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*** Shang-Chi: Legend of 10 Rings spoiler thread***

13,794 Views | 125 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by Lathspell
The Dirty Sock
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Meh, it was ok.

Probably my fault since I came in with high expectations with all the initial reviews. But really this was nothing special or original. However, I was entertained for a few hours and it makes a decent popcorn shut your brain down friday night movie.

I give it 3 out of 6 infinity stone paperweights.
lazuras_dc
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AG
I liked it enough, but it's not amazing for me. The character of the sister really just fell flat for me. Don't know if it was the acting or just the writing/arc of the character.

Why does the homing beacon only turn on when Shang Chi gets the rings?





YouBet
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AG
lazuras_dc said:

I liked it enough, but it's not amazing for me. The character of the sister really just fell flat for me. Don't know if it was the acting or just the writing/arc of the character.

Why does the homing beacon only turn on when Shang Chi gets the rings?





I think there is something special about him due to his lineage but never read comics and don't know.
MASAXET
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Dr. Not Yet Dr. Ag said:

Just got around to watching and actually pretty shocked at the near universal acclaim this film got. This is just such a mediocre movie with no real heart to it that is typically seen with some of the best Marvel films. I rank this squarely in the middle of the bottom third Marvel movies next to movies like Iron Man 3, Captain Marvel, and Thor.

The acting was pretty bland outside of Tony Leung. The sister was bizarrely mute for the entire movie to the point that I kept forgetting she was in the movie, and then when I did remember I questioned why I should even care about her. The middle portion of the movie dragged terribly. Nearly turned it off because I got so bored with it. There was absolutely no character growth for the title character. Tony Leung's character also has absolutely no character growth. He just kinda dies as soon as you think you are going to maybe get some emotional transformation in his character arc.

I also found the fight scenes to be pretty soulless. Looked cool, but there was no real passion, nothing unique about them, they were just kind of generic kung-fu fights that were well choreographed. Random good and bad dragons get dumped on us in the third act without any sort of build up.

The writers get real lazy with how they all escape the Father's compound by just having a character literally break down a wall using no effort and stating something along the lines of "Oh, I've done this before" as some sort of logical explanation. It was like something out of a cartoon.

They also just kind of gloss over Shang-Chi killing someone as a 14 year old at the order of his father. They don't show it happen, they don't show the emotional fall out, and it just kind of feels forgotten outside of the brief conversation with Kate. This is the kind of thing that should have been focused on in the third act. Rather than have magical dragons and all that other BS, the third act should have been grounded in human conflict. It should have addressed the father and son relationship more, Shang-Chi should have forced a realization on Tony Leung's character of the emotional and physical torment that he put his children through.

And going back to the mute sister, outside of a brief "I'm still mad at you fight" upon their first meeting, we get no real conflict between brother and sister. She just silently joins her brother's side in fighting against their dad, and then returns back to what appears to be an antagonist role in the post-credit scene. I guess maybe I would be cool with that if she had more than like 3 lines.

In summary, this was just a moderately entertaining, mindless, soulless, paint-by-numbers marvel movie that had a ton of potential, but wasted it on CGI fights and Kaijus. I honestly think the biggest problem with this movie is the lack of heart in what should be an incredibly emotional story about familial trauma.

5.3/10
I agree with all of this except I did enjoy the human v. human fight scenes. I had high expectations because I like pretty much literally every Marvel movie and this had great reviews, but I didn't love it. I enjoyed it and didn't regret watching it, but the above synopsis is basically how I felt. I actually fell asleep a couple of times which has never happened in a Marvel movie, but that may not be entirely the movie's fault.
Faustus
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YouBet said:

Katy might just be a natural genetic freak at archery. Probably helps being in a magic place too. Maybe some of it rubbed off on her.
Is magic still allowed to do that these days?
Southlake
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Just saw it and loved it.

It's a movie based on a Marvel Comic Book. Some of you really need to lighten up!

Okay, I'll come clean here, I actually thought Trevor was Bron from GOT at first.

And, I already knew that those apes were just acting in Planet of the Apes, I mean we all knew that, right?

Also Michelle Neoh rocks.

Fun ride. Nice job.

Turn around, look at what you see….
AustinAg2K
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Just watched it last night, and I'm in the "meh" camp. It could be because of high expectations, or because I streamed it instead of a watching in a theater, but I would probably put it in the lower half of Marvel movies. I really liked the main character, and the dad was great. I agree with those that said they should have spent more time on that dynamic. I really don't understand the fascination with Awkwafina. I've never found her funny in anything, and this movie was no different. The sister was just kind of there. Michelle Yeoh is always great.

I thought the fight on the bus was great, but then after that, I don't really remember any major martial arts fights. The trip to the fighting club was way too short. I would have liked to spend more time there and make the movie more of an "Enter the Dragon" or "Bloodsport" kind of movie. Maybe have him fight his way up to the reveal of his sister, instead of just showing up and getting thrown in the ring with her.

