I'm testing new audio settings to make my voice more clear over the sound effects. Give me honest feedback. Do you like this, or from my last video, or somewhere in between? Thanks! Also, Surfshark is back with 83% off and 3 months for free using code FILM: surfshark.deals/FILM
Its not that I don't think the quality is better (you just sound very... Lifeless compared to your other videos.. Which I've been watching for over a year now maybe longer I didn't keep track)
Your other videos have more emotion in them, this felt a little more monotone, but the sound quality was definitely better. I’m fine with either one really, it sometimes sounded like you weren’t happy lol.
Yup. I didn't see any commercials or hypes before the release. Shang Chi relied mostly on word-of-mouth. Over the Labor Day weekend, its takes actually grew instead of dropping from Saturday to Sunday and Monday. That shows how good the WOM was. Imagine that: A film about an unknown character, with an unknown lead and almost all Asian cast handedly beat a film starring Angelina Jolie and a film starring Scarlett Johansson. It speaks for its quality.
The one thing other Hollywood blockbusters must "steal" from Shang-Chi are (how do I put it) the long establishing shots during the fight scenes. Seriously, action scenes felt so good and refreshing mostly because movie didn't try to discombobulate me with shit ton of jump cuts and aggressively shaking camera.
This and the John Wick trilogy are the best instances on how to film hand to hand action of recent years. I’ve heard Nobody also does it well but I didn’t see it yet
@@joeyjerry1586 If you want to see good action scenes exceptional filmed and choreographed you have to see the two „The Raid“ films, especially the second one. Only the John Wick films comes close to the insane fight scenes/choreo.
Honestly, that bus scene felt more like a spider-man action scene than any of the Tom Holland movies have had so far. I think the added danger of adding the civilians in the middle of the whole thing really helped towards that feeling.
The Mandarin is one of the most relatable villains in the MCU. I can totally emphasize with his quest to bring back his wife. He was not after power or money but lost love. That was fundamental for the movie.
Absolutely, so many Marvel villains are just bad with barely any explanation. This movie took the time to show us the perspective of the villain and why they feel the way they do and established a serious reason for them to be doing the things they are doing. Great casting too, Tony Leung Chiu-wai is such a good actor for the role.
@@amirmatthews7385The same soul dragon monster that his wife guarded the way too, and she didn’t tell him the entire time they were together? The pieces are in place, but the rest of the puzzle doesn’t fit. I feel like this could be really handled better.
@@randomidoit9605 I personally thought it was because he was acting out of emotion not logic because Wenwu at this point has nobody left, his wife died, his son ran away and his daughter left too. The only time he actually had anyone was when he met his wife, so it totally makes sense that he would do anything to get back the one person that meant everything to him even if it may not seem logical because right now he isn't following the logic he is following his emotions and his emotions are making him ignore possible conclusions about what the voices could be. For most people it doesn't matter how smart they are if you could manipulate their emotions well enough you can trick them.
Everything the father does in this movie is understandable, he has nobody left, wife died, son ran away and daughter left too. The only time he actually had anyone was when he met his wife, totally makes sense that he would do anything to get back the one person that meant everything to him.
Also, if he manages to bring his wife back , he can rebuild his family and reunite with his children. Shang Chi and his sister love their mom and would come back to her. The Mandarin gained power and lost everything personal, he tries to trade the power to gain his family back. He was one of the best movie villains in recent years.
But he clearly loved his children before hand, it's not like he put up with them to be with his wife, he clearly loved them just as much as her. it's like his love for them died when she did. No normal human being would immediately through their children under the bus their significant other died. I guess you could say it's understandable but it isn't justified
@@j.jonahjameson5729 Its definitely not justified, but I think you’d be surprised at how often in the real world people shut everyone out no matter who they are if they lose someone very close. It just so happens that Xu Wenwu has access to ancient, powerful weapons that let him lash out the way any normal person would WANT to but just can’t.
I really wished that they left the villain alive. His relationship with his son was great, he was intimidating, and he could have possibly made an antihero turn in later movies. Plus Marvel doesn't have that many compelling villains in the MCU.
I think they gonna do that route with the sister unfortunally i dont think they developted her as a character enough to be so compelling like she could had more scenes with her fatber showing their complex relantionship
@@luma4902 they still could have had her father train his daughter to take over after realizing that his son wanted to be free and that his daughter was a capable fighter
If you know Tony Leung, you’d know he’s not the kind who often stars in big budget franchises. He tends to pick less action oriented deep, dark dramatic roles.
This movie had so many well rounded characters that they even gave the henchman with the dumb name a full arc. I fully expected Razorfist to just be a generic threat for the first bus fight so when he joins forces with them for the final battle I was very surprised
They even planned more for him. There is deleted scenes where Wenwu explains that he adopted Razorfist, another scene Razorfist sacrifices himself to get a bow for Katy, but was ultimately cut out of movie.
@@Reia.P oh that’s interesting I didn’t know that. I’m glad they decided not to kill him though. Seems like they’re setting up more stuff with the Ten Rings led by Xialing
I like that razor fist had an arc, but even if he didn’t, I’d be ok with it cause he had one of the best if not the best hand to hand combat fight scene in all of marvel
One thing that extremely stand out that also helped making Shang-Chi so enjoyable is Tony Leung's exceptional acting as Wenwu. His emotions and expressions that played out from just his facial expressions alone is so expressive and telling is so massively phenomenal that it makes it hard to not try to relate or feel for Wenwu thus making Wenwu a character that stands out exceptionally from alot of villains that have exist in the MCU
Goddamn. I had no idea until you pointed it out how the movie subtly built/established Katy's character alongside Shang-Chi. I remember really liking her but not being able to point out why she worked so well, so thank you!
@The Program 100%. The movie gives us a reason why Shaun is quiet so him having a talkative friend makes the exposition seem more natural. I also loved the small detail of Katy having NASCAR knowledge. It shows she isnt just a skilled driver for the sake of it, she clearly loves racing
I mostly think the success has 90% to do with how much it is an action comedy and the influences it is drawn from. Like, there's so much Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Bao and Yuen Wah influence in all of it. Hell, even Yuen Wah shows up in the movie. Chinese cinema perfected the action comedy genre, and that's where it draws most of the scenes from. Compared to American Action Comedy which tend to suck more often than not.
Did you also notice how Shang was almost always at a disadvantage, like in the bus, or the building fighting scene? It really felt so so much influenced by Jackie Chan (other than the direct involvement of the crew).
I enjoyed it, in spite of the flaws it had. The father was well done as far as a villain, and the whole: “I’m not afraid of you anymore,” “Yes you are.” Was chilling, because for a father to say that to his son, and mean it, is all sorts of messed up.
As a Chinese, we are thought to always respect our elders that’s why I love the scene where the seemingly younger Wen Wu (dad) demanded grandpa to show him respect! “I’ve had more salt than you had rice” is a common way elders demand respect
Another thing to steal: the music. This isn't really to do with the writing, which is this channels focus, but the music in this film helps it stand out a lot from other superhero movies
True. This is why Miles Morales -- both in the Spider-verse and PS4/5 game -- is loved by people. In both media, whenever he's doing some action the score isn't just some typical epic big battle superhero score, no no, they mixed both superhero score AND hip hop, a music genre that Miles' always listen to, to make it much more personal and let us know who is this Miles is
Marvel has also clearly been allowing a heavy soundtrack focus for the themes of certain movies. It's not a coincidence that the soundtrack album covers for Spider-verse, BP, & Shang-chi ALL share a similar visual motif AND the music from those each are VERY culturally/thematically focused. I listen to this soundtrack SO much when working.
Clearly going for an Old Hollywood epic vibe: Pretty sure I just heard a "Sound of Music" reference and a "Ten Commandments" reference just in the clips shown
I was waiting for them to turn Kaity and Shang into a thing. Like cynically waiting for the shoe horned romance. Genuinely love that they didn’t do that, makes it way more real and fun
Same. I really like that they left their relationship platonic, that they are just friends. Not in every movie, the male and the female lead have to be in love with each other, you know. 😅
I like how it’s platonic for now and it’s better to see the relationship grow throughout the movies versus having them fall dramatically in love with each other in the first movie simply because it’s not realistic.
I gave you a like, because it was a great moment in a movie. but also I watch a lot of MMA where there's taunting of opponents, and if someone said "yes you are" after someone else said "i'm not afraid of you" nobody would be like "oooh sick burn". Context matters. From a father to a son, though, it's bone-chilling. (In case you're interested I think the correct response to "I'm not afraid of you" would be something like "Good! Maybe you'll fight better for a change...")
"Then you will die braver than most." - Darth Vader, Star Wars: Rebels is one of my personal favorites. Such a chilling response delivered with such certainty, while still acknowledging the attempted heart of the phrase.
I enjoyed Shang Chi, but I think the film has a BIG issue with “show, don’t tell”. From the very start, we’re dumped on with a ton of exposition and that continues throughout the film. Nothing is left to the imagination. I think they could have made it far more emotional and intense by cutting a lot of dialogue and instead focusing on portraying character relationships through interactions. I thought this was best portrayed between Shang Chi and his sister, but could have been even better. Regardless, I’m happy to see that the film has been so successful.
The whole idea of why Shang leave his home and his only loving sister behind is done very poorly . Plus the time when Shang and his team is saved by his friend is completely bullshit , it's like saying I practiced something for 1 week and somehow due to luck managed to excel in it it's just damn fkng luck at the end
@@morbiuscrystal4875 The thing about Batman v Superman is much more personal than the dumb make no sense conflict forced on us . The whole conflict between him and his father falls flat from everest to a fkng lava pool, looks like his father is drugged, we are never explained why only he was shown vision and why not hulk or why not Thanos or other Marvel heroes who have far greater strength to shatter the gates . However in Batman v superman you see at the end how Bruce reflects back on his actions that by killing superman he becomes the very bullet that killed Martha . Here the fkng manderin is blaming the kid for not saving his mother who at that time has not even received any training and is just 10 or even les years old . This shows the incompetence of the villain to blame someone else for his mistake. So don't tell this is a great movie , it's just happens to be a big action sequence with average story after infinity war and your brain was craving for it so you wanted it to work.
or not showing him kill his mother's killer. that's like a core reason for him changing and running away yet it's kinda glossed over right before the final battle.
Wen Wu's 1000 year old back story was irrelevant to the plot. Should have started with his wife getting killed. Wenwu could just show up to the bad guys with the rings without even needing to explain the rings. They should start out as a loving family and it all went to hell when his wife got killed. His motivation to then train his son to become an assassin suddenly makes a lot more sense and it'd be a much more visceral experience. As it stands, it made no sense when shang chi said *mom wouldn't want to see you like this!* His mom literally fell in love fighting him! She knew who she married, a power hungry and violent man! That's exactly what mom would have wanted to see! Instead we have ten different stories and motivations mushed together. The main villain wasn't even introduced until halfway through and it's by way of exposition and wooden sculptures.🤦 Breaks my heart to see talented actors like Tony leung and Michelle yeoh reduced to exposition machines.
