Forget Spoiler review, I don’t want to spoil it for people, and anyway you can guess what happens (fight fight fight, speech speech speech, joke). But I have things I want to talk about with the other people who have already seen it!
MOST IMPORTANT!!!! Is there going to be a romance with Awkwafina/Katy and Shang Chi? And do we want one????
I am strongly on the “YES! I want one!” side. I love the idea of a romance with someone who is his best friend, who has shared jokes and fun times and is loyal and caring and understands him. And of course, a romance with a NORMAL woman!!! It’s not about her actual appearance, it is that she doesn’t present herself as “beautiful”. Like, she is more interested in showing her personality and being comfortable and expressing herself than just going into a “woman=pretty” box.
But the first part of the question, I am less sure about. Yes, they put in little cookie crumbs of him getting upset/protective when she is threatened. Yes, they hold hands and hug and stuff. But are they really going to make the love interest of a Marvel hero be a female comic? If nothing else, can they count on her acting ability to pull off romantic scenes?
Are they going to make the long lost sister evil?
I was half expecting that to happen in this movie itself. She dresses all in black, she’s resentful, they are perfectly matched as fighters. But then she ends up getting support and they love each other and all kinds of things. Is she going to go on to be a guest star in future movies? Or just referenced and not scene? Or a full on fellow hero? None of those options seem easy, so maybe the easy obvious answer will be the right one, she and her brother end up over the course of several movies turning into enemies.
Did anyone else feel like this was the same plot as Frozen II?
Right? Magical forest, magical wind powers, magic woman falls in love with invader, children return to the magical forest as adults to right wrongs, etc. etc.
dontcallitbollywood 
Ahhh we discussed these exact same questions (1 and 2, not 3) after watching the movie!!! That makes me think that maybe the director/writer wanted to steer the fans that way and wants their opinion for the sequel? I clearly have thoughts on this but I’m working insane hours and taking care of 2 crazy dogs by myself (husband is traveling for work) so I will have to get back to you tomorrow!
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You have to comment! Genevieve wants FRIENDSHIP! Like a FOOL! You need to support me in my Romance Quest so Marvel will read the blog and give us a hot make-out scene in the next movie.
On Mon, Sep 13, 2021 at 7:12 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Where would I be without my friends? They have been with me forever, we are a family, we support each other. If I got divorced my friends would be there for me. My husband is my ultimate friend, but if I didn’t have my other friends to complain to about him, well them my relationship with my husband would be much worse.
Actually I am probably on a friend kick because my spouse was SO GROUCHY last week. I was thrilled when he left for the weekend. I helped friends doing a 9/11 stair climb memorial by spraying their faces and picking up their children, and it was more meaningful participating in something like that with friends, than it would have been with my husband. Who I love. And who I especially loved when he came back home and was no longer so grouchy. But his grouchiness really made me grateful for my friends.
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Won’t it be great someday when your kids are old enough to be kids/friends? That’s where I am with my parents, still my parents, but we get to do fun things together that we are both interested in and complain about each other and talk about deep things and stuff.
On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 12:48 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Alright, here are my thoughts:
1. I am going to start off my apologizing for my comment because you are not going to like it. So, I am sorry! There were some romantic vibes between Simu and Akwafina, and generally, I am all about romance, but they are SOOO GOOOD as friends!!!! I think a full-on romance would ruin what is so special about them. It feels so nice to see an onscreen, opposite-sex couple that shares such a close friendship and while they may even be attracted to each other, they realize that the friendship is more important than the romance. Or even that they are better of friends even though there is some attraction there because if they were to get romantic, that spark, that chemistry, that deep connection might be lost. I guess my perspective also comes from having very close friends of the opposite sex where I think to an outsider, it didn’t make sense why we weren’t dating, but we knew that dating the other person would have ruined everything. Now, we are all happily married to other people and yet remain very close. I have become close to their wives, they have become close to my husband. Enough so that there are times when my husband might call one of them to reach out to me because I am going through something and need a friend not a husband and their wives have done the same with me. I see Simu Liu and Akwafina’s relationship in that same lense. They can find romance and love with other people, and also always retain that deep close connection to each other as friends.
2. I had the same thought and wondered if they were going to make the sister evil and then I really really hoped they wouldn’t! I don’t mind her being gray. But she is smart, entreprenurial, self-sufficient, and a total bad a$$, and I want her to use her powers mostly for good. I would be fun to see her play an evil character for a whiile but the evilness is just a ruse to decieve the bad guys. I also like the thought of there being some attraction between the sister and Akwafina. I could totally see that romance developing.
