LTTP: Shang-Chi has some of the best, if not *the* best fight and battle scenes in the entire MCU.

[CorpseLight]

*Spoilers in the video posted*



Just got around to finally watching Shang-Chi and I was really surprised at how well done almost all of the fighting and battle scenes are. They are all shot really well, and are choreographed beautifully. There are not that many multi-cut hacked together scenes from different angles, and no shaky cam effects. The scenes generally have a great flow to them and you see exactly what is going on in them. The 10-rings themselves are a pretty awesome weapon and are used in a myriad of interesting ways.

Even the plot of the movie, while not incredible and easily figured out - isn't nearly as bad as the internet makes it out to be and I actually really enjoyed the simplicity of it. Without spoiling too much of it, the last 3rd of the film has some really fantastic special effects also.

 

[The_Iceman2288]

That bus scene is perfection.

 

[Zeliard]

I agree. It's my favorite movie in the MCU. And the courtship scene between Wenwu and Ying Li in the forest is also my favorite scene in the franchise, just beautiful.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

It does. I just wish they didn't waste the last act of the movie on an emotionally empty CGI dragon fight. Wenwu should've been the final antagonist.

 

[digitalrelic]

Shang-Chi doesn't get enough credit. It's a top tier MCU film.

It's the only post-Endgame MCU film that I would say I "love".

 

[Emobacca]

Agreed. Overall it's number 1 in my book for it's action and the movie itself may even crack my MCU top 5

 

[Volimar]

I absolutely loved the mythological beasts.

I agree. It's my favorite movie in the MCU. And the courtship scene between Wenwu and Ying Li in the forest is also my favorite scene in the franchise, just beautiful.

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Yeah it was.

 

[TheMadTitan]

It does. I just wish they didn't waste the last act of the movie on an emotionally empty CGI dragon fight. Wenwu should've been the final antagonist.

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Agreed. Movie would've been perfect if it didn't devolve into DBZ.

 

[sephghast]

Bus scene is straight fire.

 

[Sirhc]

I still can't believe some people don't consider Shang-Chi a top MCU movie, it's great and super fun.

 

[NeverWas]

It definitely has some fantastic fight choreography. Back half just reminded me of a shitty Disney movie, though.

 

[MrPink]

The end lost me, but it was a pretty solid film prior to the climax.

 

[Ryuelli]

It does. I just wish they didn't waste the last act of the movie on an emotionally empty CGI dragon fight. Wenwu should've been the final antagonist.

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I liked the dragon!

 

[Vincent Alexander]

Yep. It's in my top 3 MCU films. Might be my favorite. Not only are the fights great, but it has a villain I give a shit about. The relationships and flashbacks were well done, and I bought into the whole thing. If I had one nitpick, they needed to kick the father's obsession up a notch in the final act. Show him growing slightly insane and off keel. He became repetitive and one note by the end, and I would've bought into him not realizing he was releasing big ass demons if he had gone over the edge.

Also, I hate MCU CG fests....but that dragon was pretty cool. However, it would've instantly been my top MCU if they had the guts to have 0 creatures pop out, and they had a simple final fight between father and his children at the door.

 

[Lotus]

Those fight scenes alone probably made it the best MCU origin movie tbh, shit was fire

And anyone that didn't like the 3rd act can't be trusted

 

[Pai Pai Master]

I love it, and I liked the final act CG fest. I think this movie has a perfect balance of both types of action sequences.

 

[Supercrap]

I liked the dragon!

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I did too.

I liked that it ended that way because his dad was never his real enemy

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I liked the dragon!

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The thing for me is that in my opinion, Simu has so much charisma that I wanted to see HIM fight. I didn't want to see a CGI puppet version of him riding Shenron around fighting another dragon, i wanted the final fight to be Simu Liu fighting someone he had a personal investment in defeating.

 

[Vonocourt]

Last act is kind of a wash, but yeah, some of the best of the whole franchise prior to that.

 

[Tomasoares]

I only really liked the bus fight tbh, the other action sequences weren't as creative

 

[Digital Dinosaur]

You know screw it I like the big dragon fight. It fits with the mythological journey from the mundane to the magical and back again. Also the dragon is a character who has some meaning for family of Shang Chi on his mother's side.

 

[Tavernade]

The fight on the side of the building might be my favorite fight outside the elevator scene in Winter Soldier.

 

[Zeliard]

I liked the dragon!

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Me too, and the third act. Forgive the laziness in quoting myself but I just talked about this a couple days ago:

I didn't even mind the third act cause even the whole CGI extravaganza I thought was actually easy to follow. It wasn't just like an incoherent mess of computer graphics on the screen where you have no idea what is happening, which I think is where these things are at their worst. Even the giant CGI dragons fighting was well-choreographed, just like the rest of the movie.