One thing I believed alot of people misses is that Wenwu will be passing his rings to ShangChi (When he is strong enough) even before the third act, and with that, his immortaliity. He kept his rings and immortality in a box after his marriaged, wishing to grow old with his wife and when she is killed, pick them up again but is willing to pass on to his son and die.
Dude ! That was such a great breakdown and editing ! You've done the video I wish I could do ! I've seen the movie 5 times in theaters when it came out, and you still managed to catch some stuff I didn't ! Massive props to you. One thing I should say about the reason why the movie was so resonnant with Asian audience in general (but specifically Chinese Americans) would be that overall the movie does a lot right in order to portray Asian characters and values as positive. It does also a good job at portraying that there are more than just "one" type of Asians. Heck every single character is a different facet of what it means to be Asian in our world : - Shang Chi is the young 1st Asian migrant who, pretty much like Simu, came to America (Canada for Simu) from China when he was a kid, and had to adapt to a Whole new world (probably why Aladdin's song is his favorite Karaoke song in the movie), - Katy is the already comfortably American 3rd gen who starts the movie by being proudly carefree American in front of her friend and her mother, but later, gets her views on life challenged when she's faced with actual stakes and "authentic" traditional chinese elders wisdom (even though the movie could have delved a bit deeper on that), - Xialin is the you one who's always lived under authoritarian and mysoginistic China (metaphored by her father), and couldn't escape to a Western country, so she escaped to neighbouring Macau, which, even if it's still technically part of China, still enjoys more freedom than China (I suspect originally, that part was supposed to be in HK, which would have made much more sense, given the amount of legendary HK actors in the movie, but then... being in 2019, the massive protests and police brutality happened in HK, which didn't make production there possible anymore... thanks, China ! So Macau it is), where she could be the badass she ever wanted to be. You could trade Macau for either HK or Taiwan, and it would have worked the same, but I guess Macau is the most visually impressive, with it's majestic skyline and its gambling environment. Putting her in a city like Shanghai was : 1 probably off-limits for Disney, and 2 thematically not compatible, since it's still very much integral part of China, - Wen Wu is everything that represents one side of modern (and in some ways, traditional China) : Has the ultimate power (the 10 rings in the movie) and is millenia old, can't change and stuck in his old ways (he even says it himself after his wife died), greedy (he conquered everything in the world for a 1000 years), authoritative, does whatever he wants, control freak, patriarchy, doesn't give any space for arguments (and that's not really giving a bad rap to china, it really is how it is in real life, right now). He's very much the Yin (down to how his compound look, that is almost entirely black, with only one bright colored part in all of it : the wooden dragon sculpture, that seemingly comes from Ta Lo), - Ta Lo and its people, especially the mother and the aunt, represents the "real" traditional side of China : spiritualism, altruism, family, martial arts (especially Taiji), nature, keeping in touch with their roots and their mystical side (including the mythical creatures, like the Fu dogs, phoenixs, kirins, Hulijins, and of course, the dragon)... They're basically the Yang side of China (when we first arrive in the village, it is sunny, vibrantly colored, grandiose... with the only dark spot of the village being of course the Sealed Gate). And when Wen Wu's arrives, it corrupts everything and toned the whole village in dark gray. So everything, every character, and even every set has meaning in this movie. The more I watch it (I've watched it 5 times, already), the more I can see it. Intentionally (or sometimes not), it is a very well crafted universe, if anything a bit rushed because of its feature film format (I actually think it would have benefitted to have the luxury of a Disney+ series treatment, so we could explore and dive more deeply into all its themes and characters).
Can I just say that Shang Shi has the most obvious but non invasive product placement in any movie I ever watched. Like, a BMW appears from thin air every two scenes but still it didn’t destroy the attention you have toward the movie plot.
Bruh it's invasive as hell. A personal car for a mean bad guy? Better make it electrical SUV. A mythcal village in the middle of the woods? Better make it 4 wheeler accesible.
@@putraduha3176 yeah, the village part did feel a bit invasive😅, especially because that also added the weird mods to it. Can’t it just be a rental car or something. that would have fit in more I think.
I think it's hilarious that the writers took the whole "Asian women drivers are the worst" stereotype and basically made an entire character to refute it.
Shang Chi is one of the most fun Marvel movies I've seen in a while. The fight choreography was just phenomenal, and the comedic bits landed almost every time for me (yes, there were a few duds sprinkled throughout). I like the chemistry between the characters, especially Shaun and Katy, but Shaun and Xi as well. If anything needed more focus, it's Shaun and Xi's relationship with their father, particularly because he's the villain. We were told (sometimes shown) their past relationships, but there wasn't much of a chance to explore them in the present. I'd also say Shaun didn't really have much of a character arc? And neither did Xi. They had motivations, sure, but Shaun's especially didn't quite go anywhere. A flawed movie, for sure, yet I certainly wasn't disappointed. I thought it was another good origin story, and I think we'll get more as Shaun shows up in more movies.
The one thing I wish he mentioned when talking about the bus scene is the score. Rich Brian's production really took it from a stunning action scene to a masterpiece.
17:45 - Can I also point out that this is all also foreshadowed earlier in the script? Katy's mother says "Moving on is an American idea" during the breakfast scene, which foreshadows that Wenwu, who is not American, cannot move on from his wife's death, whereas Shaun, who understands American ideas, is able fight for that idea of moving on.
Very true but I also feel like it came into play again when his sister told him to let her go and he refused to leave her for a second time. Which showed that he is a combination of his American upbringing but Chinese background.
@@venturatheace1 but that's also going by the idea of that if a boy and a girl are really good friends, they gotta be dating. I can tell you from personal experience (and potentially others) that sometimes people are just really good friends
@@belzebul i actually think it is impressive that they did scenes like him with the safety measures necessary without compromising the scene his american movies had less impressive stunts because they were dangerous, he almost died several times in this movie they still did the stunts, but closer to the ground and without hard objects that could be hit by accident
"i did some martial-art myself when i was young so i am going to rate this" is the best line in a show by an extra i have ever heard. its so good this movie so good.
I would agree that this movie is good, but I wish they would've worked a bit more on the emotional disparity between Shang-chi and his father. Maybe change the music selection at their final fight to a sad audio, or make Wenwu cry at the fact that he thinks now that he can bring his wife back to life and everything will be okay, WHEN IT WON'T. I like it as is, but I felt that maybe the emotional stakes were a bit tooo safe.
Imo what the movie did wrong was the entire overwordly village line. They had an interesting core at the beginning: the father who wants his son to at the very least become his empire's right hand, and the son who doesn't want to become an assassin or hurt people. And the mysterious rings. Also that ninja-looking guy who was Shang's actual teacher and got killed off the moment the cgi monstrosities appeared, I'd like to see how Shang struggles overcoming him. They could've choose to make the story about that, about how Shang either persuades his father to stop with crimes or takes his place in a rightful way, all while making up with his sister and learning more about the rings... Instead we get the village plot line and everything we were emotionally invested in gets pushed aside, only barely reappearing to finish the lines (albeit i give them the credits for actually finishing the family conflicts before it's too late). But we could've had all of that with much stronger emphasys with the father's empire on the background, not some random ass village in a fairytale land we couldn't care less about. Doesn't make the movie bad but stops it from being remarkable.
I had no expectations for this movie and I ended up loving it, it’s a totally different style of Marvel movie while still keeping the charm we all know and love.
I was very surprised how good this movie was - very fun and engaging even during long fight scenes I do feel the siblings' conflict felt undercooked and took a backseat to the film tho.
This video just made me love the film even more than I already did. Shang-Chi was the very first Marvel film that my father didn't fall asleep while watching. It really helped that you didn't need to have watched most of the previous MCU films to understand everything
I really loved this movie I just wish there was less cgi mess and more combat fighting. Focusing on the characters and their own development especially the sister
The whole mandarin thing shouldn't have been in the movie, it would hat freed space for more meaningful moment. His sister is just there for whatever reason, same with Katy. I feel like the fighting would be better if wasn't so over the top, ex: fighting in a bus, without brake, unconscious driver, in SF's slopes, then it's cut in two. Remove the goddam slowmo, the whole grabbing broken glass window to the of the bus move (btw he is supposed to be a normal human, so is he should have been deeply cut but whatever). Same with the scafolding fight, are they really expecting people to not think that the sister wouldn't get her arm ripped or at least dislocated by catching katy falling?
I enjoyed this film but I felt it was a lot like any other marvel film. Good enough characters, good action, save world, big monster/enemy. I enjoyed it but to me I just want a movie that doesn’t have a big fight like this one but a more emotional confrontation. Such as when Shawn and his dad fought. I loved that cause of the emotional build up that leads to the fight (and yes I agree with many comments saying the fight was resolved, I just wish it where the main battle not the CGI monster). Then he dies and the monster is unleashed and his dads death has no effect. I was just upset when I saw him lying there cause to me it was on the verge of something great. And even then I would have been ten times more pleased if it had effected him during the battle against the monster cause that would show he had some human feelings. But alas I will take what I can get and enjoy what the future of Marvel holds. Edit: I hear what a lot of you are saying about bald characters and yes I agree, the characters weren’t top notch amazing. But they were good enough. I didn’t go into the movie expecting the most relatable and loving characters that displayed the best characters ever. No I went in expecting Marvel and that’s what I got. This was just to clarify cause I understand where a lot of you are coming from.
@@vicentegeonix well I feel the characters where good, that they weren’t just nobody’s. Like Shawn’s relationship with his sister. Or his sisters hatred in the start of the movie. It was good and it made them feel more real to me.
Ye you said you didn't but you did like it seems like you just wanna find so.etching you don't like for no reason lol (so wants if its like other marvel films especially when it does everything well)
@@vicentegeonix If showing emotional depth and having strong, realistic themes isn't a part of what makes a good character, then what is? Not trying to start a fight here, just curious.
As an Asian Dude i can say it got one thing right, the power dynamics of Father-Son Duo. Most Asian families no matter how much a son is awesome he will always be under his dad's shadow and he always wants to prove something and it is very toxic and also the Father-Daughter thingy was point on as in most asian families daughter is always put on second position, quite evident with the fact that father chose to ignore her daughter and her training, reason being "yOu lOok lIkE yOuR mOthEr" and asians can see through that bs.
As we get closer to 2022, us asian womans still got demanded to you know, have bf start a family have kids while at the same having a stable job to care for your family members, China have it rough tho.......
I loved the movie but I do think it’s hard making an origin story where the character already has their powers from the start. But it mostly pulled it off. I just feel like Shang’s arc was a little unclear.
I think his arc was modelled more around immigrants who relate to Shang rather than narrative relevance (it definitely feels tangential to me as well). Going along the lines of hero leaves home in early life, hero lives mundanely, hero gets call to action , hero journey stuff with evil dad bonus, climax and end. Most first and second generation immigrants have a crisis of identity, and Shang's story definitely leans on that. It's a feel good movie for people who spiritually feel attached to their mother land while knowing in their head it won't be any better there.
