Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

I'm not one to read critics and I stay away from reading anything until I've seen a film. I've just seen this one in Imax and I loved every second of it. For me, this film is in Marvel's top ten films. I found the flow to be perfect and the director had just enough humor in there for my liking. To me, the film is kinda of a blend of Black Panther and Doctor Strange with a hint of Captain Marvel.

I was impressed by how graceful the film at times. I never thought I'd see a film where two people fall in love with each other as they're fighting. Extremely well done, beutifully photographed and very tastefully and stylistically put together.

The mid-credit scene is one of the best yet and is a great sign of things to come. I hope the film does well and that people are entertained as much as I was by it.

 

LOL I can't say I have any interest in this one, but that visual made me laugh.

 

Just saw this. Loved it.

Much better than Black Widow.

 

Merchandising tie-ins are a helluva drug.

 

The difference is that Superman and Batman comics have been published continuously since the late 30s. There are decades' worth of stories from which to draw for source material, and some of the best-known stories of both characters have been published since the 50s. By contrast, the only time in which Shang Chi had any extended success as a standalone comic character was in the 70s. Since the cancellation of the original Shang Chi series in 1983, there's only been a small handful of Shang Chi comics published, none of which has been much of a commercial success. Over the past 20 years he's primarily been used as a supporting character in other peoples' comics. So my desire to see them draw upon Shang Chi material from the 70s is not analogous to a Batman fan who prefers the 50s Batman stories over all the other Batman stories. There is no other extended body of Shang Chi stories from any other decade besides the 70s. Not using most of the material or supporting characters from the 70s is sort of analogous to doing a Sherlock Holmes film that doesn't use any elements or characters from the Conan Doyle stories... no Watson, Holmes lives in Chicago rather than London, etc. At a certain point, you delete enough that the spirit of the character is lost. That's what I'm saying.

 

Took my kids, or rather they took me and we enjoyed it. My son (17) called it best fitting in the MCU. The third act starting with the arrival al Ta Lo reminded me visually of Raya and the Last Dragon with the whole village in their matching outfits waiting in formation.

Morris!

 

It's doing very good business at the Box Office.

‘Shang-Chi’ Box Office to Smash Labor Day Record with $83M-Plus – The Hollywood Reporter

Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings is making a heroic showing at the box office, where it has smashed the record for Labor Day openings and will become second the biggest debut of the pandemic year so far, behind fellow Marvel Studios pic Black Widow.

Shang-Chi, from filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton, grossed $23.2 million on Saturday, bringing its estimated domestic three-day total to $71.4 million from 4,300 locations. Shang-Chi‘s global haul is an estimated $127.6 million. The PG-13 movie, which earned positive reviews and a glowing A Cinemascore, stars Simu Liu as Marvel’s newest hero and is the studio’s first to center on an Asian lead. With its three-day number expected to be $71.4 million, Shang-Chi is will be the second-biggest domestic opening of the year, behind Black Widow, which debuted to $80.3 million over three days in July, and ahead of Universal’s F9, which brought in $70 million in late June.

 

Saw the film earlier today, first trip out to the cinema since the pandemic began.

The film? Loved it. Some great martial arts choreography married with some graceful, fluid camera works (the

Spoiler

bamboo scaffold fight

in particular looked fantastic. Appreciate, with a couple of exceptions. the wider, unbroken shots as opposed to the hyperactive editing to give the impression of action.

Simu-Liu & Awkwafina both made for engaging leads and I'd happily see them lead another film/sequel. Michelle Yeoh improves any and every film she has ever been in (been a fan since her co-starring roles with Jackie Chan).

If I'd have been asked to imagine a Marvel film crossed with Crouching Tiger/Once Upon a Time in China, this would be exactly what I'd imagine.

Also got to see the film in a Dolby Cinema - the cinematography looked fabulous in Dolby Vision, from the costumes to the verdant forests to the glowing lanterns against the water & the night. And 20+ films in, I've yet to be disappointed with Marvel. I understand how they suck all of the oxygen and money out of the room, but I've always been highly entertained and never short changed.

 

Though I've never been into superhero anything, we recently started watching "Kim's Convenience" on Netflix and very much enjoy it. It's very nice to see Simu Liu in this huge film, especially knowing it did very, very well on opening weekend, exceeding expectations.

 

I have seen mixed reviews but generally positive it seems. One guy on Youtube saw it three times over three days.

 

Not sure about this. I used to love the earlier comics, before Gulacy started drawing him as Bruce Lee. Wjat was that daft Groucho character that turned up in the later, more cartoony stories?

 

Different strokes I guess, I always felt the best Shang-Chi books were drawn by Paul Gulacy! While the work on the inside was good, Mike Zeck created some of the most memorable covers of the entire run! One of my favorite memories was how in the books, Gulacy often used movie stars as characters! Marlon Brando, Marlene Dietrich, and one of the characters always made reference that his daddy was James Bond, Gulacy even threw images of Sean Connery in the mix!

