Shang Chi (Disney/MCU) Spoiler thread

[lonestar]

Title says it all. Figure we need the thread since it's out tonight.


I'll be seeing it tomorrow after work so see you then.

[Adami]

Seeing it Sunday.

Reviews say it's a really good movie that suffers from the typical Marvel 3rd act problem. Still exciting for something completely new (minus the, I assume, giant cgi battle at the end?)

[jingle.boy]

No spoilers in this post.

Seeing it Sunday.

Reviews say it's a really good movie that suffers from the typical Marvel 3rd act problem. Still exciting for something completely new (minus the, I assume, giant cgi battle at the end?)

You're assumption is correct, but I thought it was excellent.  80% CGI, sure... but one of the better boss battles.  Nothing will ever top IW or Endgame, but I was running down the final battles in my mind from the past 24 movies, and there are only a couple I could immediately think of that were more entertaining than this one (Winter Soldier came to mind).

Excellent movie, one REALLY fantastic surprise, and the mid-credits scene was a bit of a  .  I really loved that the combat was (unsurprisingly) more hand-to-hand / personal - not much 'powers' or weapons.  Very martial art.

[lonestar]

Even the asshole radio movie critic who usually slams Marvel flicks said Shang Chi was excellent. Very intrigued now, I'll definitely hit it after work today.

[Zantera]

I thought it was an improvement over Black Widow. Reminded me a bit of Black Panther - the cynical part of my brain totally gets why they decided to make this movie. I probably liked Shang Chi more though.

The first 2/3 of the movie I quite enjoyed, the last 1/3 or so (the final climax) unfortunately goes a bit too much into CGI action territory where I just kinda zoned out a bit. It's weird because 15 year old me would have probably preferred those parts but I feel so turned off by CGI action sequences now as a soon to be 30 year old man, I much prefer the plot stuff, the characters and all of that.

I'd say maybe a 7/10 or so. Intrigued to see where this phase goes from here.

[jingle.boy]

I found it very similar to BP as well.

I haven’t reached my tipping point over being exhausted with CG. Just watch the D+ behind the scenes (for both Marvel and Star Wars), and 90% of everything is CG - such as the mask/hood of Black Captain America being extensively CG’d. When we can’t tell the everyday and normal things are CG’d, I don’t have much of a problem with CG dragons and giant lion-bulls.

[lonestar]

In the theater...

[lonestar]

Ok... That was fucking dope. Definitely need to clear a spot at the upper echelon of the MCU for that one.

[Adami]

I really liked it. The final battle was a bit too over the top and rushed for me, but still a lot to love.

Confused by a certain cameo in the post credits scene but very intrigued.

[jammindude]

I really liked it. The final battle was a bit too over the top and rushed for me, but still a lot to love.

Confused by a certain cameo in the post credits scene but very intrigued.

So…dish!

[lonestar]

I really liked it. The final battle was a bit too over the top and rushed for me, but still a lot to love.

Confused by a certain cameo in the post credits scene but very intrigued.

So…dish!

Yeah, I mean this is the spoiler thread after all

[Adami]

I really liked it. The final battle was a bit too over the top and rushed for me, but still a lot to love.

Confused by a certain cameo in the post credits scene but very intrigued.

So…dish!

Yeah, I mean this is the spoiler thread after all

Oh just Bruce. Noticed he was full human form. I’m sure it’ll get explained. Just caught me off guard.

[jammindude]

I really liked it. The final battle was a bit too over the top and rushed for me, but still a lot to love.

Confused by a certain cameo in the post credits scene but very intrigued.

So…dish!

Yeah, I mean this is the spoiler thread after all

Oh just Bruce. Noticed he was full human form. I’m sure it’ll get explained. Just caught me off guard.

I wonder if that will tie in to the upcoming She Hulk series that he is supposed to make an appearance in.

[jingle.boy]

I’ll bet the pragmatic reason is so Marvel can save a few bucks not having to CG Hulk-Banner in She-Hulk.. and that the in MCU explanation will be that Bruce spent another 18 months in a lab to figure out how to switch back and forth ala Colossus.

[The Letter M]

Saw it earlier today at a matinee showing, and I really enjoyed it! Tony Leung's Wenwu was especially good, but the chemistry between Simu Liu and Awkwafina was really fun as well! I felt like the film didn't give Xialing a lot to do, but based on the 2nd post-credits scene, I think we may see more of her in the future!