@@roach_iam A really good point. Very passive protagonist. Not really an interesting character either. Average guy who knows martial arts, doing martial arts moves we've all seen a thousand times before. The story was "fine." Not riveting, not all too interesting, but fine.
This is a great analysis of the film! I also made one but it was more thematic, I almost forgot how... just well-put together this movie is. The script is truly airtight. I really love how you paralleled Shaun needing to let Xialing go in the final battle to how he left her in the beginning. That's a totally different angle than what I went for and I really dig it. There are just so many ways to read this film!
That’s a perfect word to describe the script and the movie AIRTIGHT. I saw this movie twice in theaters and now once on Disney plus. The first time I loved it and the second time I liked it, but taught some scenes dragged. Then the third time I saw it, I felt no dragging issues, and I was astounded on how everything just kept pushing the plot forward, it didn’t waste one second.
@@simonbalandran8946 Yeah, it honestly is such an enjoyable watch. When it came out on Disney plus, I watched it twice back-to-back, once alone and once with family and it felt fresh even then!
@@trippymartian8847 Amen brother. I thought I was in an alternate dimension with all these flattering comments 😂😂😂 Oh wait... Have I just been the victim of a mass r/wooooosh experience?
11:54 Oh my god you were blueballing me with that sound effect. I don't even know where I've heard it, I just knew you weren't playing the second part.
Out of everything I love about this film is how the actors portrayed their characters' raw emotions. The anger, sadness, concern, love, and etc. were all done so well imo.
@@somecallmejeremy I agree. I loved the flirt-fight scene between the future married couple because it felt like they were speaking volumes with their body language, making the abrupt infatuation actually feel natural and like they communicated so much without words.
@@trippymartian8847 This was the actress's first film, but I loved her as well. I believe she originally did plays. For her and Simu, having this be their first film, they were pretty fantastic in my eyes.
The relational and emotional depth and story is so beautiful. I was tired of superhero movies and was so refreshingly surprised by this movie. Shang-Chi is - hands down - my favorite Marvel movie
What Marvel does well is deep character pieces within family-friendly movies (Tony’s self-destructiveness in Iron Man 2-3 / Thanos’ motivation to stop the universe from imploding / Thor’s depression in Endgame). The dad was a warlord. But during the movie he’s portrayed as being motivated not by power, but grief and the perceived injustice that his wife is held captive. This self-destructiveness and will to destroy everything that prevents his quest to justice makes him somewhat of an anti-hero, because in his eyes he has a sense of honour that no one else can match and he has to fix what has gone wrong. I thought his acting with just the way he used his eyes conveyed so much depth and pain and anger He had a motivation that Shang-Chi lacked - he is an aimless character with no purpose
Kinda funny that you mention the way Tony Leung (Wenwu's actor) using his eyes to convey emotion. Because in Asian Cinema he is also known as "The Man Who Can Speaks With His Eyes" due to his ability to convey so much emotion and meaning through his eyes.
I've seen that take about Shang Chi before but I'm not sure I buy it. He's basically a recovering child soldier trained to be an assassin. His aim is to not just recover from that but avoid falling into being that his father wanted for him. Staying under the radar, not getting into fights, keeping himself in this very small life, felt like a deliberate choice from him. When we start to learn about his background it's in the bus scene and he starts by avoided fighting, pretending he's someone else, because that's what he desperately wants from his life. It's only when Katy is in danger he tries to use what he knows to protect her. Same in the fight with his sister, where he doesn't want to fight. The movie builds him towards this cliffedge where becoming a murdered isn't just an option but what looks like the right thing to do.
For some reason Shang Chi reminded me so much of Jet Li's Tai Chi Master - Twin Warriors, where Jet Li learns tai chi to defeat his friend in the final fight where it's close fist vs. open palm. It even stars Michelle Yeoh and has one of the characters play dead in a battle scene also.
not sure if you will see this but here it goes... your videos has made a HUGE impact on me. your insightful videos have changed the way I think about filmmaking and has influenced, all the way here in South Africa, to shift my perspective on audience expectations. know this. your hard work and efforts has definitely been appreciated all the way here in the "Cradle of Mankind". Thank you. the least i can say. Your videos is truly appreciated and thank you for being that person to say it how it should be. I have learnt a lot from your videos, heck, i even brush my teeth hearing your videos. thats how much it means to me. thank you sir. i applaud You.
There are many things I loved about Shang chi, the sets, the fights, the soundtrack and portrayal of the characters were all magnificent, but I must admit that one of the greatest aspects of the film for me was the fact that a lot of it was in Chinese and not English. Let’s be honest, without Katy in the story, who is not only the best friend sidekick but also the only reference to US ideals and culture, there would be no reason for the characters to interact in English. I dunno, just thought that was a fun thing in the film.
I still think it would have been cooler if Shaun and Wenwu shared the rings, since it's made explicitly clear they can be passed back and forth so quickly, really SHOW that they get each other and they're on the same wavelength now. I felt nothing about them working that out because it was over so quickly and I felt like there was no real payoff. He gets the rings, but there's no time for it to mean much. Maybe that's just me, I just feel like it's a cheap thing to kill someone off the second they make up :P
The movie tried to cram so much in one film that nothing really hit with much impact. So many massive events felt incredibly easy and mundane. interdimensinal travel, soul stealing kaiju, ancient magical artifacts . All underwhelming. The entire film felt very safe with no tension. I think it would have benefited with a more focused plot centered around the family and more attention on those rings. Save the magic kingdom for another movie.
@@Dehneh1863 BRUH, Where is your review?! The movie made money so obviously it did something right but I don’t think it was anything related to plot or character
I saw it and it was pretty good, on par with most MCU movies. Props to them for introducing a relatively obscure non-super powered character, and making people care about the character.
This is a one shot fighting scene between a multiple World Champion (also MMA and Weapons) and 2 Kung Fu masters. Video Karate Girl Gets A Surprise From Her Idol JACKIE CHAN on World's Got Talent | Kids Got Talent
I was actually really pleasantly surprised that there wasn't a reveal that the sister had been working with the dad the whole time. after the prison break sequence I was certain she was going to betray them...but she didn't and that was cool.
Honestly i would prefer she stayed in her father side after he reveal his plan to bring the mom back and didnt change opinion until the fight in fhe Village because she didnt make much difference and she needed more scenes with her father to show us how is their complex relantionship as they did with shang. Also would be a interesting rematch of brother vs sister in the final battle so the father could have time to release the "mother" (monsters)
You really need to change the title of this video. I thought you were going to talk about how Shang-Chi stole from some other property, and not how to take what Shang-Chi did successfully and use it in your own stories. Other than that, really good.
Tbh I think the colour is the problem. On his channel Filmento has always applied dichotomy between green and red - classic but efficient. Greening the STEAL would be enough to show it's positive.
The relationship and story between Shang Chi and his dad carried this movie I think. There was a lot of genuine feeling moments between him and his dad and it made me want more. I wish they would've focused on it more and really fleshed it out. The rest including his awful obnoxious sidekick were just downright painful.
I liked the dynamic between Shang-Chi and Wenwu... until Wenwu pulled the old "ohh, you weren't there for your mother, it's your fault she died" card during the battle and makes him a cookie-cutter villain. That really hurt it for me, because during the movie, we see Wenwu being sympathetic towards Shang-Chi, after the death of his mom. After the battle, aside from the memorial, we don't see Shang-Chi try to process his grief over the death of his father afterwards, as it cuts to a comedic dinner scene. There needs to be more time on it. It is just not for me. If it's your jam, great! But I personally don't like it.
@@mackielunkey2205 I can get that. I read it as a mix of frustration, bitterness at his kids turning against him/having abandoned him (which he previously kept in check by feeling like this quest would obviously bring them all together), and wanting to dishearten his son to the point he’d stay down.
@@mackielunkey2205 I have to disagree with you. A lot of damaged people tend to project their own issues onto others especially during a fight but in reality they are just describing themselves. His dad was the one who wasn’t there to protect her when his past caught up to him. You can’t outrun your bad past because karma will always get you back. The Iron Gang were prob the descendants of all the ppl Wenwu killed. Shang Chi on the other hand decided to break the chain of revenge (even when he did commit it) he felt guilt after taking the hit job and turn his life around instead and not live in anger and accept his death of his mother as is. A lot of our parents especially from Asian descent or immigrants go thru a lot of the same issues. Our emotionally immature parents put a lot of their traumas onto us. We have to break the chains bc we need to understand that our parents really never had time to grow up because they were always in survival mode. To the original comment: As of the sidekick(s) they were all there just for comedic breaks bc overall the movie has a pretty serious tone if we just go of the conflicts and motives. It was cringey at times tho but I didn’t really mind at midpoint.
@@mackielunkey2205 if he didnt had actually killed the guy his father told him to this line would really make sense because he would think he always was a coward. But I dont know i wanted to see more of the father life where he came from like maybe he was trained really young so at his son age at the time of his wife's death he already could fight it and suffer from the pressure to be a warrior would make the line have more sense too
The one major criticism I have with the movie is that apart from the ten rings, the movie LOOKS bad. Idk what they did with the color grading, but it looks so gray and hella boring, and sometimes it's really apparent that they aren't actually shooting these sequences at the location they're set in. That's my only major gripe with the movie, but seeing the trailers for thor love and thunder as well as DS2, I'm glad to see the MCU production steering away from this gray dull toned color scheme for future movies.
Even the dads fighting style works with his character, always keeping the rings with him and on him, never being separated from them, because he is unable to let go.
Recency bias probably played a role - Black Widow wasn't all that good, so even bog-standard MCU (and IMO, this was a bit higher than bog-standard) got a good reception. It also moved the MCU plot forward (compared to BW, which was a prequel in all the ways that mattered), so it probably got a few points for that.
Yeah, it's too bad. Marvel seems to blow at so much and ends up with many missed opportunities. I felt a little empty after it was over. Everything was resolved as usual but in an unsatisfying way.
I went into this movie assuming I would hate it but I LOVED it. I thought the villain was super sympathetic as he wasn't just some generic villain that was evil for the sake of being evil but actually was a heartbroken man who just wanted to bring his beloved wofe back. I think villains work best when you can see that they believe they are doing the right thing.
