I Watched Shang-Chi in 0.25x Speed and Here's What I Found

The fact that this movie is Tony Leung’s first ever Hollywood debut blows my mind, great villain and he nailed the role as Wenwu/Mandarin

Katy's grandmother isn't delusion, it's a thing in Asian culture where we give to the dead ancestors food and money and give them a spot at the table, usually mainly during chinese new year for my family, though we usually keep the items and food after so the joke is Katy's Grandmother got items she likes that she'll keep after. The writers of the film definitely know and lived through these experiences to write such accurate and comedic scenes from a younger asian perspective. I understand the misinterpretation as this is very nuanced, I could tell the majority of audiences wouldn't get the full meaning, makes Shang Chi a very realistic and relatable film for some asian audiences.

I love how connected the MCU is. Seeing all these details like captain America getting the Medal of Honor is proof that while we’re watching them do one thing, other stuff is going on around the world at the same time. It’s not just a movie. It’s literally a whole universe that is living while we’re not seeing it

Also, you missed one huge detail. Right from the bus fight scene, you can see that Shang was fighting with 'closed fist' fighting style, meaning he was channeling his anger through his fighting style, as he was yet to accept his mother's death and let go of the guilt. But as we go towards the end of the film, we see that his fighting style changes to 'open hand' fighting style, because he has then accepted that his mother is not going to come back (also because his Aunt taught him the Ta Loan style of Kung fu). And in the last fight, we can see that Wenwu's facial expressions showed anger and agony, whereas Shang was looking much more calm. His character arc changed throughout the film. Also, during the fight scene between Wenwu and Shang, we can see that Shang used the gray shockwave technique.

During the fight choreography between Wenwu and Shang-Chi, Wenwu tends to wear the rings whereas Shang-Chi fights with the rings floating around him. Wenwu usually has the rings return to him because his character has a harder time letting things go, and so his fighting style reflects that. Shang-Chi, on the other hand, has the rings float around him for the majority of the fight and they become multiple extensions to his own flow based fighting style. Shang-Chi tends to fight using his environment (established during the movies previous fights), so it makes sense for the rings to float around him so he can adapt and use them in a non-direct fashion.

I love how at the end of the movie, shangchi is mixing his mother and father's fighting techniques. Compared to when he was using the rings against his father he was fighting like his mother. And he fought the huge soul sucker, he was using it like his father but with grace of his mother. Indeed a product of thos who came before him.

Dude ! I watched this movie like 5 times in theaters, and you still managed to find out so much I haven't noticed... Thanks, Lad ! I was looking forward to your breakdown, and you definitely didn't disappoint. As a person from Chinese descent myself but who was born and raised in Europe, this movie hit so many points that resonate with me : - Shang Chi is the young 1st gen Asian migrant who, pretty much like Simu, came to America (Canada for Simu) from China when he was a kid, and had to adapt to a Whole new world (probably why Aladdin's song is his favorite Karaoke song in the movie), - Katy is the already comfortably American 3rd gen who starts the movie by being proudly carefree American in front of her friend and her mother, but later, gets her views on life challenged when she's faced with actual stakes and "authentic" traditional chinese elders wisdom (even though the movie could have delved a bit deeper on that), - Xialin is the one who's always lived under authoritarian and mysoginistic China (metaphored by her father), and couldn't escape to a Western country, so she escaped to neighbouring Macau, which, even if it's still technically part of China, still enjoys more freedom than China (I suspect originally, that part was supposed to be in HK, which would have made much more sense, given the amount of legendary HK actors in the movie, but then... being in 2019, the massive protests and police brutality happened in HK, which didn't make production there possible anymore... thanks, China ! So Macau it is), where she could be the badass she ever wanted to be. You could trade Macau for either HK or Taiwan, and it would have worked the same, but I guess Macau is the most visually impressive, with it's majestic skyline and its gambling environment. Putting her in a city like Shanghai was : 1 probably off-limits for Disney, and 2 thematically not compatible, since it's still very much integral part of China, - Wen Wu is everything that represents one side of modern (and in some ways, traditional China) : Has the ultimate power (the 10 rings in the movie) and is millenia old, can't change and stuck in his old ways (he even says it himself after his wife died), greedy (he conquered everything in the world for a 1000 years), authoritative, does whatever he wants, control freak, patriarchy, doesn't give any space for arguments (and that's not really giving a bad rap to china, it really is how it is in real life, right now). He's very much the Yin (down to how his compound look, that is almost entirely black, with only one bright colored part in all of it : the wooden dragon sculpture, that seemingly comes from Ta Lo), - Ta Lo and its people, especially the mother and the aunt, represents the "real" traditional side of China : spiritualism, altruism, family, martial arts (especially Taiji), nature, keeping in touch with their roots and their mystical side (including the mythical creatures, like the Fu dogs, phoenixs, kirins, Hulijins, and of course, the dragon)... They're basically the Yang side of China (when we first arrive in the village, it is sunny, vibrantly colored, grandiose... with the only dark spot of the village being of course the Sealed Gate). And when Wen Wu's arrives, it corrupts everything and toned the whole village in dark gray. So everything, every character, and even every set has meaning in this movie. The more I watch it (I've watched it 3 times, already), the more I can see it. Intentionally or not, it is a very well crafted universe, if anything a bit rushed because of its feature film format (I actually think it would have benefitted to have the luxury of a Disney+ series treatment, so we could explore and dive more deeply into all its themes and characters).