3. I did not think it was Frozen but we disussed how it was basically Star Wars. Father who has darkness in him but chooses good to be with his wife, thinks goodness makes him weak when his wife dies and he couldn’t do anything because he chose good so then he becomes evil. He tries to lure his son to the dark side. His son has to eventually fight him. The sister’s story wasn’t exactly parallel, but there were some similarities in that she grows up away from the father and also sees him as a monster who preys on the weak. It just felt so very Star Warsy to me.
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1. Y’all are NO FUN! Of course I do understand what you mean, I did just buy a house with a friend after all. But I want ROMANCE. If we aren’t meant to get romance, I will accept two alternatives as outlined in another comment. First, there is never any romance, Shang Chi and Kady are just platonic life partners forever and ever. Second, the next film jumps two years into the future and they are already married and it is never a “thing”. Like, it’s just a given that they are in a relationship, no drama or anything. What I really don’t want is some boring traditional romance with a boring traditional love interest while we are all thinking “why does he want to spend time with Boring Lady when he could be hanging out with Kady?”
2. I cheated a bit and wiki’d the sister. Looks like in the comics he keeps having newly discovered half siblings so they can go a bunch of different ways. She could be the sister who starts a shadow organization that isn’t evil, but also isn’t sanctioned by governments. She could be the awesome sister who dedicates her life to taking down every bit of their father’s evil. Or she could be the sister who goes full on evil and eventually tries to kill him. I am hoping for one of the first two, I think some sibling fighting about life choices without actively being set against each other would be perfect.
3. I was also thinking Star Wars a little, mostly with the sister thing. And that also means that Awkwafina is Han Solo, which seems sort of perfect. Wry sarcastic unbeliever pulled into this fight.
On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 4:15 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Dang I did not know Awkwafina was in the movie. Now I might make the trip to the theatre.
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This is the genius of the casting!!!! Awkwafina isn’t super famous, but the people who like her REALLY like her and will go out of their way to support her.
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OMG – it would never have occurred to me, but it IS frozen II !!! But aren’t the Marvel movies generally based off of comics? So did Frozen II steal its plot from the comics?
I DO NOT want a romance between Awkwafina & Simu Liu. Friendship is powerful. They are Thelma & Luise, Batman & Robin, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, and well, they very much had the vibe of my friendship with my now deceased (brain tumor) friend who was gay. Both Awkwafina & Simu Liu have gay vibes, they just don’t need romance. Friendship is stronger than romance. I know I married a friend, but our friendship wasn’t the same.
Maybe the sister will become evil, or maybe they will be a team. When it comes to character she rescued Awkwafina from the get go because she knew she was important to her brother. Not the actions of evil. Personally I want full on fellow hero for the sister. It was so refreshing to see people care for each other in healthy ways on screen. Conflict plots are easy, but also a bit boring. Now sister falling in love with someone who becomes evil – okay? And then Shang Chi can be there to support her when they split, and help her raise her child. That is a plot I’d be okay with. And Shang Chi can be the Maid of Honor and Awkwafina’s wedding to a comic book artist.
I thought Awkwafina was great in this. Much better than in Crazy Rich Asians, which was the only other time I saw her act outside of her music videos. Of course, this was also a better film.
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Booooooooooo! Booo to Friendship! I want Romance and True Love and all that.
Speaking of complex relationships, the father-children stuff was SO well done. I never doubted that Tony Leung loved his kids. It wasn’t that he was selfish and evil and only saw them as tools, he really did care about them. He was just all twisted up inside about how to show it.
On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 8:00 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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VERY TWISTED! In fact it was kinda like he was never really good. He fell in love and tried, but going back to being selfish was pretty easy for him. He did love his kids, but he was still evil.
Friendship RULES! Good friends don’t divorce. They may spend time apart, but their relationships maintain till death. The love of friendship is often stronger than the love in romance, and as romantic love endures it turns into friendship. I don’t know what true love is. I think men and women CAN just be friends.
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If we aren’t going to have making out and True Love and all of that between Awkwafina and Simu Liu, then my next choice would be partners in crime forever, NO ROMANCE. Essentially I guess I find Awkwafina really exciting and strong as a co-lead and I don’t want her to lose that to some stupid traditional love interest option. That would be awesome, if we saw them building a life together/continuing to build a life together as platonic life partners.
On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 12:40 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yep, another vote for only as much romance as we’ve already (maybe) seen, thanks. It’s a good relationship, partners in crime can still have deep feels for each other, and l don’t know, when a traditional het romance evolves in a film, the woman so often loses power… Though that is starting to change, thankfully.