@@udhayakumarMN If you're referring to Black Panther as being a minority representation film I blatantly disagree with you, it's in the same boat as Shang-Chi. Only other minority representations I can think of are Captain Marvel and Black Widow (still not over taskmaster). *Those* are garbage
I was very skeptical about Shang Chi but after watching it 3 times I can safely say it’s one of the best MCuU films ever. Can’t wait to to see more of him
This is Simu Liu's first lead role in a film, having previously had supporting roles in his career. Awkwafina was the first actor cast in the film. The symbols in the Ten Rings logo are Chinese characters: "quan" (authority), "li" (power), "zhuang" (strong), "wei" (extraordinary), "jie" (outstanding), "shi" (influential), "hong" (grand), "xiong" (mighty), qiang" (strength) and "wei" (dominant). This is renowned Hong Kong film actor Tony Chiu-Wai Leung's first role in an American film and his first English-speaking role, even though he has always spoken it fluently. The red and black suit Shang Chi acquires at Ta Lo is a homage to the suit he wore in the Jonathan Hickman "Avengers" comics. The filmmakers cite Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Kung Fu Hustle (2004), Tai Chi Master (1993), the The Matrix (1999) series, Donnie Yen's "Ip Man" films and Jackie Chan films as an influence on the martial arts action. Michelle Yeoh starred in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). Shang-Chi is the first superhero film with an Asian leading protagonist for Marvel Studios. The bus fight is loosely inspired both by Jackie Chan and Buster Keaton. Shang" and "Xia" are homophones (same sound different Chinese characters) of "up" and "down", respectively, in Chinese. Tony Chiu-Wai Leung was thrilled to join the film as he is a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This movie was going to be made by Paramount Pictures before Disney bought Marvel. This is the second movie where Awkwafina had apologized onscreen for her poor Chinese. The first was The Farewell (2019). In Xialing's room there is an AC/DC poster implying she is a fan of the band. AC/DC songs are well-known to be part of the Iron Man (2008)'s soundtrack as well the sequels. Many of the scenes were visually inspired by Akira Toriyama's popular manga and anime series Dragon Ball (1986), which Destin Daniel Cretton is a fan of. The "Kamehameha" energy wave is also mentioned by Katy in the film. Ludi Lin, Steven Yeun, Mike Moh, Alex Landi, Lewis Tan, Edward Zo, Liviu Covalschi and Ross Butler were considered for the role of Shang-Chi. First film by Destin Daniel Cretton to have a predominantly Asian cast.
The movie has a whole is amazing, but I gotta say, the bus fight scene is easily on of the best fight scenes in all of the MCU. And may I be as bold to say it’s quite up there in cinema as a whole.
Imo one of the best scenes in the mcu is shang chi watching his mom die. The scene is great on a few levels but within the mcu, the best aspect of it is it gives authentic anger to chang chi's dad and a reason for him to feel betrayal. His son failed to protect his mother and his wife. It is totally understandable then for the dad to hate the son and view him as weak. And this dovetails nicely with the son and daughter feeling betrayed by the father and one another. In short, every actor has compelling motivations, and in no small part because shang chi fails to save his mom. Great stuff.
I really love the scene where they go to the bar for revenge and how terrifying it is. No coincidence that it follows that other great scene. Definitely some really good stuff in this movie.
@@trippymartian8847 of course. But certainly also understandable for the dad in his grief and shame (and with his power) to feel that his son is responsible in some part for not trying to help. Basically, hurt people find outlets for their anger and in families that may mean anger towards a family member.
well said. what makes a great action scene is not only about the punching or how it shot, but also "the little story" that happen between action. even better if the stake getting more escalated in each minutes.
wait, you really think Kaity earns her place from something else aside being the comedic character, first half maybe but after that she is just a moving plot shield, why would shang father bring her to ther secret base in the first time he only neded shang and her sister, and no way she is so good at archery after an hour training and even if its heartwarming he gets to bond with the old man that only comes after her magical super aim that was never stablished before
I completely agree. Her presence made no sense throughout the movie and her plot relevance towards the end was out of nowhere. It felt like she was given more focus than Shaun's sister despite lacking much of a direct connection to the core conflict.
@@creativebeetle She's a audience surrogate. Her place in the story is to go "holy shit" as a audience segregate. Looks like she's have a spot in the team up movies. The sister looks like will be fleshed out in a tv show. Just based on them picking a complete unknown for the sister and the end stinger. They also set up zany characters around her. Jon Jon and Razor Fist.
I think he means that at least narratively, it worked. The intention of the script/character writing was fulfilled. Was it perfectly executed? Far from it. I mean it's also convenient how Shang Chi learned the exact thing he needed to beat his father in about 2 hours as well.
@@simonbright2975 yes but I also mean that, narratively Kaity was only needed on the first half, you got Trevor as your goofball once you got to the base making her redundant narratively speaking, and sure shang just learns the specific skill he needed to beat his dad but he has been learning how to fight all his life unlike Kaity who's been joking around all her life
an almost 18 minutes video to explain a 2 minutes point about this movie. You really know how to STEAL TIME from your audience haha, really enjoyed your work, as always. Keep them coming.
I'm testing new audio settings to make my voice more clear over the sound effects. Give me honest feedback. Do you like this, or from my last video, or somewhere in between? Thanks!
Also, Surfshark is back with 83% off and 3 months for free using code FILM: surfshark.deals/FILM
P I N
I prefer this I think it works really well great video
Its not that I don't think the quality is better (you just sound very... Lifeless compared to your other videos.. Which I've been watching for over a year now maybe longer I didn't keep track)
It kinda sounded like you had a cold
Your other videos have more emotion in them, this felt a little more monotone, but the sound quality was definitely better. I’m fine with either one really, it sometimes sounded like you weren’t happy lol.
The fact that Disney practically sidelined the marketing of this movie in favor of the Eternals makes it success more impressive.
Yup. I didn't see any commercials or hypes before the release. Shang Chi relied mostly on word-of-mouth. Over the Labor Day weekend, its takes actually grew instead of dropping from Saturday to Sunday and Monday. That shows how good the WOM was.
Imagine that: A film about an unknown character, with an unknown lead and almost all Asian cast handedly beat a film starring Angelina Jolie and a film starring Scarlett Johansson. It speaks for its quality.
@@jckung3914 orrrr the Chinese market is HUGE
Wish i get to go to cinemas
@@vaevictis_ It didn't release in china lol
@@thk2467 oh I’m surprised, guess I shouldn’t be talking out of my ass. Good day and merry Christmas!
The one thing other Hollywood blockbusters must "steal" from Shang-Chi are (how do I put it) the long establishing shots during the fight scenes.
Seriously, action scenes felt so good and refreshing mostly because movie didn't try to discombobulate me with shit ton of jump cuts and aggressively shaking camera.
The bus scene is a masterclass on how to film fight scenes within enclosed moving spaces.
This and the John Wick trilogy are the best instances on how to film hand to hand action of recent years. I’ve heard Nobody also does it well but I didn’t see it yet
And 1917. Heck, that entire film is basically two long takes throughout the whole thing if you've seen it.
Discombobulate
@@joeyjerry1586 If you want to see good action scenes exceptional filmed and choreographed you have to see the two „The Raid“ films, especially the second one. Only the John Wick films comes close to the insane fight scenes/choreo.
Honestly, that bus scene felt more like a spider-man action scene than any of the Tom Holland movies have had so far. I think the added danger of adding the civilians in the middle of the whole thing really helped towards that feeling.
It also helped that most of the choreography was done by some of the same production team members from Jackie Chan’s Stunt Team.
@@MatthewCobalt RIP Brad Allan
Makes sense why you feel so, both Raimi Spiderman( sans the first one) and Shang Chi have the same cinematographer
I don't know man, I seriously enjoyed Spider-man Vs Mysterio and the drones scene.
Spiderman fighting the goons wearing Avengers mask in bank is still the most Spiderman thing
The Mandarin is one of the most relatable villains in the MCU. I can totally emphasize with his quest to bring back his wife. He was not after power or money but lost love. That was fundamental for the movie.
Absolutely, so many Marvel villains are just bad with barely any explanation. This movie took the time to show us the perspective of the villain and why they feel the way they do and established a serious reason for them to be doing the things they are doing. Great casting too, Tony Leung Chiu-wai is such a good actor for the role.
The desire to destroy everyone’s souls is very relatable.😂😂😂
@Buggo Bricks that wasn't him it was the soul dragon monster that manipulated him.
@@amirmatthews7385The same soul dragon monster that his wife guarded the way too, and she didn’t tell him the entire time they were together? The pieces are in place, but the rest of the puzzle doesn’t fit. I feel like this could be really handled better.
@@randomidoit9605 I personally thought it was because he was acting out of emotion not logic because Wenwu at this point has nobody left, his wife died, his son ran away and his daughter left too. The only time he actually had anyone was when he met his wife, so it totally makes sense that he would do anything to get back the one person that meant everything to him even if it may not seem logical because right now he isn't following the logic he is following his emotions and his emotions are making him ignore possible conclusions about what the voices could be. For most people it doesn't matter how smart they are if you could manipulate their emotions well enough you can trick them.
Everything the father does in this movie is understandable, he has nobody left, wife died, son ran away and daughter left too. The only time he actually had anyone was when he met his wife, totally makes sense that he would do anything to get back the one person that meant everything to him.
Also, if he manages to bring his wife back , he can rebuild his family and reunite with his children. Shang Chi and his sister love their mom and would come back to her. The Mandarin gained power and lost everything personal, he tries to trade the power to gain his family back. He was one of the best movie villains in recent years.
But he clearly loved his children before hand, it's not like he put up with them to be with his wife, he clearly loved them just as much as her. it's like his love for them died when she did. No normal human being would immediately through their children under the bus their significant other died.
I guess you could say it's understandable but it isn't justified
Too bad the movie wasn’t about him, the only actual character in the film
@@j.jonahjameson5729 Its definitely not justified, but I think you’d be surprised at how often in the real world people shut everyone out no matter who they are if they lose someone very close. It just so happens that Xu Wenwu has access to ancient, powerful weapons that let him lash out the way any normal person would WANT to but just can’t.
This villain reminds me of killmonger, not "evil" as in taking over the world but more retribution
I think the makers of shang chi would be a perfect fit for a TMNT movie. The action, the goofiness and emotional stakes would actually fit really well
I feel like the tone of Shang-chi would fit a TMNT movie quite well.
no but cinematographer bill pope is
The man who choreographed the fights sadly died :(
Ninja Turtles right? From DC?
@@jasonpatz4512 Not a DC property, but they do collaborate with DC often.
I really wished that they left the villain alive. His relationship with his son was great, he was intimidating, and he could have possibly made an antihero turn in later movies. Plus Marvel doesn't have that many compelling villains in the MCU.
It’s because they literally keep killing them off…
Literally the only villain that didn’t die was Vulture and Zeemo, at least the most memorable.
I think they gonna do that route with the sister unfortunally i dont think they developted her as a character enough to be so compelling like she could had more scenes with her fatber showing their complex relantionship
@@luma4902 they still could have had her father train his daughter to take over after realizing that his son wanted to be free and that his daughter was a capable fighter
If you know Tony Leung, you’d know he’s not the kind who often stars in big budget franchises. He tends to pick less action oriented deep, dark dramatic roles.
Tony Leung is awesome. Manages to be both genuinely frightening (never sure if he’s about to unleash) and deeply sympathetic at the same time.
This movie had so many well rounded characters that they even gave the henchman with the dumb name a full arc. I fully expected Razorfist to just be a generic threat for the first bus fight so when he joins forces with them for the final battle I was very surprised
Everyone except Death Dealer
They even planned more for him.
