In Hollywood's latest attempt to score in the huge -- but highly restrictive -- Chinese market, an Asian actor has been cast as a leading Marvel superhero for the first time.
"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," out on Friday, takes the 25th installment in the wildly popular Marvel film series into mythical China, where enormous beasts, mysticism and kung fu collide for a tale about the difficult relationship between a son and his father.
The titular son -- played by relatively unknown Chinese-Canadian actor Simu Liu -- fled his controlling dad as a teenager, after being sculpted into a deadly assassin, and washes up in the United States.
There he lives anonymously, palling around with the underachieving Katy, played by Awkwafina ("Crazy Rich Asians"), until his father -- Hong Kong superstar Tony Leung -- sends a sinister gang to chase him home.
"Shang-Chi" locates itself firmly in the record-grossing Marvel Cinematic Universe series of movies, with an amusing reprisal of Ben Kingsley's washed-up actor Trevor Slattery from "Iron Man 3."
Its value for Marvel Studios, and owner Disney, however, was expected to be as a vehicle for expanding into the Chinese market.
"It's very moving because it's been a long time coming to have an Asian superhero, and a movie that celebrates not only our culture but our humanity," Asian-American actress Jodi Long told AFP at the film's world premiere in Los Angeles.
"And I think that's really important in this time of Covid and xenophobia."
- 'Stereotype' -
Yet despite a predominantly Asian cast, and huge swathes of dialogue in Mandarin -- both predicted to be popular among China's cinemagoers -- success for "Shang-Chi" is far from guaranteed.
Like the previous Marvel film "Black Widow," the film still doesn't have a release date in China, where movie theaters reopening this summer are stocked largely with domestic, patriotic features.
As well as protecting Chinese filmmaking, this could reflect growing discontent with Disney-owned Marvel, whose next big superhero outing "Eternals" is being directed by Beijing-born Chloe Zhao.
Zhao won two Oscars including an historic best director statuette this year for "Nomadland," but her success has been censored in China after a nationalist backlash over years-old interviews in which she appeared to criticize her country of birth.
Excitement in China for "Shang-Chi" also appears to be lukewarm among some social media users.
"This movie will only deepen the world's stereotype of us," wrote one user on Weibo, China's Twitter-like messaging service.
"Marvel may not want to insult China, but it is a fact that in terms of casting, it has to cater to the American social aesthetic of humiliating China."
Another user called it "a poor attempt to mint money from Chinese audiences."
On popular review site Duoban -- similar to Rotten Tomatoes -- one user bemoaned the notion of an Americanized Chinese man returning to his homeland to do battle with his traditionally minded father.
"Marvel do you really want to enter China with such a plot?" the user wrote.
- 'Multi-dimensional' -
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, in a recent interview with a Chinese film journalist, sought to tamp down that criticism, insisting the narrative is actually one of Shang-Chi returning to his roots.
"That sense of running away... is presented as one of his flaws," he said, according to Variety.
Director Destin Daniel Cretton told AFP that filmmakers had worked hard to overcome "some very clear stereotypes that were created in life and society, and that were also part of the original comics."
"So for me the most important thing to get right in this movie were the characters -- that they are relatable, that they are multi-dimensional, whether they are the hero Shang-Chi or whether they are the quote-unquote villain."
ETX Studio
Thu Sep 02 2021
![Marvel eyes China with 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' Marvel eyes China with 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings'](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2021-09/71630555822_simuliu.jpg)
Canadian actor Simu Liu arrives for the world premiere of Marvel's "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" at the El Capitan theatre. Photography VALERIE MACON / AFP
![Lebih 1,600 premis PKS sertai program SOLVE 4 SME Lebih 1,600 premis PKS sertai program SOLVE 4 SME](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-08/71723651455_TBSOLVE.jpg)
Lebih 1,600 premis PKS sertai program "SOLVE 4 SME"
JKKP memaklumkan penyertaan itu melebihi sasaran jabatan itu dan telah memberi manfaat kepada 70,824 pekerja PKS.
![PRK Nenggiri: PN ada peluang menang, tapi jangan over-confident - Muhyiddin PRK Nenggiri: PN ada peluang menang, tapi jangan over-confident - Muhyiddin](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-04/51713678198_MuhyiddinYassin.jpg)
PRK Nenggiri: "PN ada peluang menang, tapi jangan over-confident" - Muhyiddin
Muhyiddin optimis dengan kemenangan calon PN, Mohd Rizwadi Ismail sekali gus mempertahankan kerusi DUN Nenggiri.
