Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings *Spoilers*

[hulahulk]

The rings is sending a beacon.

Thank you, Immortal

[Jack The Tripper]

I loved this movie. Watched it last night and I’m really excited to watch it again when it gets to D+.

there were some pacing issues (Shang, Katy and Xiaoling should have had longer at Wenwu’s compound imo), and the dragon fight went on for far too long.

Aside from those two things I really loved it. Characters and actors were fantastic. Awkwafina was great and Sony Liu made me very excited to see him turn up again.

Tony Leung’s Wenwu was the standout, I wish we had even more time with him. His final scene was really fantastic in my opinion.

I was pleasantly surprised they spoke mandarin for a lot of the film! They probably expected a big audience in China, but it definitely made the film feel more authentic to me.

The family dynamic was executed so well

Fight choreography was great for the most part, particularly Wenwu vs Shang’s mother, the scaffold fight, and the bus fight.

Although I found Trevor Slattery hilarious, I wish he was cut out a bit just so we could have more Wenwu and Shang interaction. We also should have seen Shang killing his mother’s murderer.

The creature designs were both fascinating and adorable especially the giant dog/lions. Soul eaters were freaky

One of my favourite things is that it leaned so unapologetically into Chinese culture. I wish the first two Thor movies were as brave as this to have weird mystical/fantastical things happening!

Just loved it lol

[Derek Metaltron]

It didn't hit me until much later- Bruce was back in human form, not in Smart Hulk form. Which is confusing to me, as I thought he had made peace with both sides, which was why he was Smart Hulk and not just Puny Banner. I wonder if we'll get an explanation in She-Hulk.

Possibly using the Gauntlet had a bigger impact on Hulk and Banner than we expected. The damage to that symbiotic relationship could in fact be a good means of setting up Maestro in the future.

One of my favourite things is that it leaned so unapologetically into Chinese culture. I wish the first two Thor movies were as brave as this to have weird mystical/fantastical things happening!

It actually makes me very hopeful for both Moon Knight and Captain Britain (when he hopefully turns up someday) to tap into both Egyptian and Celtic/Anglo Saxon mythology properly.

[John Venus]

Possibly using the Gauntlet had a bigger impact on Hulk and Banner than we expected. The damage to that symbiotic relationship could in fact be a good means of setting up Maestro in the future.

Remember at the end of IW when Thanos chest was healed after Thor's attack but his arm still remained burnt after that snap? I don't think damage from a nigh powerful cosmic power source is something one can bounce back from easily. Some observant viewers pointed out that when Thanos is escaping through the portal after the snap, you can see green sparks around his chest showing that he is using the time stone to reverse his injuries. So if he can reverse the injury on his chest and not his arm shows that damage from an Infinity Stones isn't normal. Also explains why Strange didn't (or rather couldn't) heal Tony after his snap. I've had a theory that the damage is irreversible even with the time stone because of left over radiation from the stones themselves. In the case of the Hulk that should lead to some interesting possibilities.

God, I hope we get Maestro in the MCU at some point before Rufallo gets too old. I really want to see how he does in a villain role.

[Tien Long]

A couple of thoughts:

I thought Katy firing that arrow was a little suspect as well. One day and she gets it? Interestingly enough she makes a joke about it in the movie. I think that I'll let that one slide.

Also, here is a message that I posted in the Shang-Chi Appreciation thread:

Well, after all has been said and done, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has crushed Labor Day expectations with a record setting $90 million dollars:

https://variety.com/2021/film/box-of...rd-1235057013/

I remember when I first heard about the film. I remember saying that Shang-Chi had a huge mountain to climb. A c-list Asian character rooted in Yellow Peril and stereotypes had to prove to an audience that it was successful. It had to have great characterization while not forgoing its Kung Fu roots. And it had to endure multiple delays because of a pandemic. I said that we had to keep the deadly hands of Kung Fu crossed that it would succeed on all of those accounts.

And it did . Critically acclaimed, financially successful, insanely popular, Shang-Chi did it all.

Now, I can't be totally happy. I do have my critiques on the film. Yet the more I think about the film, the more I see positives. Maybe a second watch through less critical eyes, either this weekend or when the film comes out on Disney Plus, will help. But overall, the film was great. And finally, FINALLY, after all these years, I see people see the potential that I knew was in Shang-Chi.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

This movie was a masterpiece.

And holy crap, you know you're all grown up when a movie this big namedrops and makes nods to the Kamehameha. It's one of those moments where you realize people your age are making movies now. [I imagine Feige and most Marvel execs his age probably didn't know what a Kamehameha was prior to this film].