There is deleted scenes where Wenwu explains that he adopted Razorfist, another scene Razorfist sacrifices himself to get a bow for Katy, but was ultimately cut out of movie.
@@Darksaviour Yeah I really wish they did more with Death Dealer, his design was very cool and I wish we learned more about him
@@Reia.P oh that’s interesting I didn’t know that. I’m glad they decided not to kill him though. Seems like they’re setting up more stuff with the Ten Rings led by Xialing
I like that razor fist had an arc, but even if he didn’t, I’d be ok with it cause he had one of the best if not the best hand to hand combat fight scene in all of marvel
One thing that extremely stand out that also helped making Shang-Chi so enjoyable is Tony Leung's exceptional acting as Wenwu. His emotions and expressions that played out from just his facial expressions alone is so expressive and telling is so massively phenomenal that it makes it hard to not try to relate or feel for Wenwu thus making Wenwu a character that stands out exceptionally from alot of villains that have exist in the MCU
Goddamn. I had no idea until you pointed it out how the movie subtly built/established Katy's character alongside Shang-Chi. I remember really liking her but not being able to point out why she worked so well, so thank you!
@The Program 100%. The movie gives us a reason why Shaun is quiet so him having a talkative friend makes the exposition seem more natural. I also loved the small detail of Katy having NASCAR knowledge. It shows she isnt just a skilled driver for the sake of it, she clearly loves racing
Not gonna lie the Shang chi jacket combat was a great way to incorporate Jackie Chan styled combat and use of surroundings into Shang Chi’s fighting
There are also many homages to Bruce Lee in the poses!
That would be because they had some members of Jackie Chan’s Stunt team on the Production Crew.
The scaffold fight scene was also originally done by a Jackie Chan movie.
@@xiuxiu1108 yeah rush hour right
@@meltingslurpee don't forget the king fu hustle references, i totally thought he would finish the mosnter with the buddhist palm
How did this movie manage to have both the best and worst jokes in the MCU
Idk I think the Spider-Man movies have the worst jokes
@@RyanFloom let's scooby doo this crap
@@SoapNugget please scooby doo this crap
@@RyanFloom This movie literally made an airline food joke. Idk but that's the bottom of the barrel for me. The monkey joke was epic though
@@RyanFloom nah, they work. The captain America jokes never land
I mostly think the success has 90% to do with how much it is an action comedy and the influences it is drawn from. Like, there's so much Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Bao and Yuen Wah influence in all of it. Hell, even Yuen Wah shows up in the movie. Chinese cinema perfected the action comedy genre, and that's where it draws most of the scenes from. Compared to American Action Comedy which tend to suck more often than not.
You mean Hong Kong cinema. Sorry, but it's an important distinction-
Did you also notice how Shang was almost always at a disadvantage, like in the bus, or the building fighting scene? It really felt so so much influenced by Jackie Chan (other than the direct involvement of the crew).
@@retrogasm5651 lol.
This one also sucked, action was the only good part then they ruined that with Big Bad GCI introduced in 20 min
@@retrogasm5651 Yeah, makes sense, consider the film only aired in HongKong and not in mainland China. How ironic.
I enjoyed it, in spite of the flaws it had. The father was well done as far as a villain, and the whole:
“I’m not afraid of you anymore,”
“Yes you are.”
Was chilling, because for a father to say that to his son, and mean it, is all sorts of messed up.
Shang-chi is absolutely one of my top 3 favorite MCU movies. This felt like one of those movies I had been waiting for to be created for years.
As a Chinese, we are thought to always respect our elders that’s why I love the scene where the seemingly younger Wen Wu (dad) demanded grandpa to show him respect!
“I’ve had more salt than you had rice” is a common way elders demand respect
He was older then that young man by 100s of year.
@@desihindustanigamer3299 1000
It was honestly funny to watch, because appearance (and actor wise) he's the younger one lel
@@MebiManga Yes, that’s the joke
So basically he's just salty? (lol jk)
Another thing to steal: the music. This isn't really to do with the writing, which is this channels focus, but the music in this film helps it stand out a lot from other superhero movies
Absolutely agree
I think this is top tier marvel
oh yeah that leitmotif was a banger
True. This is why Miles Morales -- both in the Spider-verse and PS4/5 game -- is loved by people. In both media, whenever he's doing some action the score isn't just some typical epic big battle superhero score, no no, they mixed both superhero score AND hip hop, a music genre that Miles' always listen to, to make it much more personal and let us know who is this Miles is
Marvel has also clearly been allowing a heavy soundtrack focus for the themes of certain movies. It's not a coincidence that the soundtrack album covers for Spider-verse, BP, & Shang-chi ALL share a similar visual motif AND the music from those each are VERY culturally/thematically focused. I listen to this soundtrack SO much when working.
Clearly going for an Old Hollywood epic vibe: Pretty sure I just heard a "Sound of Music" reference and a "Ten Commandments" reference just in the clips shown
I was waiting for them to turn Kaity and Shang into a thing. Like cynically waiting for the shoe horned romance.
Genuinely love that they didn’t do that, makes it way more real and fun
They do hint at it in a natural way, they bond more over the battle in the aftermath and then when at dinner with their friend they're holding hands
Same. I really like that they left their relationship platonic, that they are just friends. Not in every movie, the male and the female lead have to be in love with each other, you know. 😅
I like how it’s platonic for now and it’s better to see the relationship grow throughout the movies versus having them fall dramatically in love with each other in the first movie simply because it’s not realistic.
please no. I like him better with xialing
yes they instead did that in the eternals where it was a love story disguised as a marvel movie.
yo the humorous editing of this video is incredible. there's no boring moment, the inserted memes and sound effects are amazing
"Yes you are" is probably the best response to "I'm not afraid of you" I've heard.
I gave you a like, because it was a great moment in a movie. but also I watch a lot of MMA where there's taunting of opponents, and if someone said "yes you are" after someone else said "i'm not afraid of you" nobody would be like "oooh sick burn". Context matters. From a father to a son, though, it's bone-chilling.
(In case you're interested I think the correct response to "I'm not afraid of you" would be something like "Good! Maybe you'll fight better for a change...")
i'm glad they didn't use the cliched "you should"
"Then you will die braver than most." - Darth Vader, Star Wars: Rebels is one of my personal favorites. Such a chilling response delivered with such certainty, while still acknowledging the attempted heart of the phrase.
@@ashenbonfire that was my favorite before I watched Shang Chi. It's still really good
@@ashenbonfire I've never watched Star Wars but that line sounds perfect.
I enjoyed Shang Chi, but I think the film has a BIG issue with “show, don’t tell”. From the very start, we’re dumped on with a ton of exposition and that continues throughout the film. Nothing is left to the imagination. I think they could have made it far more emotional and intense by cutting a lot of dialogue and instead focusing on portraying character relationships through interactions. I thought this was best portrayed between Shang Chi and his sister, but could have been even better. Regardless, I’m happy to see that the film has been so successful.
Show, don't tell? Like shooting Superman with kryptonite bullet behind the camera.
The whole idea of why Shang leave his home and his only loving sister behind is done very poorly . Plus the time when Shang and his team is saved by his friend is completely bullshit , it's like saying I practiced something for 1 week and somehow due to luck managed to excel in it it's just damn fkng luck at the end
@@morbiuscrystal4875 The thing about Batman v Superman is much more personal than the dumb make no sense conflict forced on us . The whole conflict between him and his father falls flat from everest to a fkng lava pool, looks like his father is drugged, we are never explained why only he was shown vision and why not hulk or why not Thanos or other Marvel heroes who have far greater strength to shatter the gates . However in Batman v superman you see at the end how Bruce reflects back on his actions that by killing superman he becomes the very bullet that killed Martha . Here the fkng manderin is blaming the kid for not saving his mother who at that time has not even received any training and is just 10 or even les years old . This shows the incompetence of the villain to blame someone else for his mistake. So don't tell this is a great movie , it's just happens to be a big action sequence with average story after infinity war and your brain was craving for it so you wanted it to work.
or not showing him kill his mother's killer. that's like a core reason for him changing and running away yet it's kinda glossed over right before the final battle.
Wen Wu's 1000 year old back story was irrelevant to the plot. Should have started with his wife getting killed. Wenwu could just show up to the bad guys with the rings without even needing to explain the rings. They should start out as a loving family and it all went to hell when his wife got killed. His motivation to then train his son to become an assassin suddenly makes a lot more sense and it'd be a much more visceral experience.
As it stands, it made no sense when shang chi said *mom wouldn't want to see you like this!* His mom literally fell in love fighting him! She knew who she married, a power hungry and violent man! That's exactly what mom would have wanted to see!
Instead we have ten different stories and motivations mushed together. The main villain wasn't even introduced until halfway through and it's by way of exposition and wooden sculptures.🤦
Breaks my heart to see talented actors like Tony leung and Michelle yeoh reduced to exposition machines.
I feel like with every video his power in the memes grows stronger and stronger
YES
lol yep
Even tho his memes are sometimes repeated, I still get a laugh
One thing I believed alot of people misses is that Wenwu will be passing his rings to ShangChi (When he is strong enough) even before the third act, and with that, his immortaliity. He kept his rings and immortality in a box after his marriaged, wishing to grow old with his wife and when she is killed, pick them up again but is willing to pass on to his son and die.
Dude ! That was such a great breakdown and editing !
You've done the video I wish I could do !
I've seen the movie 5 times in theaters when it came out, and you still managed to catch some stuff I didn't !
Massive props to you.
One thing I should say about the reason why the movie was so resonnant with Asian audience in general (but specifically Chinese Americans) would be that overall the movie does a lot right in order to portray Asian characters and values as positive. It does also a good job at portraying that there are more than just "one" type of Asians. Heck every single character is a different facet of what it means to be Asian in our world :
- Shang Chi is the young 1st Asian migrant who, pretty much like Simu, came to America (Canada for Simu) from China when he was a kid, and had to adapt to a Whole new world (probably why Aladdin's song is his favorite Karaoke song in the movie),
- Katy is the already comfortably American 3rd gen who starts the movie by being proudly carefree American in front of her friend and her mother, but later, gets her views on life challenged when she's faced with actual stakes and "authentic" traditional chinese elders wisdom (even though the movie could have delved a bit deeper on that),
- Xialin is the you one who's always lived under authoritarian and mysoginistic China (metaphored by her father), and couldn't escape to a Western country, so she escaped to neighbouring Macau, which, even if it's still technically part of China, still enjoys more freedom than China (I suspect originally, that part was supposed to be in HK, which would have made much more sense, given the amount of legendary HK actors in the movie, but then... being in 2019, the massive protests and police brutality happened in HK, which didn't make production there possible anymore... thanks, China ! So Macau it is), where she could be the badass she ever wanted to be.