![Ahli ekonomi yakin pertumbuhan KDNK sekitar 5.8 peratus pada suku kedua 2024 Ahli ekonomi yakin pertumbuhan KDNK sekitar 5.8 peratus pada suku kedua 2024](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-06/81717305735_EkonomiMalaysia.jpg)
Ahli ekonomi yakin pertumbuhan KDNK sekitar 5.8 peratus pada suku kedua 2024
Kalangan ahli ekonomi yakin KDNK Malaysia bagi suku kedua 2024 akan berkembang pada 5.8 peratus berbanding 4.2 peratus pada suku pertama tahun ini.
AWANI Pagi: Berita tumpuan & menarik di astroawani.com [15 Ogos 2024]
Antara fokus AWANI Pagi bersama Nursyazwani Saiful Sham dan Afiezy Azaman
- Mayat lelaki di jambatan Klang dipercayai YouTuber Nidza Afham
- BNM denda Maybank, CIMB kerana gangguan perkhidmatan berpanjangan
- JIWA SME: Inovasi kuih sejuk beku jadi kudapan jemaah tunai umrah
#AWANInews #AWANIpagi
- Mayat lelaki di jambatan Klang dipercayai YouTuber Nidza Afham
- BNM denda Maybank, CIMB kerana gangguan perkhidmatan berpanjangan
- JIWA SME: Inovasi kuih sejuk beku jadi kudapan jemaah tunai umrah
#AWANInews #AWANIpagi
![Cisco akan kurangkan 7 peratus tenaga kerja globalnya Cisco akan kurangkan 7 peratus tenaga kerja globalnya](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-08/41723681507_Ciscologo.jpg)
Cisco akan kurangkan 7 peratus tenaga kerja globalnya
Langkah mengurangkan kakitangan itu dijangka melibatkan kos pra-cukai sehingga AS$1 bilion.
Jiwa SME: Kuih tradisonal sejuk beku 'diterbangkan' ke Tanah Suci
Inovasi pembuatan makanan sejuk beku, terutama kuih muih tradisional telah berjaya membawa produk itu ke peringkat global, terutama dalam memenuhi citarasa jemaah haji dan umrah rakyat Malaysia di Tanah Suci Mekah dan Madinah.
![Gol sulung Mbappe bantu Real Madrid juarai Piala Super UEFA Gol sulung Mbappe bantu Real Madrid juarai Piala Super UEFA](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-08/51723679998_KylianMbappe.jpg)
Gol sulung Mbappe bantu Real Madrid juarai Piala Super UEFA
"Ia adalah malam yang hebat. Ia adalah detik yang hebat untuk saya. Dan kami memenangi kejuaraan, yang penting - di Madrid anda perlu sentiasa menang."
![“I love you Am, bahagialah di syurga firdausi” - Aufahanie “I love you Am, bahagialah di syurga firdausi” - Aufahanie](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-08/51723679258_AufahanieNidzaAfh.jpg)
“I love you Am, bahagialah di syurga firdausi” - Aufahanie
Air mata Aufahanie sudah kering meratapi pemergian abang tercinta, Nidza Afham yang ditemui meninggal dunia selepas dilaporkan hilang.
Konsert jelajah: Taylor Swift teruskan konsert London selepas ancaman keganasan
Taylor Swift akan meneruskan persembahan di London pada Khamis, meneruskan jelajah konsert terbesar dunia di tengah-tengah kebimbangan keselamatan susulan cubaan serangan Daesh memaksa pembatalan tarikh konsert di Vienna, minggu lalu.
Taliban rai ulang tahun ketiga pemerintahan Afghanistan
Kerajaan Taliban semalam meraikan ulang tahun ketiga pemerintahannya di Afghanistan dengan perarakan tentera yang memberi penghormatan kepada bom buatan sendiri yang digunakan ketika peperangan, pesawat pejuang dan perbarisan pasukan keselamatan.
![Rakyat Malaysia di AS, Hong Kong dan Indonesia kongsi pengalaman berdepan COVID-19 Rakyat Malaysia di AS, Hong Kong dan Indonesia kongsi pengalaman berdepan COVID-19](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/http://img.astroawani.com/2020-03/71585402156_Mashup.jpg)
Rakyat Malaysia di AS, Hong Kong dan Indonesia kongsi pengalaman berdepan COVID-19
Beberapa warga Malaysia di luar negara termasuk di Amerika Syarikat, Hong Kong dan Indonesia berkongsi pengalaman mereka.
![Pelanggan China dipukul dalam butik, Balenciaga mohon maaf Pelanggan China dipukul dalam butik, Balenciaga mohon maaf](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/http://img.astroawani.com/2018-04/61525049754_Balenciaga.jpg)
Pelanggan China dipukul dalam butik, Balenciaga mohon maaf
Balenciaga mengeluarkan kenyataan maaf selepas insiden seorang pelanggan China dipukul di sebuah butiknya di Paris menjadi viral.