Plus the finale with Tony Leung's character and Shang-Chi was just beautiful.

Just a really good movie.

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[Volimar]

The thing for me is that in my opinion, Simu has so much charisma that I wanted to see HIM fight. I didn't want to see a CGI puppet version of him riding Shenron around fighting another dragon, i wanted the final fight to be Simu Liu fighting someone he had a personal investment in defeating.

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Can we just once again applaud MCU's casting. Simu Liu was great.

 

[jph139]

The bus scene was great, and everyone talks about it for good reason, but the fight on the scaffolding was my favorite. Legitimately thrilling, even on my TV, makes me wish I'd gone to see it in theaters.

I liked the big dragon in the finale, because you don't usually see eastern dragons like that with big-budget high quality CGI, but I disliked the sidelining of Wenwu in favor of the big evil monster.

 

[Volimar]

The bus scene was great, and everyone talks about it for good reason, but the fight on the scaffolding was my favorite. Legitimately thrilling, even on my TV, makes me wish I'd gone to see it in theaters.

I liked the big dragon in the finale, because you don't usually see eastern dragons like that with big-budget high quality CGI, but I disliked the sidelining of Wenwu in favor of the big evil monster.

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But...

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Can we just once again applaud MCU's casting. Simu Liu was great.

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He's so good. I want to give him a high five if I ever meet him in person.

 

[shaneo632]

The blurry CGI mess with the dragons at the end was horrible.

The earlier fight with the masked dude against the neon backdrop was sick though.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

I very much preferred Wenwu realizing what he'd done & laying down his life and willingly passing the rings on to his son to them continuing to fight to the death over them, IMO. I didn't feel we were cheated out of that confrontation at all, everything leading up to the release of the dragon between them was fittingly emotional.

The blurry CGI mess with the dragons at the end was horrible.

The earlier fight with the masked dude against the neon backdrop was sick though.

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Like Zeliard said above, I didn't for a single moment find the final act CG sequences to be blurry or incoherent. Very well done especially by MCU standards.

 

[RiOrius]

It does, but they're too frontloaded. The best fight is the first, the worst fight is the last, so it's not surprising that overall impressions were sour.

I agree. It's my favorite movie in the MCU. And the courtship scene between Wenwu and Ying Li in the forest is also my favorite scene in the franchise, just beautiful.

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It's very pretty, but the whole time I couldn't get over how dumb it is. He's an evil crime lord, she's a wuxia princess, they fall in love because the plot demands they do. I'm okay with plots that just have "the crime lord and princess fell in love and had children" in the backstory, but when you try to show it I can no longer ignore how nonsensical it is.

You either have to really commit and somehow justify that relationship, or leave it entirely unexplored. Some pretty picnics aren't enough for me.

 

[Sirhc]

Can we just once again applaud MCU's casting. Simu Liu was great.

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I feel like we give the MCU casting team props all the time...and we still probably don't do it enough, their casting team is just cracked.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

It's very pretty, but the whole time I couldn't get over how dumb it is. He's an evil crime lord, she's a wuxia princess, they fall in love because the plot demands they do. I'm okay with plots that just have "the crime lord and princess fell in love and had children" in the backstory, but when you try to show it I can no longer ignore how nonsensical it is.

You either have to really commit and somehow justify that relationship, or leave it entirely unexplored. Some pretty picnics aren't enough for me.

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It's not just a "the plot demands it" thing. His entire life up until that point had been dictated by the power the rings bestowed on him, and she calmly and beautifully whooped his ass while showing him that there's more to life than just power. For years he retired the rings because of that and sought to live in peace for the first time because of that encounter. I thought they really sold how powerful that emotional bond was from the beginning, despite not showing you much of their time together after.

 

[Idde]

I agree. It's my favorite movie in the MCU. And the courtship scene between Wenwu and Ying Li in the forest is also my favorite scene in the franchise, just beautiful.

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This gets a + 1 from me. Love the way the yin and yang Wenwu and Ying Li represented clashed in that fight.

And that bus fight scene was also outstanding. Loved the part where Liu jumped from the right part of the bus to the left with a very Bruce Lee flying kick, and the camera followed him through the bus windows. Such a cool shot.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I very much preferred Wenwu realizing what he'd done & laying down his life and willingly passing the rings on to his son to them continuing to fight to the death over them, IMO. I didn't feel we were cheated out of that confrontation at all, everything leading up to the release of the dragon between them was fittingly emotional.

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I think it would have been better for me if Wenwu was the one who closed the door at the cost of his life. Like he gets wounded in the fight and the door opens, and Shang-Chi and Xialing have to fight the demons while Wenwu has to close the door to undo the mess he created.

It's a little generic, but it would've been more satisfying emotionally than a generic CGI dragon fight.

