Superhero Cinematic Civil War - Part 57

[Detective Conan]

I’m not liking the look of Shang-Chi at all. Visually it looks about as flat and dull as most MCU movies for me. I really dislike that grey color palette the Marvel movies use. It just makes everything look so ugly.

 

[Drizzle]

I'm going into Shang-Chi with an open mind since I know very little about the character other than an Ultimate Team-Up comic I read with him and Spider-Man when I was like 14. I know even less about the Eternals but with that one I'm at least more familiar with the cast.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

Wait a minute. His name is Martin Luther Kang the Conqueror.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

I'm going into Shang-Chi with an open mind since I know very little about the character other than an Ultimate Team-Up comic I read with him and Spider-Man when I was like 14. I know even less about the Eternals but with that one I'm at least more familiar with the cast.

Those Team Up comics used to be fun.


But yeah same, going into Shang Chi and the Eternals both with an open mind. I was pleasantly surprised with Black Widow, so I’m sure those two will deliver.

 

[Pennywise]

Wait a minute. His name is Martin Luther Kang the Conqueror.

View attachment 47752

Just saw that!

 

[kguillou]

I’m not liking the look of Shang-Chi at all. Visually it looks about as flat and dull as most MCU movies for me. I really dislike that grey color palette the Marvel movies use. It just makes everything look so ugly.

My big gripe with this so far is it looks like yet another generic cgi blockbuster and im getting fatigued with it. I love cgi spectacle when its appropriate for the character, i want spectacle in my Avengers movies, my Justice League movies, my Thor or Aquaman movies, but for grounded characters like Black Widow and Shang Chi I want more raw physicality involved in the action.

When they announced Shang Chi i was like “YES! We’re finally getting a comic book kung fu flick!” But i am not getting that vibe at all.

 

[Spider-Fan]

The Suicide Squad has a 97% so far. Wowzas

 

[Gothamsknight]

The Suicide Squad has a 97% so far. Wowzas

So damn good to see. I can't wait for next week!

 

[Chip Chipperson]

Yes

not every movie needs to have the all out, CGI spectacle. Black Widow had a $200 million budget. Like, there’s no reason these solo efforts should aim to be the big smash fest we’d expect in the crossover event movies. Give me smaller in scale stories with more flavor.

 

[kguillou]

I think Marvel (and quite frankly most of Hollywood) is under the false assumption that these things NEED cgi spectacle in order to be huge hits. But i would think things like John Wick and Joker making big bucks at the box office wouldve debunked that train of thought.

 

[Pennywise]

James Gunn Reveals 'Peacemaker' Editing Status, Episode Runtimes, Story Structure, and More

 

[MbJ]

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I think Marvel (and quite frankly most of Hollywood) is under the false assumption that these things NEED cgi spectacle in order to be huge hits. But i would think things like John Wick and Joker making big bucks at the box office wouldve debunked that train of thought.

Joker is an oddity though. It's the Joker. One of the most popular characters in fiction.

John Wick is my boy. Some of my favorite movies. But the average Marvel movie has made 800m more then any John Wick. More importantly though, with those big box offices, come bigger cuts of opening weekends from theaters. It comes with crazy merch sales.

So say when all is said and done for a John Wick, the studio clears 200, or even 300m. Marvel movies are clearing double, triple, even quadruple that. So they spend the bigger money, for the riskier but much higher reward.

 

[kguillou]

Sure. I get that, i just think that big cgi budgets are not necessary for all of these clients to appeal to mass audiences.

I dont think the box office for Shang Chi would change significantly if the third act of the movie was a big cgi action scene against Fing Fang Foom vs. a more intimate, visceral hand to hand combat sequence between Shang Chi and the Mandarin. As long as the action is well shot and visceral, audiences will respond to it and wanna watch it again and again.

I remmeber watching The Raid 2 during its limited run in theater my audience was ELECTRIC during all the fight scenes. Everyone was completely engaged with each bone breaking punch and kick. Audiences love that kind of stuff when its done well.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Sure. I get that, i just think that big cgi budgets are not necessary for all of these clients to appeal to mass audiences.

I dont think the box office for Shang Chi would change significantly if the third act of the movie was a big cgi action scene against Fing Fang Foom vs. a more intimate, visceral hand to hand combat sequence between Shang Chi and the Mandarin. As long as the action is well shot and visceral, audiences will respond to it and wanna watch it again and again.