You could trade Macau for either HK or Taiwan, and it would have worked the same, but I guess Macau is the most visually impressive, with it's majestic skyline and its gambling environment. Putting her in a city like Shanghai was : 1 probably off-limits for Disney, and 2 thematically not compatible, since it's still very much integral part of China,
- Wen Wu is everything that represents one side of modern (and in some ways, traditional China) : Has the ultimate power (the 10 rings in the movie) and is millenia old, can't change and stuck in his old ways (he even says it himself after his wife died), greedy (he conquered everything in the world for a 1000 years), authoritative, does whatever he wants, control freak, patriarchy, doesn't give any space for arguments (and that's not really giving a bad rap to china, it really is how it is in real life, right now). He's very much the Yin (down to how his compound look, that is almost entirely black, with only one bright colored part in all of it : the wooden dragon sculpture, that seemingly comes from Ta Lo),
- Ta Lo and its people, especially the mother and the aunt, represents the "real" traditional side of China : spiritualism, altruism, family, martial arts (especially Taiji), nature, keeping in touch with their roots and their mystical side (including the mythical creatures, like the Fu dogs, phoenixs, kirins, Hulijins, and of course, the dragon)... They're basically the Yang side of China (when we first arrive in the village, it is sunny, vibrantly colored, grandiose... with the only dark spot of the village being of course the Sealed Gate).
And when Wen Wu's arrives, it corrupts everything and toned the whole village in dark gray.
So everything, every character, and even every set has meaning in this movie. The more I watch it (I've watched it 5 times, already), the more I can see it. Intentionally (or sometimes not), it is a very well crafted universe, if anything a bit rushed because of its feature film format (I actually think it would have benefitted to have the luxury of a Disney+ series treatment, so we could explore and dive more deeply into all its themes and characters).
Can I just say that Shang Shi has the most obvious but non invasive product placement in any movie I ever watched. Like, a BMW appears from thin air every two scenes but still it didn’t destroy the attention you have toward the movie plot.
Bruh it's invasive as hell. A personal car for a mean bad guy? Better make it electrical SUV. A mythcal village in the middle of the woods? Better make it 4 wheeler accesible.
@@putraduha3176 yeah, the village part did feel a bit invasive😅, especially because that also added the weird mods to it. Can’t it just be a rental car or something. that would have fit in more I think.
Don't forget the Bose headsets on the Helicopter after the Skyscraper sequence. They disappear once the helicopter lands
Have you noticed all the Audi product placements in all the other phases? In Phase 4 they started with BMW. Started noticing in FalconSoldier
its okay kinda,because China don't rea;;y like toyota so thats obvious. BM and Merc are one of the more popular foreign car brand in China
Shang chi did a good job on showing how op air ending really is.
What?
Air bending**
Air ending sounds like a D class marvel villain
I mean suffocation also is quite strong.
I bend air every time after I visit Taco Bell.
I think it's hilarious that the writers took the whole "Asian women drivers are the worst" stereotype and basically made an entire character to refute it.
I hadn't even noticed that! Now I love Katy even more 😆
You know why stereotypes exist, right?
I love it
@@HailEarendil you mean the stereotype of white guys being racist AF? yeah why do they exist again?
@@RandomUserX99 Wait that's not stereotype is it?
Shang Chi is one of the most fun Marvel movies I've seen in a while. The fight choreography was just phenomenal, and the comedic bits landed almost every time for me (yes, there were a few duds sprinkled throughout). I like the chemistry between the characters, especially Shaun and Katy, but Shaun and Xi as well.
If anything needed more focus, it's Shaun and Xi's relationship with their father, particularly because he's the villain. We were told (sometimes shown) their past relationships, but there wasn't much of a chance to explore them in the present. I'd also say Shaun didn't really have much of a character arc? And neither did Xi. They had motivations, sure, but Shaun's especially didn't quite go anywhere.
A flawed movie, for sure, yet I certainly wasn't disappointed. I thought it was another good origin story, and I think we'll get more as Shaun shows up in more movies.
The one thing I wish he mentioned when talking about the bus scene is the score. Rich Brian's production really took it from a stunning action scene to a masterpiece.
17:45 - Can I also point out that this is all also foreshadowed earlier in the script? Katy's mother says "Moving on is an American idea" during the breakfast scene, which foreshadows that Wenwu, who is not American, cannot move on from his wife's death, whereas Shaun, who understands American ideas, is able fight for that idea of moving on.
It's also not true.
Very true but I also feel like it came into play again when his sister told him to let her go and he refused to leave her for a second time. Which showed that he is a combination of his American upbringing but Chinese background.
I'm glad that there wasn't a romantic sub-plot between Shang and Katy, it made it feel like they're actually friends
Let's be honest, in real life they'd be a thing
@@venturatheace1 but that's also going by the idea of that if a boy and a girl are really good friends, they gotta be dating. I can tell you from personal experience (and potentially others) that sometimes people are just really good friends
I'm pretty they're together though tbh they definitely seemed more than just friends at a few parts
Yes! Thank You! Not every movie needs a romantic subplot!
**points at Captain America: Civil War and the waste of run time that was Steve and Sharon**
saving it for the next movie probably
Say what you want, but the choreography of all the fight scenes was absolutely top-notch
I think no one could complain on that. If you do, then don't even talk to me XD
The rings might have been the coolest mcu power I’ve ever seen
Nothing beats the OG 80s Jackie Chan movies though where that mf actually DID all these stunts himself, without any CGI
@@belzebul i actually think it is impressive that they did scenes like him with the safety measures necessary without compromising the scene
his american movies had less impressive stunts because they were dangerous, he almost died several times
in this movie they still did the stunts, but closer to the ground and without hard objects that could be hit by accident
The guy who choreographed the fights was Jackie Chan’s protege, and it definitely shows
"i did some martial-art myself when i was young so i am going to rate this" is the best line in a show by an extra i have ever heard. its so good this movie so good.
Thanks for showing how deep this movie actually was. Makes it even more enjoyable.
I would agree that this movie is good, but I wish they would've worked a bit more on the emotional disparity between Shang-chi and his father. Maybe change the music selection at their final fight to a sad audio, or make Wenwu cry at the fact that he thinks now that he can bring his wife back to life and everything will be okay, WHEN IT WON'T. I like it as is, but I felt that maybe the emotional stakes were a bit tooo safe.
What emotional stakes? That would require emotional investment
To me wenwu trying to desperately disagree by turning his head is enough
@@thatguy8836 I cannot imagine Tony Leung crying in that scene....
Imo what the movie did wrong was the entire overwordly village line. They had an interesting core at the beginning: the father who wants his son to at the very least become his empire's right hand, and the son who doesn't want to become an assassin or hurt people. And the mysterious rings. Also that ninja-looking guy who was Shang's actual teacher and got killed off the moment the cgi monstrosities appeared, I'd like to see how Shang struggles overcoming him. They could've choose to make the story about that, about how Shang either persuades his father to stop with crimes or takes his place in a rightful way, all while making up with his sister and learning more about the rings... Instead we get the village plot line and everything we were emotionally invested in gets pushed aside, only barely reappearing to finish the lines (albeit i give them the credits for actually finishing the family conflicts before it's too late). But we could've had all of that with much stronger emphasys with the father's empire on the background, not some random ass village in a fairytale land we couldn't care less about. Doesn't make the movie bad but stops it from being remarkable.
I had no expectations for this movie and I ended up loving it, it’s a totally different style of Marvel movie while still keeping the charm we all know and love.
I was very surprised how good this movie was - very fun and engaging even during long fight scenes
I do feel the siblings' conflict felt undercooked and took a backseat to the film tho.
There’s a deleted scene of an apology but it would’ve screwed the pacing
Let me remind you bad movies can be fun too
@@trippymartian8847 Go watch them then instead of sitting under a video about a _good_ movie
@Nadarith Get a life weeb, instead of spending your days simping in the comments for Shang Chi
@@HailEarendil Get a brain first, then we can talk about who hurt you
This video just made me love the film even more than I already did. Shang-Chi was the very first Marvel film that my father didn't fall asleep while watching. It really helped that you didn't need to have watched most of the previous MCU films to understand everything
0:51
I loved the Shadow of the Collosus reference
I really loved this movie I just wish there was less cgi mess and more combat fighting. Focusing on the characters and their own development especially the sister
*I'll be honest about the MCU, I'm watching animated movies rather than a live action movie.*
That’s probably why they are planning a spin off series
But honestly even the cgi was pretty creative in my opinion for just a stand-alone Marvel movie.
The whole mandarin thing shouldn't have been in the movie, it would hat freed space for more meaningful moment. His sister is just there for whatever reason, same with Katy.
I feel like the fighting would be better if wasn't so over the top, ex: fighting in a bus, without brake, unconscious driver, in SF's slopes, then it's cut in two. Remove the goddam slowmo, the whole grabbing broken glass window to the of the bus move (btw he is supposed to be a normal human, so is he should have been deeply cut but whatever). Same with the scafolding fight, are they really expecting people to not think that the sister wouldn't get her arm ripped or at least dislocated by catching katy falling?
@@akaiendo7312 The sister actually caught Katy with her legs, watch that part again.
I enjoyed this film but I felt it was a lot like any other marvel film. Good enough characters, good action, save world, big monster/enemy. I enjoyed it but to me I just want a movie that doesn’t have a big fight like this one but a more emotional confrontation. Such as when Shawn and his dad fought. I loved that cause of the emotional build up that leads to the fight (and yes I agree with many comments saying the fight was resolved, I just wish it where the main battle not the CGI monster). Then he dies and the monster is unleashed and his dads death has no effect. I was just upset when I saw him lying there cause to me it was on the verge of something great. And even then I would have been ten times more pleased if it had effected him during the battle against the monster cause that would show he had some human feelings. But alas I will take what I can get and enjoy what the future of Marvel holds.
Edit: I hear what a lot of you are saying about bald characters and yes I agree, the characters weren’t top notch amazing. But they were good enough. I didn’t go into the movie expecting the most relatable and loving characters that displayed the best characters ever. No I went in expecting Marvel and that’s what I got. This was just to clarify cause I understand where a lot of you are coming from.
What good character?
@@vicentegeonix well I feel the characters where good, that they weren’t just nobody’s. Like Shawn’s relationship with his sister. Or his sisters hatred in the start of the movie. It was good and it made them feel more real to me.
@@bingo2894 really? Thats enough to you to make them "good" and "real" characters? Hahaha Thank you for your point of view.
Ye you said you didn't but you did like it seems like you just wanna find so.etching you don't like for no reason lol (so wants if its like other marvel films especially when it does everything well)
@@vicentegeonix If showing emotional depth and having strong, realistic themes isn't a part of what makes a good character, then what is? Not trying to start a fight here, just curious.
holy shit, amazing how filmento was able to flawlessly replicate the dragons from the movie
BRUH, Those were added by Filmento!?!
0:55 glad to know it hasn’t been forgotten
I am from Colombia, and it always cracks me up when you use the Colombian guy breaking the keyboard. Good job
As an Asian Dude i can say it got one thing right, the power dynamics of Father-Son Duo. Most Asian families no matter how much a son
is awesome he will always be under his dad's shadow and he always wants to prove something and it is very toxic and also the Father-Daughter thingy was point on as in most asian families daughter is always put on second position, quite evident with the fact that father chose to ignore her daughter and her training, reason being "yOu lOok lIkE yOuR mOthEr" and asians can see through that bs.