I also noticed that Shang-chi was using the rings like the dragon flying through the air while Wenwu mainly used it like a whip. Also I like how Shang-chi when he had the rings was more delicate and smooth when wenwu when he had the rings was more jagged and sharp.

A detail I found was that according to Xialing, Wenwu didn't look at her because she reminded him of Ying Li but Ying Nan told Shang Chi that he was more like their mother. This shows that Wenwu looked at the outer apperance because Shang Chi was more like their mother from heart but Xialing was like him as she wanted to rule and her own kingdom. This is also the reason why Wenwu was fooled by the voice of the Dweller because didn't look deep enough.

After seeing this movie, the 10 rings are easily my favorite MCU weapon because of all the creative ways they can be used :)

6:13 "Without making it look like its forced" with that scene lol, perfect

3:55 it's a bit wrong. 1. Waigong is not a name, it's mean grandpa, so does waipo which is grandmother 2. In chinese tradition, we will always leave a seat for a passed away elder relatives (usually the closest one), so it's clearly grandma is not in delusion, it's just a tradition that she's still respecting her husband. That's it.

You missed one. The woman fighting the Extremis soldier was a Black Widow. It’s even the same stunt actress and everything, if you watch the movies back to back you can pick her out of the group. She even has the belt buckle like Natasha and everything, she’s still wearing her full Red Room gear. I guess some of the girls just couldn’t move on and fighting is all they know. It’s nice that they’re all amicable and friendly fights though! I didn’t notice them in the locker room fixing each other up, I was too busy trying to see where Wong and Abomination were going.

Waipo isn't deluded. Asians, esp more traditional Asians, would always set aside food for their dead loved ones, especially parents / siblings / kids / partners as if they're still with us. As a Filipino from a more traditional family, I can understand her not letting people sit in her late husband's seat at the table. It's not about her being unable to move on, it's about our culture of treating dead relatives as if they're still with us.

Shang Chi has to be one of the most underrated movies I've ever watched. Such a nice job by MCU in all aspects from dialogues and story writing to peak action and VFX. Loved it!❤

2:51 this scene seems completely inspired by bollyhood

"Hey everyone, I'm The Canadian Lad" was so fast I thought I'm watching this video at 1.25x speed

Actually, for number 8, Katy's grandma is not delusional, it's just her belief 😂 Chinese people do believe that ancestor's spirits might come to the family's house and eat together. My grandma does the same. For more than 20 years now, after my grandpa passed away, she always puts food on our family shrine every morning for him. There's even this tradition of putting food on shrine or altar, then we'll wait for a while and throw something like dice and if the dice come out in a formation that indicates the ancestors are done eating, we may eat. But if it doesn't, we'll have to wait and throw again, and so on until the ancestors "say" they're full lol kind of an old tradition, I don't think people these days do this anymore though

Did you notice how after Xialing, Shang Chi's sister, cleared the dragon's eye of the small monsters the dragon looked at her? Soon after she's riding the dragon! Not everyone could ride the dragon, I think it's a special honour reserved for those of dragon's blood, making Shang Chi and Xialing equals in that regard. I think she could wield the rings and control them as her mother, father and brother all have. And with her taking over the family business, I think that's a real possibility moving forward.

Shang-Chi is one of the best MCU movies so far. So damn well done, not overshadowed with pandering to a target audience, but focused on the characters and the story they have to tell. Easily one I my favorites that I'll watch over and over.