So, what I see is they wanted to make a movie for China, but they needed an Americanized character to make it relatable to domestic audiences. The key to her involvement is that she is ethnically Asian, so she doesn't break the Chinese appeal theme they have going, but culturally she is Chris Tucker in Rush Hour 2. Not saying the character or the performance is good for the film, but an Americanized character as a prism to view the movie through to make it accessible for the broader American audience is a very Hollywood blockbuster thing to do, and there are serious constraints on the number of actors/actresses who you could fit into that role. Completely irrelevant to the story, but totally inevitable given the calculating way Hollywood thinks about audience appeal. I also think in large part China banned the movie because it was a movie by an American cultural juggernaut and it was clearly aimed to expand their influence in China and China didn't want to let that kind of outside force get a toehold. If I'm China, I see The Marvel Media Universe as something that could be very problematic to control and censor the way they do elsewhere if they became the media juggernaut in China the way they are in America. I think Marvel was fighting a very uphill battle. Marvel is the epitome of everything China hates about western cultural encroachment.
Nah, PLA Is whiny and thin skinned. They screwed themselves over by banning coal from Australia so Disney just got caught in political mud wrestling. Chinese audiences are fickle about a culture they destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Avengers made a butt ton but they went out of their way to trash Crazy Rich Asians or Mulan (didn't watch) There really wasn't a direct reason to ban this movie.
That ain't even the half of it. They destroyed a bunch of cultural sites and artifacts during that Cultural Revolution to the point that would make the Taliban blush. Even with their #1 super cultural revival in the last couple decades, those historic sites have become a soulless tightly controlled shadow and more of a tourist trap. For example, the monks that run the temples can smoke, drink, and marry. Some go through the motions like a day job and pull out their phones during smoke breaks. The government destroyed a lot during Mao, pit family and neighbor against each other, tried to throw out any cultural norms that didn't jive with Marxism (as hard as the government could), and so when One Child came along, you had these unruly brats who were worshipped from the parent and the parents' parents. It's easy to shrug off unruly or awful tourists as new money but they really weren't taught any manners even if they weren't originally country bumpkins. The main lesson was to push, scratch, and fight your way above the millions of others racing to the top with you. Everything else was a luxury. Their media tells the middle class that they've made it, and it's all through a continuation of a 5000 yr old culture that got retconned a half a century earlier. I guess they can piece it back through that firewall of theirs.
It was alright. It was pretty hokey and overall was just ok. Not great. I could have skipped it. I was trying to think back to compare it to other first films - Iron Man, Thor, Captain America. Thor and Cap were probably similarly ok and skippable. So hopefully they can keep building on this character and make him be a bigger deal.
It may have been the WORST Marvel movie I've seen. Doesn't bode well for this Next Marvel Phase. I heard the Eternals is Blah too.
You mean you didn’t like a western character with arrows aka Awkafina saving ancient China against monsters ?
When I thought the bus fight scene everyone loved was just okay, I knew I was in trouble for the rest of the movie. I thought this movie was just okay bordering on meh.. The song by Anderson .Paak - "Fire In the Sky" at the end was my favorite part of the movie. I really wanted to like this movie.
I was scouring the internet trying to find people who were having the same feelings I had about this movie - the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. People out here saying this movie is in their top 5 marvel movies. come on, man.. hell no. David So (Disclaimer: I think he has a past with Simu and he hates him) but he and his friend are pretty much thinking the same way I'm thinking. before the dislike button was murdered, this video was disliked to oblivion. the comments are very positive toward the film.
Yeah the big companies got each other’s back for the sake of money making and good publicity I enjoyed the movie because it was entertaining not because the main characters were relevant. But I agree that the best character and actor in the movie was main bad guy Tony Leung. They could have left out Awkafina from the plot and it would still be the same movie . Was she even the love interest in the movie ? No.