Mostly patriarchal society thing
Lol Asian
@@patrickjack8101 what?
As we get closer to 2022, us asian womans still got demanded to you know, have bf start a family have kids while at the same having a stable job to care for your family members, China have it rough tho.......
@@jackyjo5395 it's funny😆
I loved the movie but I do think it’s hard making an origin story where the character already has their powers from the start. But it mostly pulled it off. I just feel like Shang’s arc was a little unclear.
Yeah I felt like there were a bunch if different themes and character arcs at the cost of one strong central theme.
I think his arc was modelled more around immigrants who relate to Shang rather than narrative relevance (it definitely feels tangential to me as well). Going along the lines of hero leaves home in early life, hero lives mundanely, hero gets call to action , hero journey stuff with evil dad bonus, climax and end. Most first and second generation immigrants have a crisis of identity, and Shang's story definitely leans on that. It's a feel good movie for people who spiritually feel attached to their mother land while knowing in their head it won't be any better there.
What do you mean you "loved" the movie? You mean this was one of your favorite movies ever?
Shang has no arc in the movie. He is in the backseat of his own movie. He does nothing to carry the plot forward
@@roach_iam A really good point. Very passive protagonist. Not really an interesting character either. Average guy who knows martial arts, doing martial arts moves we've all seen a thousand times before. The story was "fine." Not riveting, not all too interesting, but fine.
This is a great analysis of the film! I also made one but it was more thematic, I almost forgot how... just well-put together this movie is. The script is truly airtight. I really love how you paralleled Shaun needing to let Xialing go in the final battle to how he left her in the beginning. That's a totally different angle than what I went for and I really dig it. There are just so many ways to read this film!
That’s a perfect word to describe the script and the movie AIRTIGHT. I saw this movie twice in theaters and now once on Disney plus. The first time I loved it and the second time I liked it, but taught some scenes dragged. Then the third time I saw it, I felt no dragging issues, and I was astounded on how everything just kept pushing the plot forward, it didn’t waste one second.
@@simonbalandran8946 Yeah, it honestly is such an enjoyable watch. When it came out on Disney plus, I watched it twice back-to-back, once alone and once with family and it felt fresh even then!
Nah, I thought it was shit
@@trippymartian8847 Amen brother. I thought I was in an alternate dimension with all these flattering comments 😂😂😂
Oh wait... Have I just been the victim of a mass r/wooooosh experience?
@@trippymartian8847 How come?
11:54 Oh my god you were blueballing me with that sound effect. I don't even know where I've heard it, I just knew you weren't playing the second part.
4:25 Who else thinks this soundtrack sounds like it came out of My Friend Pedro?
Out of everything I love about this film is how the actors portrayed their characters' raw emotions. The anger, sadness, concern, love, and etc. were all done so well imo.
Especially the father and the sister could not act
@@trippymartian8847 Uhmm, what? Tony Leung could fucking act with his eyes and his character death hits the feels.
@@somecallmejeremy I agree. I loved the flirt-fight scene between the future married couple because it felt like they were speaking volumes with their body language, making the abrupt infatuation actually feel natural and like they communicated so much without words.
@@somecallmejeremy nah you misread, the father was amazing, the sister was a wooden plank
@@trippymartian8847 This was the actress's first film, but I loved her as well. I believe she originally did plays. For her and Simu, having this be their first film, they were pretty fantastic in my eyes.
The relational and emotional depth and story is so beautiful. I was tired of superhero movies and was so refreshingly surprised by this movie. Shang-Chi is - hands down - my favorite Marvel movie
really? okaaay then
They just starved you for good movies and now your desperate for just something. Sad to see :(
I watched the original avengers 2 days ago after a few years...I couldn't believe how bad the writing has become in the new films.
@Emil Aubry Stop lying.. Who pays you people to praise this garbage on TH-cam?
@@HailEarendil Wow, it's like some can't take an opinion.
What Marvel does well is deep character pieces within family-friendly movies (Tony’s self-destructiveness in Iron Man 2-3 / Thanos’ motivation to stop the universe from imploding / Thor’s depression in Endgame). The dad was a warlord. But during the movie he’s portrayed as being motivated not by power, but grief and the perceived injustice that his wife is held captive. This self-destructiveness and will to destroy everything that prevents his quest to justice makes him somewhat of an anti-hero, because in his eyes he has a sense of honour that no one else can match and he has to fix what has gone wrong.
I thought his acting with just the way he used his eyes conveyed so much depth and pain and anger
He had a motivation that Shang-Chi lacked - he is an aimless character with no purpose
Kinda funny that you mention the way Tony Leung (Wenwu's actor) using his eyes to convey emotion. Because in Asian Cinema he is also known as "The Man Who Can Speaks With His Eyes" due to his ability to convey so much emotion and meaning through his eyes.
I've seen that take about Shang Chi before but I'm not sure I buy it. He's basically a recovering child soldier trained to be an assassin. His aim is to not just recover from that but avoid falling into being that his father wanted for him. Staying under the radar, not getting into fights, keeping himself in this very small life, felt like a deliberate choice from him.
When we start to learn about his background it's in the bus scene and he starts by avoided fighting, pretending he's someone else, because that's what he desperately wants from his life. It's only when Katy is in danger he tries to use what he knows to protect her. Same in the fight with his sister, where he doesn't want to fight. The movie builds him towards this cliffedge where becoming a murdered isn't just an option but what looks like the right thing to do.
Bucky freeing from nightmares, Loki seeing his mother die, Wanda and Clint suffering from PTSD
For some reason Shang Chi reminded me so much of Jet Li's Tai Chi Master - Twin Warriors, where Jet Li learns tai chi to defeat his friend in the final fight where it's close fist vs. open palm. It even stars Michelle Yeoh and has one of the characters play dead in a battle scene also.
2:24 "🥶BING CHILLIN" I died lmao
I was watching shang chi when I got this notification and a few minutes ago i was thinking of you making a video on this movie
So you basicly need others to tell you about what you watch.
@@LDW12887 yes
not sure if you will see this but here it goes... your videos has made a HUGE impact on me. your insightful videos have changed the way I think about filmmaking and has influenced, all the way here in South Africa, to shift my perspective on audience expectations. know this. your hard work and efforts has definitely been appreciated all the way here in the "Cradle of Mankind". Thank you. the least i can say. Your videos is truly appreciated and thank you for being that person to say it how it should be. I have learnt a lot from your videos, heck, i even brush my teeth hearing your videos. thats how much it means to me. thank you sir. i applaud You.
check out The Critical Drinker, his reviews are excellent.
@@granodiorite9032 he’s mostly negative
🇿🇦Danko Sauta
6:18 Holy crap, I'm actually crying from laughing so hard. I love this channel.
There are many things I loved about Shang chi, the sets, the fights, the soundtrack and portrayal of the characters were all magnificent, but I must admit that one of the greatest aspects of the film for me was the fact that a lot of it was in Chinese and not English. Let’s be honest, without Katy in the story, who is not only the best friend sidekick but also the only reference to US ideals and culture, there would be no reason for the characters to interact in English.
I dunno, just thought that was a fun thing in the film.
0:36 its not a apology, it was told us in the all hail the king short movie that Mandarin wanted that imposters head. Thats why he is there
I still think it would have been cooler if Shaun and Wenwu shared the rings, since it's made explicitly clear they can be passed back and forth so quickly, really SHOW that they get each other and they're on the same wavelength now. I felt nothing about them working that out because it was over so quickly and I felt like there was no real payoff. He gets the rings, but there's no time for it to mean much. Maybe that's just me, I just feel like it's a cheap thing to kill someone off the second they make up :P
I guess it's on porpuse. You want to see more of him with the rings, so wait up for the next thing. "The ten rings will return".
The movie tried to cram so much in one film that nothing really hit with much impact. So many massive events felt incredibly easy and mundane. interdimensinal travel, soul stealing kaiju, ancient magical artifacts . All underwhelming. The entire film felt very safe with no tension. I think it would have benefited with a more focused plot centered around the family and more attention on those rings. Save the magic kingdom for another movie.
@@Dehneh1863 BRUH, Where is your review?! The movie made money so obviously it did something right but I don’t think it was anything related to plot or character
@Trippy Martian Did it make money? Or did Disney manipulate box office receipts to hide another failure like they did for Capt Marvel?
@@HailEarendil the world may never know…
I saw it and it was pretty good, on par with most MCU movies. Props to them for introducing a relatively obscure non-super powered character, and making people care about the character.
This is a one shot fighting scene between a multiple World Champion (also MMA and Weapons) and 2 Kung Fu masters.
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I have only watched the movie without the talking parts and without the sound and it looked great to me.
I was actually really pleasantly surprised that there wasn't a reveal that the sister had been working with the dad the whole time. after the prison break sequence I was certain she was going to betray them...but she didn't and that was cool.
Well… the second post credit scene may slightly say otherwise.
@@j0shm7 Technically betrayed him by continuing the family business. But also not cause she wasn't really working for her father.
That betrayal shtick is so overused predictable gimmick.
Honestly i would prefer she stayed in her father side after he reveal his plan to bring the mom back and didnt change opinion until the fight in fhe Village because she didnt make much difference and she needed more scenes with her father to show us how is their complex relantionship as they did with shang. Also would be a interesting rematch of brother vs sister in the final battle so the father could have time to release the "mother" (monsters)
@@Martin-yh7vi that’s why I said “slightly say otherwise”
You really need to change the title of this video. I thought you were going to talk about how Shang-Chi stole from some other property, and not how to take what Shang-Chi did successfully and use it in your own stories.
Other than that, really good.
Tbh I think the colour is the problem. On his channel Filmento has always applied dichotomy between green and red - classic but efficient. Greening the STEAL would be enough to show it's positive.
The relationship and story between Shang Chi and his dad carried this movie I think. There was a lot of genuine feeling moments between him and his dad and it made me want more. I wish they would've focused on it more and really fleshed it out. The rest including his awful obnoxious sidekick were just downright painful.
I liked the dynamic between Shang-Chi and Wenwu...
until Wenwu pulled the old "ohh, you weren't there for your mother, it's your fault she died" card during the battle and makes him a cookie-cutter villain. That really hurt it for me, because during the movie, we see Wenwu being sympathetic towards Shang-Chi, after the death of his mom. After the battle, aside from the memorial, we don't see Shang-Chi try to process his grief over the death of his father afterwards, as it cuts to a comedic dinner scene. There needs to be more time on it. It is just not for me. If it's your jam, great! But I personally don't like it.
@@mackielunkey2205 I can get that.
I read it as a mix of frustration, bitterness at his kids turning against him/having abandoned him (which he previously kept in check by feeling like this quest would obviously bring them all together), and wanting to dishearten his son to the point he’d stay down.