I loved seeing Wong, and it's interesting that it seems like he and Emil Blonsky are close enough to be on a first name basis. I hope we find out where Wong was taking him after their fight!

I also really liked how the flashbacks were spread out through the film rather than being the whole first act. The non-chronological order really helped the film have a good flow. The visual effects were fairly good, but the action choreography was expertly handled and probably some of the best in the MCU.

Definitely worth seeing in theaters if possible, but if not, at least see it when it hits digital outlets/home video. One of the better origin story MCU films, and highly entertaining! Also, the soundtrack was a highlight for me as well - reminded me of Avatar and Legend of Korra a bit, which is always good.

-Marc.

[jingle.boy]

Agreed on the bit about the flashbacks. I liked it that way rather than all at once.

Also liked he nod in the fight club to the Extremist. 

[jammindude]

I’m probably not going to see it until at least next weekend or possibly even the weekend after. But I do have one question. Does anyone know where this takes place in the timeline? Is this origin story pre-snap or post snap?

[Adami]

I’m probably not going to see it until at least next weekend or possibly even the weekend after. But I do have one question. Does anyone know where this takes place in the timeline? Is this origin story pre-snap or post snap?

Post snap. Minus flash backs.

[The Letter M]

Agreed on the bit about the flashbacks. I liked it that way rather than all at once.

Also liked he nod in the fight club to the Extremist. 

You mean the Extremis soldier? Funny enough, he was fighting one of the liberated Black Widows from Black Widow - same actress, credited as "Widow" in the credits.

-Marc.

[Adami]

Agreed on the bit about the flashbacks. I liked it that way rather than all at once.

Also liked he nod in the fight club to the Extremist. 

You mean the Extremis soldier? Funny enough, he was fighting one of the liberated Black Widows from Black Widow - same actress, credited as "Widow" in the credits.

-Marc.

Good catch! I noticed the Extremis soldier but didn’t catch the Widow.

[lonestar]

I'll keep an eye out for that when I see it again.

[jingle.boy]

Agreed on the bit about the flashbacks. I liked it that way rather than all at once.

Also liked he nod in the fight club to the Extremist. 

You mean the Extremis soldier? Funny enough, he was fighting one of the liberated Black Widows from Black Widow - same actress, credited as "Widow" in the credits.

-Marc.

Good catch! I noticed the Extremis soldier but didn’t catch the Widow.

Ditto!

[Lonk]

Just saw the movie and that was great. I think the final battle was a bit rushed but other than that, really excited about what's coming for Marvel. I think we are in for a treat.

[bosk1]

Was loving the movie up to about the mid-point.  When they were locked away and heard strange sounds coming from somewhere, I guessed that it was Trevor and whispered that to my daughter.  I was giddy when it turned out to be him.  But almost immediately right after that, everything seemed so forced.  It was visually stunning, and incredibly well-choreographed.  But the writing and acting seemed very forced and contrived from that point forward. 

Still, a good movie.  If it were as consistently good all the way through as the first half, it would definitely be up near the top, probably just behind the Avengers films and Homecoming.  As it is, it is somewhere nearer to the bottom with Black Panther.  I don't expect Marvel to hit a home run every time.  A few walks and infield singles are just fine in the grand scheme of things.  Film-wise, phase 4 is pretty pedestrian so far, so I'm glad I'm not expecting huge things.  It's Marvel.  It's fun.  And getting so much right about Chinese culture is a nice bonus.

[The Letter M]

Apparently there were a ton of YouTube videos about how the film would be a big flop but various sources have said its been a fairly big success at the box office, even breaking some records.

In conjunction with BuzzFeed revealing that Simu Liu had done stock photo sessions a long time ago, many have started using them as memes to bash on the haters, including Simu himself sharing some of the stock photos as memes. Here's one I made last night!




You can check out the other stock photos here!


-Marc.

[lonestar]

Yeah, it destroyed the labor day weekend record by 50 million. It's usually a dead weekend for movie releases, so it was a good litmus test as to how willing people are to get out of their caves and go to a theater.

[Adami]

So a few more random thoughts.

I agree that the ending was rushed and way too over the top, but the general idea was good. Just wished it was executed better.