Fair point. Though I do think Marvel movies have set an expectation for how their finales play out. More then once, I have found it overkill. But there might be an aspect of thinking the masses expect it, it needs to be there. And maybe they are right.

 

[kguillou]

Fair point. Though I do think Marvel movies have set an expectation for how their finales play out. More then once, I have found it overkill. But there might be an aspect of thinking the masses expect it, it needs to be there. And maybe they are right.

Civil War kind of did it though! The climactic battle was intimate, visceral and brutal. Granted, prior to that we had a 20 minute gigantic battle sequence. But it was so refreshing seeing the film end with a raw one on one fight (well two-on-one). Lol

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Civil War kind of did it though! The climactic battle was intimate, visceral and brutal. Granted, prior to that we had a 20 minute gigantic battle sequence. But it was so refreshing seeing the film end with a raw one on one fight (well two-on-one). Lol

From what little I have seen in the trailer, I am of the opinion that Shang-Chi will end with a one on one fight with Shang-Chi and his father. So we might be headed that way. There will be CGI though. Civil War's finale is full of it. It might be intimate, but Iron Man is completely CGI, as are the majority of backgrounds. A lot like the finale of Strange. It's just a thousand bargains with no real fighting, but it probably cost 10-20m on it's own.

 

[Detective Conan]

It’ll inevitably go down when more reviews are aggregated, but so far so good. Definitely a step up from the reviews of the last one.

 

[Kev4000]

So after GOTG Vol. 3, he will do SS2?

 

[Detective Conan]

 

[Deck Rickard]

Nice. Never doubted James Gunn would knock it out of the park.


Well… okay, when I first heard that he was doing a Suicide Squad sequel, my first thought was “not even he can save that cesspool”, but then I came around, lol.

 

[Zarex]

So after GOTG Vol. 3, he will do SS2?

Gunn was supposed too take point on Marvel's future cosmic films before the Mouse effed up, so I wouldn't be surprised if he sticks with the Distinguished Competition long term. DC is supposed to have over 10,000 characters, so he (or his proxies) can kill off a dozen or so baddies every year in TV shows and film without the well running dry. It would be interesting if after unsuccessfully launching a connected universe of A-hole heroes DC puts Marvel on its heals with a successful connected bad guy universe.

I was going to sign up for a annual subscription of HBO Max with Ads over the next few weeks, but I am now considering coughing up an extra fitty to watch this one at home.

 

[Drizzle]

Gunn was supposed too take point on Marvel's future cosmic films before the Mouse effed up, so I wouldn't be surprised if he sticks with the Distinguished Competition long term. DC is supposed to have over 10,000 characters, so he (or his proxies) can kill off a dozen or so baddies every year in TV shows and film without the well running dry. It would be interesting if after unsuccessfully launching a connected universe of A-hole heroes DC puts Marvel on its heals with a successful connected bad guy universe.

I'm guessing GOTG 3 is the last movie Gunn directs for Disney/Marvel, but he still stays on as a consultant/producer for future GOTG and cosmic films. DC is a little more iffy because you can never tell what's going to stick with their projects. It's inevitable that even though Gunn's Suicide Squad may be much better received critically than Ayer's, there's little chance it comes close to grossing as much as that one did because of the pandemic/HBO Max situation. Another Suicide Squad movie isn't a guarantee yet but that doesn't mean they won't want Gunn for something else.

 

[Fincher]

Personally, I think the movie looks like a dumpster fire, but I think the combination of Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn + big dumb action movie with John Cena talking about penises (for a significant portion of the male audience) will boost the box office enough that it'll get a sequel.

 

[Zarex]

I'm guessing GOTG 3 is the last movie Gunn directs for Disney/Marvel, but he still stays on as a consultant/producer for future GOTG and cosmic films. DC is a little more iffy because you can never tell what's going to stick with their projects. It's inevitable that even though Gunn's Suicide Squad may be much better received critically than Ayer's, there's little chance it comes close to grossing as much as that one did because of the pandemic/HBO Max situation. Another Suicide Squad movie isn't a guarantee yet but that doesn't mean they won't want Gunn for something else.

I would be surprised if Gunn sticks around at Marvel Studios after GOTG III. My guess is the folks at WB Discovery will hand him a bag of cash and continued creative freedom if he oversees a chunk of their DC slate.