I also could have done without the entire trip to Narnia. I think it would have been much more interesting of a movie if they just made it Shang-Chi stopping the Ten Rings from building up their evil empire. Sometimes I feel Marvel movies think they have to make everything about saving the world/universe. I think they can do a lot better movie by taking the stakes down and focusing more on the characters. For example, "Spider-Man Homecoming" is one of my favorite Marvel movies, and it's just about stopping a guy from stealing stuff. They don't need to make every movie about stopping some super natural force from taking over the world. Leave those story lines for the Avenger movies. I think this movie would have been better served by just being about Shang-Chi stopping his dad's evil empire.
coldmoose
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I thought it was really good.
PatAg
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coldmoose said:

I thought it was really good.
same
Duncan Idaho
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I enjoyed it.

Would watch a buddy series with Wong and abomination traveling the multiverse solving crimes and getting int to hijinx
Quad Dog
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Duncan Idaho said:

I enjoyed it.

Would watch a buddy series with Wong and abomination traveling the multiverse solving crimes and getting int to hijinx

Wong, Abomination, Kat Dennings character, and Jimmy Woo make up the MCU's Mystery Inc.
texasaggie04
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Quad Dog said:

Duncan Idaho said:

I enjoyed it.

Would watch a buddy series with Wong and abomination traveling the multiverse solving crimes and getting int to hijinx

Wong, Abomination, Kat Dennings character, and Jimmy Woo make up the MCU's Mystery Inc.


So they travel around and scooby doo this crap?
ChipFTAC01
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I didn't catch that it was abomination until I read tjis thread. Why was he being cool? More multiverse crap?
mazag08
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Thought the movie was fantastic. I prefer the more wild sci fi, fantasy, and mystical types of movies, so this one was perfect for me.

I suspect the people who keep saying it was meh are probably the types who think winter soldier is the best marvel movie.
Lathspell
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Finally got around to streaming it. It was fun and entertaining, but I agree with many of the criticisms posed in this thread.

Also, was it just me or did the CGI seem to take a step back from what we have come to expect from a Marvel movie? There were several scenes, like the bus fight and the little Maurice creature's first appearance, that looked obviously CGI. I have gotten used to the quality of CGI in Marvel films that it looks real.

I liked the Wong cameo, but am a little confused about his seemingly brazen use of the mystic arts for entertainment. Did the old Sorcerer Supreme just run a tighter ship, and how everyone's just running around doing magic tricks in the open?
jbirdag96
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Ambres said:

Brock Sampson said:

Not my favorite marvel movie but I enjoyed it. The bits with Morris and Trevor were hilarious. Reminded me of Korg.

The rings sending a beacon out is interesting and can lead to many different settings. Maybe it's what awakens Adam Warlock?
I have two working theory.. base on the 10 ring being a celestial weapons similar to those use by the eternal

so 1: The beacon called out to the Celestial since the planet now had enough power to born the Tiamat.

or 2: It called out to Galactus to inform him that a celestial was being born... time for him to get a little snack.
Potential answers.
rhutton125
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Decent list but IMO Shang-Chi shouldn't cross over with any of those things. Like, cool if it brings us Galactus but Shang-Chi shouldn't be punching Galactus in the face.
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Madmarttigan
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Finally watched this, all I can say is meh
rhutton125
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I was a very vocal critic of this movie upon first viewing so I want to come eat some crow after the 2nd viewing. I think I was so caught up in the base-level story, wondering where things would go from here, etc. - that I missed a lot of the themes about being a child of two worlds, accepting that that's a part of who you are but also being yourself and doing something your own way. There's a lot to that finale between Shang-Chi and Wen Wu that brings things full-circle.

I also underappreciated how much of the film is mystical. I thought it took a turn about 2/3 in and then it was demons and kaiju ****, but they reach Ta Lo at the halfway point. Between that and the first ~10 minutes being about Wen Wu and Shang-Chi's mother, the majority of the film is mystical in nature. As much as I wanted this to be a street-level adventure... it's just not. That's kind of on me.

Now, I still think it was a mistake to have Shang-Chi of all characters be fighting a Doctor Strange villain (the Dweller in Darkness) in the finale, and I didn't like that a lot of what they did to make the previously-boring Shang-Chi interesting was pilfered from Iron Fist (powers, mystical cities, etc.), but they did their best to make both an Asian and Asian-American movie and all in all, I think they did a pretty good job. If ever there was a movie for kaiji and hadoukens and flying through the air and riding dragons, it was this one - even though I didn't want any of those things going in the first time.

At first I thought this was bottom-tier, now I'll put it right in the middle - 15th, of the 30 Marvel Studio projects. Not bad.


Also worth noting here - a sequel has been confirmed, as well as a Disney+ show.
Lathspell
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I think it's just a very middle of the pack Marvel movie. I put it in a similar place as Black Panther. Didn't think it was bad, but it definitely isn't in the A tier of Marvel films.
 
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