Yesterday, Marvel's new film "Shangqi" was launched on the Disney+ streaming platform, and for mainland audiences who cannot access this platform, I believe many friends have also "seen" this movie on the Internet.
I don't know if everyone has such a feeling, that is, after "Avengers 4", Marvel seems to have suddenly left our vision.
Although the fourth stage, on the TV series, animation, movies, the presentation mode is more abundant than the third stage, but for us, the heat is indeed much worse than before.
The epidemic is an objective factor, but is it really all because of the epidemic? There will always be a question mark in my mind.
In recent life, the only thing that can remind me that I am still a Marvel fan...
It is to make up the tail, so that I was originally difficult on double eleven, even worse.
So today, with Marvel's new film, let's talk about Marvel that we haven't talked about for a long time.
About the movie "Shangqi", in fact, there are constant storms, and the previous storm of "suspected insults to China" actually wrote a push when it first came out two years ago.
Liang Chaowei starred in "Shangqi", Marvel exploded today!
The biggest point of controversy at that time was that the role of Mandarin came from the classic insulting role of Fu Manchu.
So that article I ended with
First of all, leaving aside the specific color of the movie "Shangqi", after watching "Shangqi", I feel that Marvel still has the heart to modify these uncomfortable contents this time.
1. Completely abandoned the role of Mandarin
The character of "Manda" first appeared in the MCU in "Iron Man 3", but through the plot of "Iron Man 3" we all know that the character played by Benkinsley is a jumping beam clown, not the real Mandarin.
At the beginning, the title of the "Shangqi" film was "The Legend of Shangqi and the Ten Commandments", and everyone thought that Liang Chaowei would play the notorious "Ten Commandments Gang" leader Mandarin, which caused a very big storm.
However, after "Shangqi" was completed, the film was renamed "Shangqi and the Legend of the Ten Rings".
Liang Chaowei plays the role of "Wen Wu", not the Manchu or Zheng Zu that everyone imagines.
Marvel completely abandoned the so-called "Ten Commandments Gang" and set the role of "WenWu" as a hegemonic character who relies on the power of the Ten Rings to dominate one side. It is more in line with the identity of ancient Chinese characters.
At the same time, the movie also officially complained about the previous settings of Manda, in the movie Liang Chaowei satirized that Mandarin is an American who deceives the world and steals his name, and he did not expect that packaging a little oriental color would scare Americans.
The movie also continues the plot of the Marvel short film "Long Live the King", re-enabling the "Mandarin" played by Benkinsley, and also informs everyone that this is indeed an American with a bad brain.
From the above many plots, Marvel is really very careful to avoid sensitive storms this time, and even a little bit of self-punishment for the previous storms.
2. The character played by Liang Chaowei
Xu Wenwu, played by Liang Chaowei, is no longer a "Chinese villain" in the full sense.
Instead, it became a character closer to that of Xiang Yu, the king of Western Chu.
He who loves beauty and does not love jiangshan, is finally swallowed up by the fire of revenge. Therefore, even if the film follows the "father-killing plot", it does not have the discomfort of getting rid of the Chinese evil father.
"Shangqi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" gives people the feeling that it only conveys a very traditional Western-style value (through "killing the father" to recognize the self)
So back to the movie, after all, it is Hollywood to shoot Chinese heroes, "Shangqi" will inevitably have the taste of "Zuo Zongtang chicken".
In this regard, I think "Shangqi" maintains the average level of Hollywood, not particularly good, but at least a little better than the bizarre Japanese style of last week's "Special Forces: Snakeeye Origins".
Although the lead actor looks a bit like Lei Jiayin, I personally do not have any disgust, after all, Lei Datou has also played the heroic role in "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an" and "Assassination of a Novelist", and I did not feel that Shangqi as a Chinese hero must be a handsome guy.
It is worth mentioning that the play scene of this movie can be regarded as a good look and feel in the recent MCU movies. The ten rings' fight design and the sense of blow created by the light and shadow special effects will indeed be much better than the pure light effects such as opposing waves and throwing lightning.
At the same time, the appearance of Oriental Dragon, Qilin and other Oriental Divine Beasts in the movie makes people more full of expectations for the battle scenes in the future MCU movie war.
Of course....
The good stuff is almost enough, and finally we have to talk about the problem with this movie. The following reasons are also the main reasons for the mediocre reputation of this movie.
The first is that I don't know if it is to eliminate sensitive factors, modify the script halfway, and the movie plot is a bit chaotic.
The film modifies Shangqi's father from a heinous villain to a tyrant.
And with the addition of personal feelings, it evolved into a temperamental person who rushed to the crown and became angry.
Then from the son's point of view, although the father's behavior is not right, his motivation is not wrong.
Although he "became a demon with one thought", he also wanted to restore his family and reunite his family.
If the protagonist wants to stop his father, it is understandable, but directly saying "I'm going to kill my father" is almost convincing.
I don't know if it's because the director also understands this problem, so he deliberately arranged some plots that deliberately create contradictions. For example, obviously looking for his own daughter and son, he had to make a plot like a chase...
That's not the case.
The second point is that the role of Shangqi has not stood up.
As a rich boy with a bitter vendetta, Shangqi's hobby is to go to valet parking every day.
The motif of this movie is "Shangqi" after a series of stories to recognize themselves...
But how he recognized it, and what he recognized, the movie did not say.
I only saw a Long Ao Tian Shuang wen, as if it were a Hollywood version of "Son-in-law".
China's top rich second generation came to the United States as a parking brother, met three generations of ABC, the two became friends, and even acted as if they were going to be rich.
But after an accident, it was discovered that this person was not only a martial artist but also an "Eastern Dragon King"
Emm, this movie not only does not explain the contradiction between him and his father, but even why he can eventually inherit the ten rings.
The feeling that Marvel now is to expand the territory, just get a movie to make money, and it doesn't matter whether the character stands up or not.
Anyway, the protagonists in the back are still "Spider-Man" and "Doctor Strange", such three- and four-line heroes, nothing more than to meet a certain aspect of the market. Therefore, change it at will, as long as it can be released, change "Alive" to "Xu Sanguan Selling Blood"
Overall, I think that "The Legend of the Ten Rings of Shangqi" is still a very, very mediocre work, and it can even be said that except for the newly adapted character of Liang Chaowei, everyone else really has no characteristics to speak of.
I also believe that there will be many viewers, after watching "Shangqi", they will feel that if the role of Liang Chaowei is added to the "Avengers" as "Shangqi", it may be more interesting.
Because from the current situation, after the withdrawal of the original reunion characters of Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Widow, the MCU has a little sense of no successor.
In addition, marvel is also bent on serving Disney+, and all film and television works seem to give priority to their own streaming platforms. Disney's strategic plan also looks to a longer-term future, not a gain or a loss for a certain stage of a series of movies.
This can actually be seen from the recent publicity of Disney movies in the mainland.
For example, "Jungle Trek", which was released this week, if I don't say it, many people may not notice this movie.
Now they give people the feeling that they can go up in the theater line, and they can't go up.
After all, their own country is the largest ticket warehouse, and now that the epidemic in the United States is still serious, it is important to seize the time and compete with Netflix to promote their own streaming media.
At present, "Venom 2" and "Eternals" may not be in the hinterland.
I don't know if the next "Spider-Man: Homeless" can enter the cinema line.
If "Spider-Man" can't get into the theater, I personally feel that we may not be able to see MCU movies in the cinema for a long time.
Tomorrow to talk about "Fame and Fortune", I just finished watching, this film is still a bit interesting.