[Midvillian1322]

Saw it twice this weekend and really loved the movie. Didn't love that the ending turned into a Kaiju showdown but it was all done so well and looked so stunning I got over it. Fight scenes were great. And as good as the hand to hand stuff was the best scenes were Shang doing parkour. Not surprised to learn that Sima trained his ass off for this film to get the Martial arts down. But he was already skilled at parkour. Cause yea the scenes of him doing Jackie Chan Style parkour were great. Jumping through the bus and getting the the driver seat. Then the big tracking shot of his rushing to catch Katey on the skyscraper... loved it. Story wise its where I can nit pick it. But the visual story telling was great. Wen-Wu and His wife falling in love during that fight. Then mirroring that in the final battle with Shang with that same cool shot that slows down on Wen-Wu's face. I though I was gonna hate the big cgi showdown between Shang and his father but I though it was super well done. The way Sima used the rings in the fight was cool.

Loved Trevor. As silly as his character is. He made me smile everytime

[Castle]

But I don't think they lost the main plot of the story at all! It's not like we took a detour to have a random subplot. The story is pretty linear (flashbacks notwithstanding) - it's about Shang-Chi's journey back to China, to ultimately discover his mother's village and stop his father's misguided plot to breach the gateway. Everything that happens, from the bus fight, to the fight club, to even Trevor Slattery, is in service of that journey.

They did loose the main plot of the story, the CGI fights should have ended immediately his father died, even that had already gone overboard, especially with the current criticism of how many comic films are now too reliant on CGI. Shang CHI journey was already going fine with the characters just talking about it and his origins and where he came from. trust me when I say, you really did not need all that CGI in the third arc. the movie took what is considered perhaps the one major weakness of wonder woman 1, which is wonder woman's 3rd act and expanded upon the weakness not for the better.

Funny...I got the impression that Shang and Katy were a couple by the end of the film, even if they don't make a big deal about it.

Same. It was actually very refreshing to see something like that.

Can I also say that I loved they didn’t throw in a romance sub-plot in for the sake of it? I honestly hope they keep Shang and Katie as BFFs, they really work that way. Movies really need more platonic opposite sex friendships.

It is pretty safe to say Shang and Katy would be a couple in the future, there are already hints of it and the seeds are been sown. Additionally while it seems more easy to compare the movie to Black Panther due to them been more about cultural significance, the primary story of the two main characters also leans more into the first Iron Man film. Shang and Katy are basically replaying the dynamic of Tony and Pepper. Katy/Pepper been the side kick trusted friend that even other characters keep asking why are they not Shang/Tony girlfriend.

Also if I remember Iron Man 1 fairly well, Tony and Pepper very much like Shang and Katy were not a couple in the first film either. However both heir connection and loyalty to eachother is strong. thus, this will become the basic realistic step for them to grow into a couple.

[Noodle]

They did loose the main plot of the story, the CGI fights should have ended immediately his father died, even that had already gone overboard, especially with the current criticism of how many comic films are now too reliant on CGI. Shang CHI journey was already going fine with the characters just talking about it and his origins and where he came from. trust me when I say, you really did not need all that CGI in the third arc. the movie took what is considered perhaps the one major weakness of wonder woman 1, which is wonder woman's 3rd act and expanded upon the weakness not for the better.

They totally lost the main plot of the story after Wenwu died, especially if you completely ignore the entire motivation of why he was doing what he was doing and his entire reasoning for going to Ta Lo. But who could consider things like that to be "plot elements" and such nonsense. It's only the entire crux of the film. Nope. Should have just left it when Wenwu died and completely dropped major hanging plot points.

[Surf]

Saw it twice this weekend and really loved the movie. Didn't love that the ending turned into a Kaiju showdown but it was all done so well and looked so stunning I got over it. Fight scenes were great. And as good as the hand to hand stuff was the best scenes were Shang doing parkour. Not surprised to learn that Sima trained his ass off for this film to get the Martial arts down. But he was already skilled at parkour. Cause yea the scenes of him doing Jackie Chan Style parkour were great. Jumping through the bus and getting the the driver seat. Then the big tracking shot of his rushing to catch Katey on the skyscraper... loved it. Story wise its where I can nit pick it. But the visual story telling was great. Wen-Wu and His wife falling in love during that fight. Then mirroring that in the final battle with Shang with that same cool shot that slows down on Wen-Wu's face. I though I was gonna hate the big cgi showdown between Shang and his father but I though it was super well done. The way Sima used the rings in the fight was cool.

Loved Trevor. As silly as his character is. He made me smile everytime

I would go see it again. I agree about the Kaiju ending, especially since that demon dragon didn't have much explanation. Yes, Shang Chi's bus sequence was way cooler than I expected. I thought it was better than the scaffolding sequence but the parkour stuff was dope. The action was well done and didn't cut away excessively. The Drive-In screen I saw it on was really shitty so I'm gonna have to find a showing down the line to sit through.

