Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings [Marvel]

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117825427#Comment_117825427

Anyone that grew up on Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee were also wondering what kind of BS is this lad pulling.

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117825427#Comment_117825427

You seem to be even more focused on race than Disney. On both a moral and artistic basis it made perfect sense to bring on an Asian director to lead this. Though it is absolutely no guarantee of a great film - cultural knowledge and lived experiences matter. It is obvious Black Panther gained a lot from the choice of director. Sure there is also a business and box ticking angle to this but there is plenty of justification outside of that - Disney would be wrong in nearly every way to have gone a different route.

You're really tying yourself in knots to claim Shang Chi isn't absolutely unique thus far in the comic movie world. List me out other big budget comic book movies with the vast majority of the cast being Asian, especially from either of the big two - Marvel and DC. I also haven't seen Disney even selling this as 'first Asian superhero movie' - you're frustrated by true comments from the public and media.

None of us have seen the movie yet so I'll hold my judgement until after I go to the cinema on Friday. I am not usually a huge martial arts fan so this hasn't been top of the list of MCU movies I've been waiting for.

flazio

It was fun enough, typical Marvel final act.

If you have Disney+ There's a One Shot put up that's relevant to this movie.

Homelander

I wonder are there many high profile domestic movies from China/Japan/Korea based on comic books in a similar vein to Marvel?

It wouldn't be my area of expertise in the slightest but all I can think of is Black Mask with Jet Li.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117843775#Comment_117843775

Are you talking specifically about superheroes? With comic books more generally, vast amounts of Japanese live-action and animated blockbusters originate with manga - everything from fantasy action to slice-of-life romance.

Superheroes specifically, you have the likes of Ultraman, Kamen Rider, Super Sentai (Power Rangers) etc... although a lot of those originated as TV shows in the 60s and 70s.

There's also a lot of Japanese and Chinese (although I'm less well up on Chinese cinema history) series that would have long-running, multi-film series. Things like Zatoichi or Godzilla would have had one or two films released a year at the peak of their popularity.

With China, you see a lot of literary sources (such as Journey to the West) or quasi-historical figures (Wong Fei-hung or IP Man) pop up again and again, with dozens and dozens of different films based on the material. I say quasi-historical as the films - especially with Wong Fei-hung - often have only limited grounding in actual recorded history despite being based on very real people.

Homelander

Sorry yeah, I should have clarified I mean superheroes, that's what I meant when I said in a similar vein to Marvel. I've seen a ton of movies based on Manga - some damn fine ones as well, both animated and live action, though unlike the Marvel material I would have exactly zero familiarity with the source material so I take them exactly as they're presented with no bias or expectations whatsoever.

johnny_ultimate

Ah yeah fair enough. There are a bunch of superhero series in Japan that have a whole lot of films, but most of them would be low-budget and probably too campy / niche for western tastes, even for those well acquainted with Japanese cinema.

There is a Shin Ultraman film coming soon (basically a big-budget - by Japanese standards - reboot), with Shin Kamen Rider on the cards after it. If they're as good as Shin Godzilla they'll be a delight.

https://youtu.be/5t6qYNNkVlE

Homelander

Probably shouldn't get too off-topic but the last two I saw based on Anime were Casshern and Space Battleship Yamato. Enjoyed both immensely. Will keep an eye out for Ultraman, thanks for that. I don't follow asian cinema remotely as closely as I once did, and lord knows how many gems I've missed out on in the past few years.

johnny_ultimate

To bring it slightly back on topic, I do hope Shang-Chi encourages people to check out more of the Chinese and Hong Kong films it draws inspiration from. I've only really gotten into "martial arts" films myself in the last few years, but there are lots of absolutely incredible films out there. King Hu is one of my favourite directors of all time, and I've recently just watched Tsui Hark and Jet Li's Once Upon A Time In China films which are superb (first two particularly). And hopefully Tony Leung's apparently excellent performance encourages more people to go seek out his many magnificent Chinese-language performances from the last few decades :)

Varik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117843775#Comment_117843775

Profile and budget are relative, but there's loads in general. For one their comics aren't as limited to just superheroes or equivalent so there's a lot of varying material to source from, but they're also more accepting of animation as a broader medium so adaptations don't need to be live action to reach a larger audience (there's middle ground between "bluey" and "Rick & Morty").

Cotts72

Seen it last night, really enjoyed it! Something different to the normal run of the mill marvel movies! Thought akafinwa would annoy me but added some good humour to scenes! The after credits scene offers some phase 4 excitement at least!

flazio

I feel I was a bit down on the movie in my last post which is a bit unfair. It was an excellent bit of entertainment. Marvel and the east come together very well (Iron Fist aside). Meng'er Zhang as the sister Xialing deserves a shout out as according to IMDB, this is her first acting gig full stop. I thought her page would be filled with films for the Asian market before hitting Hollywood but no, this is it. Bright things ahead for her. I'm already dreaming up a fight scene between her and Elena.

silverharp

junior wanted to see in Dundrum yesterday with his mates and it was booked out, good sign for the film, though maybe its the capacity of the cinemas?

Foxtrol

Not sure if it was my low expectations, not knowing the character, or very limited viewing of movies it took inspiration from due to never being a martial arts movie fan but I loved that - probably will end up high on my list of standalone MCU movies.