@@mackielunkey2205 I have to disagree with you. A lot of damaged people tend to project their own issues onto others especially during a fight but in reality they are just describing themselves. His dad was the one who wasn’t there to protect her when his past caught up to him. You can’t outrun your bad past because karma will always get you back. The Iron Gang were prob the descendants of all the ppl Wenwu killed. Shang Chi on the other hand decided to break the chain of revenge (even when he did commit it) he felt guilt after taking the hit job and turn his life around instead and not live in anger and accept his death of his mother as is.
A lot of our parents especially from Asian descent or immigrants go thru a lot of the same issues. Our emotionally immature parents put a lot of their traumas onto us. We have to break the chains bc we need to understand that our parents really never had time to grow up because they were always in survival mode.
To the original comment: As of the sidekick(s) they were all there just for comedic breaks bc overall the movie has a pretty serious tone if we just go of the conflicts and motives. It was cringey at times tho but I didn’t really mind at midpoint.
The relationship with the daughter/sister was NOT "painful" and also pretty good and overall portayed well from shang chi's flashback to her.
@@mackielunkey2205 if he didnt had actually killed the guy his father told him to this line would really make sense because he would think he always was a coward. But I dont know i wanted to see more of the father life where he came from like maybe he was trained really young so at his son age at the time of his wife's death he already could fight it and suffer from the pressure to be a warrior would make the line have more sense too
The one major criticism I have with the movie is that apart from the ten rings, the movie LOOKS bad. Idk what they did with the color grading, but it looks so gray and hella boring, and sometimes it's really apparent that they aren't actually shooting these sequences at the location they're set in. That's my only major gripe with the movie, but seeing the trailers for thor love and thunder as well as DS2, I'm glad to see the MCU production steering away from this gray dull toned color scheme for future movies.
Even the dads fighting style works with his character, always keeping the rings with him and on him, never being separated from them, because he is unable to let go.
I just wish the movie had cast someone other than Aquafina. That woman's voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me.
Well thats rude. Its not like she can change her voice or anything.
It really just felt like another marvel movie to me. Not bad not great, just more in the middle
The lore and “culture” elevated it
Agreed
Recency bias probably played a role - Black Widow wasn't all that good, so even bog-standard MCU (and IMO, this was a bit higher than bog-standard) got a good reception. It also moved the MCU plot forward (compared to BW, which was a prequel in all the ways that mattered), so it probably got a few points for that.
@@samymucho5494 for me* just culture, its the most asian thing it can derive itself away from others
Yeah, it's too bad. Marvel seems to blow at so much and ends up with many missed opportunities. I felt a little empty after it was over. Everything was resolved as usual but in an unsatisfying way.
“Good artists borrow but great artists steal” Picasso
"Picasso? Pah. He won't amount to anything"
Billy Zane's character in Titanic (AKA the best movie villain of all time)
I don't like Shang chi, but loved Tony lewng's mandarine.His acting was on point.
4:10 the edit made me lol so hard. Reminded me of the terribly dubbed old kung-fu films I used to watch growing up.
I went into this movie assuming I would hate it but I LOVED it. I thought the villain was super sympathetic as he wasn't just some generic villain that was evil for the sake of being evil but actually was a heartbroken man who just wanted to bring his beloved wofe back. I think villains work best when you can see that they believe they are doing the right thing.
Really? You assumed you would hate it? That's weird
@@vanblitz7009 he would have think that shang chi is another marvel minority representation movie ..
lol didn't expect to see you in a random video on the internet. Good movie indeed
He's more like antagonist
@@udhayakumarMN If you're referring to Black Panther as being a minority representation film I blatantly disagree with you, it's in the same boat as Shang-Chi. Only other minority representations I can think of are Captain Marvel and Black Widow (still not over taskmaster). *Those* are garbage
I was very skeptical about Shang Chi but after watching it 3 times I can safely say it’s one of the best MCuU films ever. Can’t wait to to see more of him
You sad, sad soul. How have you already watched it three times?!
Wait actually I want to know how you got though it the first time
@Justin Conforti Lmao..Dude, what? I turned this trash off 15 mins in. It's in the dump of the MCU with Capt Marvel.
Hahaha so it took you three viewings to like it hahahaha
It's so sad how everyone in this comment section acts so hard. Ultimately acting like children and can't respect @Justin Conforti's opinions.
Could you do a flim perfection video on Rango?
This is Simu Liu's first lead role in a film, having previously had supporting roles in his career.
Awkwafina was the first actor cast in the film.
The symbols in the Ten Rings logo are Chinese characters: "quan" (authority), "li" (power), "zhuang" (strong), "wei" (extraordinary), "jie" (outstanding), "shi" (influential), "hong" (grand), "xiong" (mighty), qiang" (strength) and "wei" (dominant).
This is renowned Hong Kong film actor Tony Chiu-Wai Leung's first role in an American film and his first English-speaking role, even though he has always spoken it fluently.
The red and black suit Shang Chi acquires at Ta Lo is a homage to the suit he wore in the Jonathan Hickman "Avengers" comics.
The filmmakers cite Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Kung Fu Hustle (2004), Tai Chi Master (1993), the The Matrix (1999) series, Donnie Yen's "Ip Man" films and Jackie Chan films as an influence on the martial arts action. Michelle Yeoh starred in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).
Shang-Chi is the first superhero film with an Asian leading protagonist for Marvel Studios.
The bus fight is loosely inspired both by Jackie Chan and Buster Keaton.
Shang" and "Xia" are homophones (same sound different Chinese characters) of "up" and "down", respectively, in Chinese.
Tony Chiu-Wai Leung was thrilled to join the film as he is a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
This movie was going to be made by Paramount Pictures before Disney bought Marvel.
This is the second movie where Awkwafina had apologized onscreen for her poor Chinese. The first was The Farewell (2019).
In Xialing's room there is an AC/DC poster implying she is a fan of the band. AC/DC songs are well-known to be part of the Iron Man (2008)'s soundtrack as well the sequels.
Many of the scenes were visually inspired by Akira Toriyama's popular manga and anime series Dragon Ball (1986), which Destin Daniel Cretton is a fan of. The "Kamehameha" energy wave is also mentioned by Katy in the film.
Ludi Lin, Steven Yeun, Mike Moh, Alex Landi, Lewis Tan, Edward Zo, Liviu Covalschi and Ross Butler were considered for the role of Shang-Chi.
First film by Destin Daniel Cretton to have a predominantly Asian cast.
You just gotta appreciate the civil war music in the background of something done right. Love it.
*Are there really people who believe what the Rotten Tomatoes page says !? In the middle of 2021?*
Shang Chi could've been top 3 for me if they skipped the big monster CGI LOTR bit and just focused on Shang and his dad.
The entire point of the movie was that the monster was manipulating the dad into opening the gate, via stealing the necklaces from his children
@@Aryan-ck9lv I know I just could've done without all that.
I know its not the kind of content you usually do but can you please do an episode on Arcane the writing and storytelling is just phenomenal!
Beside being just a long BMW commercial it has absolutely beautiful fight scenes. Cannot wait for a Corridor Crew to review it
the music in the bus fight scene was absolutely fucking bangin
The movie felt like a Marvel film mixed with Shaw Brothers. It was fun, but had the standard MCU formula.
Thanks man you have just mentioned every single reason why I love this movie
I feel your videos are at their best when you clearly establish the principles you see at play, which you did phenomenally here. Excellent job!
The dad gave me a real Ikari Gendo vibe:
He wasn’t a power-hungry mustache-twirler; he was just a guy who wanted his wife back.
I love that slow mo in the final fight that ties in with when he met and fell in love with the mother.
It's well written, old-fashioned story telling with really cool action set pieces. It's no wonder it did so well.
The movie has a whole is amazing, but I gotta say, the bus fight scene is easily on of the best fight scenes in all of the MCU. And may I be as bold to say it’s quite up there in cinema as a whole.
Imo one of the best scenes in the mcu is shang chi watching his mom die. The scene is great on a few levels but within the mcu, the best aspect of it is it gives authentic anger to chang chi's dad and a reason for him to feel betrayal. His son failed to protect his mother and his wife. It is totally understandable then for the dad to hate the son and view him as weak. And this dovetails nicely with the son and daughter feeling betrayed by the father and one another. In short, every actor has compelling motivations, and in no small part because shang chi fails to save his mom. Great stuff.
I really love the scene where they go to the bar for revenge and how terrifying it is. No coincidence that it follows that other great scene. Definitely some really good stuff in this movie.
I mean ig it’s understandable, kid looked like 8 yo and hadn’t started any type of training
@@trippymartian8847 of course. But certainly also understandable for the dad in his grief and shame (and with his power) to feel that his son is responsible in some part for not trying to help. Basically, hurt people find outlets for their anger and in families that may mean anger towards a family member.
@@CFTStheband that scene was probably one of the most if not the most brutal in the MCU, definitely amazing
@@jacoblubben7307 I get your point
The thing I respect most, is the attention to detail in family dynamics in chinese and overall asian culture
well said. what makes a great action scene is not only about the punching or how it shot, but also "the little story" that happen between action. even better if the stake getting more escalated in each minutes.
wait, you really think Kaity earns her place from something else aside being the comedic character, first half maybe but after that she is just a moving plot shield, why would shang father bring her to ther secret base in the first time he only neded shang and her sister, and no way she is so good at archery after an hour training and even if its heartwarming he gets to bond with the old man that only comes after her magical super aim that was never stablished before
I completely agree. Her presence made no sense throughout the movie and her plot relevance towards the end was out of nowhere. It felt like she was given more focus than Shaun's sister despite lacking much of a direct connection to the core conflict.
@@creativebeetle She's a audience surrogate. Her place in the story is to go "holy shit" as a audience segregate. Looks like she's have a spot in the team up movies. The sister looks like will be fleshed out in a tv show. Just based on them picking a complete unknown for the sister and the end stinger. They also set up zany characters around her. Jon Jon and Razor Fist.
I think he means that at least narratively, it worked. The intention of the script/character writing was fulfilled. Was it perfectly executed? Far from it. I mean it's also convenient how Shang Chi learned the exact thing he needed to beat his father in about 2 hours as well.
@@simonbright2975 yes but I also mean that, narratively Kaity was only needed on the first half, you got Trevor as your goofball once you got to the base making her redundant narratively speaking, and sure shang just learns the specific skill he needed to beat his dad but he has been learning how to fight all his life unlike Kaity who's been joking around all her life
Her character is a self-insert for the audience. She did have a purpose. She was also a foil for Shang
Oh the dead grandpa...
I was so much banking on him being Shawn's hit from when he was 15.
I wasn't hyped for shang-chi but now I can't wait to see more of it.
ive seen shang chi about 3 times now and the part with the acting apes A LOT more and that line it cracks me up every time
It’s about time you made a video about Schang Chi
an almost 18 minutes video to explain a 2 minutes point about this movie. You really know how to STEAL TIME from your audience haha, really enjoyed your work, as always. Keep them coming.