I'm gonna go the other way with Trevor. I didn't think ANY of the jokes, outside of the language one, landed in this movie. The humor was really flat all the way around. Not quite Kat Demmings level groan but just pretty lame nonetheless, everything else I thought was really cool.

[Surf]

I felt like there should have been a shout out to K'un Lun here. It was hovering around Ta Lo the whole time, just an acknowledgement of the OTHER mystical Asian city in the MCU.

I was thinking the same thing. A brief explainer that flashed the dragon or a Fist from K'un Lun would have been nuts. The breif explainer in regards to the dragon that was talking to the Mandarin was cool but there was also much of that city we got zero explanation for.

Even though I'm used to my Shang-Chi being more of a grounded street level hero, this was some good expansion and on of the better MCU origin stories btw. Some good potential for your guy going forward Tien.

[Jack The Tripper]

They did loose the main plot of the story, the CGI fights should have ended immediately his father died, even that had already gone overboard, especially with the current criticism of how many comic films are now too reliant on CGI. Shang CHI journey was already going fine with the characters just talking about it and his origins and where he came from. trust me when I say, you really did not need all that CGI in the third arc. the movie took what is considered perhaps the one major weakness of wonder woman 1, which is wonder woman's 3rd act and expanded upon the weakness not for the better.

The plot was not lost in the third act, you could argue it was dragged out or not to your liking, but it was still mapped out throughout the story. And it helped to expand the power of the ten rings and the world of Ta Lo.

[Iron_Legion87]

Saw it twice this weekend and really loved the movie. Didn't love that the ending turned into a Kaiju showdown but it was all done so well and looked so stunning I got over it. Fight scenes were great. And as good as the hand to hand stuff was the best scenes were Shang doing parkour. Not surprised to learn that Sima trained his ass off for this film to get the Martial arts down. But he was already skilled at parkour. Cause yea the scenes of him doing Jackie Chan Style parkour were great. Jumping through the bus and getting the the driver seat. Then the big tracking shot of his rushing to catch Katey on the skyscraper... loved it. Story wise its where I can nit pick it. But the visual story telling was great. Wen-Wu and His wife falling in love during that fight. Then mirroring that in the final battle with Shang with that same cool shot that slows down on Wen-Wu's face. I though I was gonna hate the big cgi showdown between Shang and his father but I though it was super well done. The way Sima used the rings in the fight was cool.

Loved Trevor. As silly as his character is. He made me smile everytime

Yea I loved the movie as well solid 9/10. My only issue is the ending battle suddenly feeling like a weird mix of Pokemon and Tekken. But the story, characters (Simu Liu & Awkwafina are great) , fight scenes were fantastic. I would have loved to have seen tony leung go up against RDJ Tony/ Iron man as the real mandarin in an Iron man movie. BIG missed opportunity there. The post credits scenes set up some interesting things for the MCU going forward as well.

One question though, are they setting up Abomination to be a good guy or anti hero now? He is training with Wong and the way Wong talks to him seems to be on somewhat friendly terms. Plus he doesn't act like the Abomination from the 2008 movie who would be out for revenge and destruction. Also, I guess the She-Hulk show will explain Bruce's change back into his normal self instead of professor Hulk.

[80sbaby]

Having just got back from seeing this, I gotta agree that it was pretty damn good!

Akwafina annoyed me at the beginning but really grew on me by the end. To the point I wouldn’t mind if they decide to make her a love interest.

I’m also very interested in the sister going forward. I like that she’s not really “evil.”

Speaking of, the Mandarin definitely stole the show here. He’s a Top 3 MCU villain, imo. And his saving Shang in the climax was nice to see.

And in regards to Bruce at the end, I did notice he was wearing some sort of device on his right arm (not the one in a sling), so I'm sure that will be addressed in She-Hulk.

[phonogram12]

As an Asian man (although not Chinese), I feel they really nailed the family dynamic, due in no small part to Tony Leung. Once he met the mother of his children, he wasn't just an evil guy anymore. He was a dedicated husband and father, which Leung portrayed (not surprisingly) to perfection. After he lost his wife, he was just a hurt father who missed his wife dearly. And the relationship between he and Shang I felt authentically portrayed the dynamic between first generation immigrant kids and their more traditional immigrant parents. In general, first generation kids have a lot of expectations put upon them and that was clear here. And the way Shang tried to reason with his dad...yeah, that's definitely relatable in the same way.

And of course there was the scene near the beginning where Shang removed his shoes right next to all the other piles of shoes before entering Katy's house. Most (if not all) Asian American kids should be able to relate to that.