Sure the 3rd act descended into the usual comic book movie CGI fest but overall it really added a new flavour to the MCU, while keeping the elements of MCU that most love, like absolutely nailing the humour. Felt like the real movie kick-start of Phase 4 (Disney+ has clearly gotten it going already).

Seems like it is getting great word of mouth and doing well at the box office - smashing Labor Day Weekend records despite pandemic (though there hasnt historically been too many movies released that weekend).

As usual, stay for the post credit scenes (especially the first one).

Agent Coulson

I enjoyed it must say as MCU movies go it would be above average for me as an origin story and opening up the Phase 4 and where that will go for those who don't watch the Disney+ shows.

Miss the old spoiler tags from before the change over is was so easy to insert them anywhere you just wanted to put a spoiler.

Varik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117846098#Comment_117846098

Had a look at booking it myself as first movie to go to see since covid, there was only 1 other seat already booked but that 1 seat meant the 2 to each side and the 3 in front and rear were locked.

So a single ticket meant that my butt is in 1 seat while the 10 seats around me would be locked out. You could pick nearer to some others so there's be overlap so occupied seat and 2 spaces and then occupied, and groups would be 2 extra blocked seats per additional person.

5star02707

Watched this movie last night and it was an absolute treat! Especially how Marvel handled the martial arts scenes 2/3 of the movie. It's definitely in my top 5 MCU movies.

The fight choreography is awesome as well as the storyline. You actually feel for the Mandarin as the story progresses.

santana75

This started off really well and the first hour was great......but then it just fizzled out an by the final 3rd It descended into standard Marvel fare. Shame, after the good start it had the potential to be a cracking film. Alas it was just another snooze fest in the end.

Cotts72

Also wish to add that Trevor is the true star of the show haha

Penn

Really enjoyed it. A really great origin story with an interesting villain and decent leads, some fantastic fight choreography, and without going too hard on the comedy.

Yes, the end of the third act turned into needless cgi-fest that went on too long, but for the most part it didn't detract too much.

FunLover18

https://twitter.com/ERCboxoffice/status/1434551391712800768?s=19

This seems like a very pessimistic way to view these numbers, Ant-Man, CA and Thor all went on to get sequels and Marvel don't have rights to a solo Hulk movie. If you consider the pandemic, you'd have to think Shang-Chi would have done a lot better.

pixelburp

That's a ludicrously bad take. It can't just ignore the pandemic that has literally forced studios to change releases, or even change distribution media for an entire year of films. No studio's that myopic. That was a tweet with an angle TBH, looking to shoot down a MCU. I suppose the knives will always be out for if/when the franchise wobbles.

flazio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117850477#Comment_117850477

If I'm reading that right, Shang Chi took in more than both Thor and Captain America and neither of those had a pandemic for an excuse.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117851333#Comment_117851333

Those films (bar Ant-Man) were also before the first Avengers film when the MCU wasn't the box-office behemoth it became.

However, the tweet is pure nonsense. Numbers don't care about the pandemic? Yeah, but the pandemic will obviously have had an affect on the numbers. Box office numbers for at least the rest of this year simply can't be compared to those pre-pandemic.

Agent Coulson

By tomorrow it will have $150m worldwide opening weekend that is pretty damn good for where we are in the world right now and it hasn't opened in China and may not so that will hurt it's box office compared to others

It will also arrive on Disney+ in 45 days October 17th is being predicted so it won't even get a long term box office run.

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117851362#Comment_117851362

Sure Hulk, Captain America, and Thor were before MCU became a behemoth but they were relatively well known characters to the public, especially the first two.

Even ignoring the obvious hit due to the pandemic, there is a reason why studios haven't chosen to release movies this weekend in the past - it just isn't a good time for people to go to the cinema.

By any objective assessment Shang-Chi is doing great thus far. Will be interesting to see whether the good word of mouth keeps numbers up.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117851864#Comment_117851864

Oh absolutely. That's why the tweet is so rubbish, saying numbers don't care about what month it is or the pandemic. You can't just take the numbers without any context, and Disney will have known those things will have affected the box office numbers. They only released the movie this week due to having to move dates on Black Widoe and trying to space their movies out, especially with Eternals and Spider-Man 3 still to come out this year.

Shang-Chi is performing pretty strongly all things considered, and is getting decent reviews and attention.

sydthebeat

Really enjoyed it. Fight scenes very impressive.

Cgi has really really stepped up as well.

silverharp

Junior and his mates went to see it yesterday, they seemed to like it but qualified, they thought the fighting scenes were good though, interestingly they are getting bored with PG type films.

johnny_ultimate

Tony Leung is the best performer in the MCU since Michael B Jordan, and by far the best actor to ever get a role in one of these films. He acquits himself extremely well, albeit with the unfortunate consequence that it makes everything around him (not least the protagonist) seem much less interesting.

It's fun and lively enough with some bold and bright colours, but it has all the usual Marvel problems. The bad action is more unfortunate here because the fights are clearly choreographed with care - it's just the direction that completely dulls the impact, with shaky-cam at best, excess CG at worst and various flashy angles that only serve to put a PG-friendly distance between the viewer and the fights. The great action and wuxia films of Hong Kong and Chinese cinema are channelled but to little interesting effect. The plot is way too overbusy for this kind of thing, especially with the unwelcome return of a familiar MCU face for far too much screentime.

Obviously Leung outperforms the entire MCU ensemble without breaking a sweat, but it definitely would have been nice to Meng'er Zhang get co-lead credit here as she's honestly probably more compelling than Shang-Chi himself.