I was very pleasantly surprised at how much Chinese was actually spoken in the film. I was nervous it would just be a lot of English in thick accents. However, I also think there was too much English in thick accents at the end. When Awkwafina is around, I get it. But when it was just Shang Chi and his dad at the end, I think that should have been all in Chinese. Just a minor issue with me.

[lonestar]

So a few more random thoughts.

I agree that the ending was rushed and way too over the top, but the general idea was good. Just wished it was executed better.

I was very pleasantly surprised at how much Chinese was actually spoken in the film. I was nervous it would just be a lot of English in thick accents. However, I also think there was too much English in thick accents at the end. When Awkwafina is around, I get it. But when it was just Shang Chi and his dad at the end, I think that should have been all in Chinese. Just a minor issue with me.

Totally agree

[bosk1]

Same

[lonestar]

I'll be dead honest I wasn't expecting any Chinese with subtitles so that surprised me. I mean it's just convenient writing to assume that a mysical Chinese land from another dimension speaks Chinese accented English. Of course, this is in a Universe where many alien societies also conveniently speak English so....

[The Letter M]

I'll be dead honest I wasn't expecting any Chinese with subtitles so that surprised me. I mean it's just convenient writing to assume that a mysical Chinese land from another dimension speaks Chinese accented English. Of course, this is in a Universe where many alien societies also conveniently speak English so....

If you're referring to aliens seen in the GOTG films and in Captain Marvel, it's explained away that the characters who travel between planets/speak to different species have translator implants and so we hear what they hear (in English, as Peter Quill and Carol Danvers are our protagonists in their respective films) as a means to make it easier for us to understand.

-Marc.

[lonestar]

I'll be dead honest I wasn't expecting any Chinese with subtitles so that surprised me. I mean it's just convenient writing to assume that a mysical Chinese land from another dimension speaks Chinese accented English. Of course, this is in a Universe where many alien societies also conveniently speak English so....

If you're referring to aliens seen in the GOTG films and in Captain Marvel, it's explained away that the characters who travel between planets/speak to different species have translator implants and so we hear what they hear (in English, as Peter Quill and Carol Danvers are our protagonists in their respective films) as a means to make it easier for us to understand.

-Marc.

Well that's just lazy writing.

[Lonk]

If you're referring to aliens seen in the GOTG films and in Captain Marvel, it's explained away that the characters who travel between planets/speak to different species have translator implants and so we hear what they hear (in English, as Peter Quill and Carol Danvers are our protagonists in their respective films) as a means to make it easier for us to understand.

-Marc.

I mean, sure, that's one explanation

[King Postwhore]

So a few more random thoughts.

I agree that the ending was rushed and way too over the top, but the general idea was good. Just wished it was executed better.

I was very pleasantly surprised at how much Chinese was actually spoken in the film. I was nervous it would just be a lot of English in thick accents. However, I also think there was too much English in thick accents at the end. When Awkwafina is around, I get it. But when it was just Shang Chi and his dad at the end, I think that should have been all in Chinese. Just a minor issue with me.

I read this as "The Brain" from Pinky & The Brain.

[The Letter M]

I'll be dead honest I wasn't expecting any Chinese with subtitles so that surprised me. I mean it's just convenient writing to assume that a mysical Chinese land from another dimension speaks Chinese accented English. Of course, this is in a Universe where many alien societies also conveniently speak English so....

If you're referring to aliens seen in the GOTG films and in Captain Marvel, it's explained away that the characters who travel between planets/speak to different species have translator implants and so we hear what they hear (in English, as Peter Quill and Carol Danvers are our protagonists in their respective films) as a means to make it easier for us to understand.

-Marc.

Well that's just lazy writing.

At least there's an explanation. I don't think any such explanation was ever given out, on-screen/in-canon for much of the Star Trek tv series, where sometimes some species do speak their native tongues but a large majority of them read/speak English.

Then again, in the MCU, the universal translator doesn't always work because the Guardians didn't quite know what Groot was saying, outside of Rocket, for much of the first film, although Thor knew Groot's language enough to understand him.

I just think it's easier not to think too much about it when it comes to sci-fi and fantasy stories. The audience sees/reads/hears languages in English for the sake of the audience and not for any in-universe reason most of the time, so I'm fine with just suspending my disbelief.

-Marc.