 

[Idde]

It's very pretty, but the whole time I couldn't get over how dumb it is. He's an evil crime lord, she's a wuxia princess, they fall in love because the plot demands they do. I'm okay with plots that just have "the crime lord and princess fell in love and had children" in the backstory, but when you try to show it I can no longer ignore how nonsensical it is.

You either have to really commit and somehow justify that relationship, or leave it entirely unexplored. Some pretty picnics aren't enough for me.

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What's there to justify? People fall in love.

 

[Zeliard]

It does, but they're too frontloaded. The best fight is the first, the worst fight is the last, so it's not surprising that overall impressions were sour.



It's very pretty, but the whole time I couldn't get over how dumb it is. He's an evil crime lord, she's a wuxia princess, they fall in love because the plot demands they do. I'm okay with plots that just have "the crime lord and princess fell in love and had children" in the backstory, but when you try to show it I can no longer ignore how nonsensical it is.

You either have to really commit and somehow justify that relationship, or leave it entirely unexplored. Some pretty picnics aren't enough for me.

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They're star-crossed lovers for sure, but that's just kind of classic mythologizing. He was the conquering villain yearning for more power while she was still the stronger one, more in tune with nature, showing him that there's more to life than conquest. They're opposites and they attract, and fall in love. It's simplistic but that's because it's built on very classic storytelling foundations.

That entire section had a dream-like quality to it, and what I appreciate about it beyond the visuals and the balletic fighting scenes is just the relative lack of dialogue. Everything between the two is communicated almost wordlessly.

 

[-Tetsuo-]

Well yea

It's a little generic, but it would've been more satisfying emotionally than a generic CGI dragon fight.

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The last interaction between Shang Chi and his father was pretty damn good. It is so good precisely because it was so concise.

 

[chronos4590]

It definitely is and would be a shame if it didn't have the best fight scenes honestly. And it's also a top MCU movie easily. Definitely the best of phase 4 even if Dr strange literally gave me everything i could've wanted from it. As an overall package Shang chi stands on its own better than most in the franchise

 

[Pai Pai Master]

I think it would have been better for me if Wenwu was the one who closed the door at the cost of his life. Like he gets wounded in the fight and the door opens, and Shang-Chi and Xialing have to fight the demons while Wenwu has to close the door to undo the mess he created.

It's a little generic, but it would've been more satisfying emotionally than a generic CGI dragon fight.

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Yeah something like that would have been great too. I don't feel like we got cheated out of an emotional showdown at least, and I felt Tony Leung did a great job of selling that character's brief realization and subsequent penance even if there could have been more to it.

 

[jsnepo]

It was all awesome Kung Fu until the 3rd act.

 

[LewieP]

Great action, but I wish the backdrop wasn't so bland during the grand finale.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Yeah something like that would have been great too. I don't feel like we got cheated out of an emotional showdown at least, and I felt Tony Leung did a great job of selling that character's brief realization and subsequent penance even if there could have been more to it.

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Oh, Leung did an amazing job, for sure. I just wish we got more of him. That whole cast is really good (except Awkwafina, who is trying but I just...don't really click with).

 

[Griffith]

It's a fun martial-arts movie with some neat scenes, but that's mostly what it is.

 

[Zeliard]

Yeah something like that would have been great too. I don't feel like we got cheated out of an emotional showdown at least, and I felt Tony Leung did a great job of selling that character's brief realization and subsequent penance even if there could have been more to it.

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I actually liked that they didn't linger much on that, especially because Tony Leung did such a great job of communicating it with just his face. And we sort of see cracks in his facade throughout; even his intro with Ying Li is enough to show that he isn't just some mindless monster.

 

[just_myles]

I thought it was good. Winter soldier vs Cap is still my favorite though.

 

[Jmdajr]

Bus scene is elite. Just awesome.

 

[HStallion]

It turned into a CGI mess by the end so only the first half really stood out when it comes to fight scenes

 

[onyx]

I don't remember the fight scenes or anything else about this movie. It was very forgettable.

 

[JayCB64]

Shang-Chi rules, the third act especially was filled with really cool fight stuff due to the rings, I loved that it balanced both realistic and non-realistic fighting too - really happy with the decision to keep the rings around to keep the option for both in the future.

You're gonna get a bunch of people saying they didnt like the third act because the Marvel movie became a Marvel movie OP, but I'm glad you enjoyed it too.

 

[Deleted member 4461]

Winter Soldier is still the peak, for consistency alone. I feel like Shang Chi tried to do homages to different types of fight scenes & it did that very well -- but as a result, it feels inconsistent and some scenes are much better than others.

EDIT: Also, I think the third act was important regardless of how people felt. The goal wasn't just to bring Shang Chi onscreen, but also to introduce an Asian-American superhero. So I feel they wanted to show that he could stand against the biggest threats, and not merely a guy on the same tier (or slightly higher) than Widow and Hawkeye.