkwafina and Kingsley did frequently) and the story as a whole was mostly "meh" to me.

What dragged it down to me was how it adapted Shang Chi and his mythos to the big screen. I know for folks who don't know much about Shang Chi that it won't bother them, but this was basically a Shang Chi film in name only. I actually like the idea of making Shang the Mandarin's son, as it attaches Shang more closely to the Marvel Universe and would force him to up his game if his main enemy is now someone who regularly gets into fist fights with Iron Man. But I just wasn't a fan of how they executed that concept here. Shang is basically turned into yet another snarky jackass with Daddy Issues, making him basically another flavor of Tony Stark, Star Lord, and what Thor eventually became. Shang doesn't really have his own personality, he's just "standard Marvel protagonist". The whole flavor of the movie feels more like a poorly done Iron Fist movie than a decent Shang Chi film. They honestly would have been better off trying to adapt more elements from the recent Shang Chi books Marvel has been putting out. I wasn't really a fan of how they adapted any of the characters for this film.

So yeah, if this were just a martial arts film with no connection to Shang Chi or the MCU, it'd be a decent enough film with a lot of humor I didn't care for. But being a Shang Chi adaptation just drags it down for me, and makes it one of my least favorite MCU films along with Iron Man 3, Thor Ragnarok and the Eternals.
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Neo-Paladin
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Re: Shang Chi

Post by Neo-Paladin »

Hey, no need to apologize. To be honest, I do not know the character from the comics so to me, it was a martial arts fantasy flick that happened to take place in the MCU. And I was able to thoroughly enjoy it.
Sorry that you couldn't.
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M4C8
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Re: Shang Chi

Post by M4C8 »

Ares wrote: Thu Nov 18, 2021 6:22 pm I wasn't a fan of the film. I don't want to become the guy who is negative about everything and I mean absolutely no disrespect to those who did like it, but it just wasn't for me.

As "modern martial arts action film with superhero elements", it was okay. A lot of the fight scenes were well done, Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Michelle Yeoh and Fala Chen really sold their performances, the visuals were solid mostly solid and they managed to give the Mandarin some solid pathos in the movie, which was impressive. At the same time, the humor just fell flat to me most of the time, I didn't find most of the other actors performances particularly good or memorable (except when they grated, which Awkwafina and Kingsley did frequently) and the story as a whole was mostly "meh" to me.

What dragged it down to me was how it adapted Shang Chi and his mythos to the big screen. I know for folks who don't know much about Shang Chi that it won't bother them, but this was basically a Shang Chi film in name only. I actually like the idea of making Shang the Mandarin's son, as it attaches Shang more closely to the Marvel Universe and would force him to up his game if his main enemy is now someone who regularly gets into fist fights with Iron Man. But I just wasn't a fan of how they executed that concept here. Shang is basically turned into yet another snarky jackass with Daddy Issues, making him basically another flavor of Tony Stark, Star Lord, and what Thor eventually became. Shang doesn't really have his own personality, he's just "standard Marvel protagonist". The whole flavor of the movie feels more like a poorly done Iron Fist movie than a decent Shang Chi film. They honestly would have been better off trying to adapt more elements from the recent Shang Chi books Marvel has been putting out. I wasn't really a fan of how they adapted any of the characters for this film.

So yeah, if this were just a martial arts film with no connection to Shang Chi or the MCU, it'd be a decent enough film with a lot of humor I didn't care for. But being a Shang Chi adaptation just drags it down for me, and makes it one of my least favorite MCU films along with Iron Man 3, Thor Ragnarok and the Eternals.
Yeah, I thought it was kind of an Iron Fist rip off as well with the 'extra-dimensional realm populated by martial artists' and the the 'heart of the dragon' thing. Sadly with how badly perceived the IF Netflix show was and how they recently messed with Danny in the comics it means we'll never get to see a decent live action version of the character.
'A shared universe, like any fictional construct, hinges on suspension of disbelief. When continuity is tossed away, it tatters the construct. Undermines it'
greycrusader
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Re: Shang Chi

Post by greycrusader »

For a number of reasons, Marvel really could not do the character who appeared in the original Shang-Chi series, not the least of which is they no longer have the license to Fu Manchu, Fah Lo Sue, or Nayland Smith, even leaving aside the problematic nature of the aforementioned "Devil Doctor" being a literal Yellow Peril villain. And the original stories were the comic book rendition of a Hong Kong martial arts flick (the era has mostly passed) mixed with DIrty Martini spy fiction (among the supporting cast was 007's more cynical illegitimate son); there was the occasional infusion of Absinthe spy material, in the form of costumed villains/mercs, gimmicked-up weapons, and Fu Manchu's more outlandish plots. Marvel immediately preceded the Shang-Chi film with the Black Widow prequel, which played in the super-spy territory with a better known property.

My biggest complaint about the MCU version of Shang-Chi (who is decidedly NOT the same character, no more so than Hawkeye) is that his personality consisted of a laid-back nice guy, still carrying trauma from his childhood, but devoted to friends and family. There's...not much more than that, with the other major characters get considerably more development and complexity. Nothing wrong at all with him being a straight-up aspirational good guy hero, but Simu Liu needs to make a stronger impression to take on the role previously played by Captain America in the MCU, and that's going to require stronger writing for the character.

However, as an entry in the post-Avengers phase of the MCU, I mostly found it to be a solid, enjoyable movie, with great fight choreography and just about the right amount of humor (meaning Awkwafina didn't dominate the film). It explored fantasy/mysticism in the MCU, and at least partially redeemed the "Mandarin" title, even if I STILL want to see the classic Iron Man villain at some point (and why can't the MCU writers/directors NOT kill off the main villain more often?).

All my best.
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