 

I enjoyed Shang-Chi as much as when I saw Black Panther, Spider-Man: Homecoming, or Thor: Ragnarok. I would consider these movies (and others) to be on the "top shelf" of Marvel movies. Although for me the very best of the Marvel movies are Avengers: Endgame and Captain America: Winter Soldier.

I like how Marvel movies have branched out into different styles (e.g., Logan is a Western, Winter Soldier is a 70s spy thriller, Guardians is comedy). Shang-Chi incorporated a lot of fantasy, mostly from Chinese mythology. It also had excellent one-on-one action fighting scenes, which were well choreographed, shot and edited. The main characters had different fighting styles, and they mixed it up with a lot of different influences: the wire-work, air bending, Crouching Tiger type scenes, even Jackie Chan type scenes.

If I put my critic hat on, I could criticize Shang-Chi for its second act, which got a little messy trying to cover a lot of characters' back stories and revelations, intercutting between past and present. Or its third act, where the action could become too predictably Hollywood and CGI heavy. But despite that, the MCU fan in me wants to go back to watch the fight scenes again, and pick up some details I missed. And that's the feeling I from a good MCU movie: "Oh, that was cool! I wanna see that again!" So I can understand both the criticism and the enthusiasm.

Shang-Chi did smash the Labor Day box office record, with an estimated $71.4 million domestic box office for Friday through Sunday. But the Labor Day record was a very low bar to begin with, $30.6 million domestic by the 2007 Halloween (by Rob Zombie). People have not historically gone out to the the movie theaters for Labor Day weekend.

Long-time subscriber to The New York Times, and I do like their movie and theater reviews. But their reviews of Marvel movies (and popcorn movies generally) have never worked for me. It's like asking a food critic who reviews Michelin 3-star restaurants to review a fast food chicken sandwich. If you're deep into Chinese and Hong Kong cinema, and seen all the Wong Kar-wai and Hark Tsui movies, then Shang-Chi will probably across as a superficial take on Asian cinematic traditions. But I have friends who have their heads up in the clouds like this: "Oh, I have never seen any Marvel movie, but this Shang-Chi sounds interesting. Do you think I will like it as much as this off-broadway interactive play by this Berlin playwright about the lingering effects of the Holocaust on contemporary social media?" I have to explain, "You are talking a comic book action movie. Not the same thing!" One thing I always liked about the late Roger Ebert was that he reviewed foreign art films for what they were, and popcorn action films for what they were.

 

Hopefully with the news it’s doing well and people like it this thread has moved past critiquing whether the actor is good looking enough.

 

I saw it on Sunday on a huge screen. I thought it was really well done. I thought the third act was fine - I think The NY Times reviewer wasn’t paying close enough attention.

Enjoyed it and wouldn’t mind seeing it in 3D or IMAX or whatever other format it was released in.

 

I have a complete run of those Moench/Gulacy issues in a box in California. The artwork by Gulacy is absolutely fantastic, but the stories and characters are kind of dumb. Hard to imagine a transition to the big screen.

 

my wife is driving me crazy with this seeing this movie! anyone know when it's coming out on Blu-Ray?

 

like most critics he probably has an agenda...a decision is already made before they see the movie...not enough of what they like in the movie..all in my own opinion of course...; )

 

That was Rufus T. Hackstabber, who only appeared in two issues, I think.

 

Huh. Can't argue opinions, but I'd say the best of those stories were much more complex and mature than the average Marvel Comic (or the average Marvel film, for that matter). And they had a "Bruce Lee meets James Bond" feel that seems tailor-made for the big screen.

 

We love those filmmakers, and love Wuxia films in general. There's no reason you can't love both - my wife saw the Marvel Marathon, 22 films in a row in the theater.

Hopefully this film will be an introduction to the genre for a lot of people.

 

Maybe you’re right. I haven’t read them since I was 16 or so. But he was Fu Manchu’s son and his girlfriend was a Chinese girl with a pseudo-Japanese name and whose comrades included a Marlon Brando lookalike. I should see if I still have them. Gulacy was a stud.

 

I know it’s just a movie, but it bugs me that the whole success of the confrontation came down to

Spoiler: Spoiler

Katy shooting an arrow into the main demon’s neck to prevent it stealing the soul of the village’s dragon. If it were a trained warrior, fine, but someone who just learned to shoot the day before?

I mean of course you have to suspend disbelief in these movies, but that seemed like pretty absurd and reminded me of

Spoiler: Analogously far fetched plot point

Rose in the Last Jedi suddenly being a good pilot when she was a mechanic up to that point. Granted her actions didn’t turn the whole course of events, but still, I found it annoying

 

Well, it isn’t like they portrayed the shot as no big deal. She herself even was amazed that she made the shot. Some times people get lucky. Even in real life. They’re not making her out to be some sort of new Hawkeye or anything.

 

If you have Disney + it will be available in 45 days, no word yet on a Blu/4K release.