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What about the JAG solution? JAG, longrunning American tv show, dealt with the sexual tension between the two leads by NOT dealing with it until literally THE FINAL EPISODE. If Shang Chi gets a trilogy, we could have him and Awkwafina with this same relationship straight through, and then a kiss after the end credits of the last movie.
Alternative option which I would kind of LOVE, next time we see Shang Chi and Awkwafina, they casually mention that they got married 2 years ago. So they are right back in “friend” area with all the romantic angst neatly skipped.
On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 2:11 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Hmm, tis a conundrum. Do we have to have the ‘love interest’ at all? I mean, people CAN save the world without romantic entanglement occurring? Oh, I’m at work and can’t THINK, bit of a shame cos there’s all this stuff needs doing. I remember loving the romances in the Uncanny Counter, but they had room to do them justice, not like a flim.
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See, this is where I am increasingly thinking they should just jump ahead! We get that Kady and Shang Chi are super close and care about each other. Let’s skip all the flirting and stuff and just pop back in to find them already married. Better to skip entirely than to rush it.
On Wed, Sep 15, 2021 at 8:44 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I just wanted to comment on the Jag solution peice. Jag was a family favorite growing up. However, the ending with Rabb and Mac DROVE ME NUTS!!!! After making us wonder will they won’t they for YEARS, there was no gratifying solution in the end. Yeah okay get engaged but one of them has to give up their careers but noone knows who? At the end it is up to the audiance to decide (based on a stupid coin toss) whether they remain together and maybe one goes where the other one goes or maybe they do long distance?! NOOOO! I hate the unknown. Give me a definite ending!!!!
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I don’t know if there will be a romance between Katy and Shang-Chi but I am definitely team romance. They were just really cute with each other!
I’m thinking the sister will be evil and maybe show up in other movies/shows leading the ten rings organization but then her evil-ness will be resolved in the next Shang-Chi movie.
I never made that connection to Frozen II but i totally see it now!
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THANK YOU! you and I are the only people with romance in our heart.
On Wed, Sep 15, 2021 at 11:43 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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FINALLY got to the theater to see Shang Chi!
1. I totally want Simu and Awkwafina to have a romance. They are awesome together, they protect each other, they have deep closeness and affection. I don’t really want him with anyone else, and I do want to see them both desired onscreen. They feel like actors who get relegated to non romantic lead roles, but the way they exchanged looks already I think they could make a beautiful feelsy love story happen. How about Simu is the one who falls for someone who turns out to be evil? Katy helps him defeat her but Simu is nasty to her because he’s ashamed of himself, and that makes Katy leave. Simu realizes she’s the person who’s important in his life, there’s an encounter where she calls him out on all his baggage, ironically making him feel truly seen and loved, and kiss!
2. Without looking up the comic, I’m guessing she’s the sister who runs the shadow organization, given the references to building her own empire. And by comic book rules, because of her mother’s legacy I don’t think they would make her evil. (My son was excited by how the Marvel Universe came in at the end and is hoping the sister teams up with Black Widow’s sister and the other widows in her woman army.)
The movie was fun! I was happy I got to see Michelle Yeoh fight and not just act. Tony Leung was great. Loved the cast in general, down to the child actors. Ben Kingsley was hilarious and I love what they did with his character as the white guy doing penance for playing The Mandarin. Did anyone else think the mom and sister looked like Angelica Huston? I only wished it was 20 or 30 minutes longer. The time in Ta Lo could have been longer leading up to the big showdown, to give us a better sense of the place and his mother’s side of the family. And I felt like they skimped on the sister’s character development, I wanted more of her. Many terrific fight scenes, though, and the dragon battle was cool.
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1. Thank you! Everyone else is all “Friendship is better”. I want ROMANCE!!! And I love your concept. We could lead up to it with Awkwafina being weird about them together which makes her realize she like-likes Shang Chi.
2. Do you think if they don’t make her evil, they might make her gay? That would be the BEST.
3. The time definitely flew by! I was in a theater that was a lot more crowded than I expected, which made me nervous. But as soon as the movie started, I forgot all of that and was just swept away.
On Sun, Sep 26, 2021 at 10:45 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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2. Let’s get her together with Florence Pugh, new Black Widow. Most kickass superhero couple.
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Yay! I am so happy you did a post on this, came by to check! I want a romance between the two too!! I wonder how they’d bring it about, but down for it all the same! Also did you see Simu’s recent tweet, looks like he’s team romance too! AW!
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Yaaaaay! ROMANCE!!!!
On Sat, Nov 13, 2021 at 4:11 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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