Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings‘ upcoming release will mark an important milestone for Marvel Studios. It’ll be their first Asian-American-led project with Simu Liu taking on the role of the titular hero. It’s also their first attempt at a Kung fu-inspired film that honors the film of Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and many more. In the interview, he revealed that Marvel Studios took the challenge quite seriously as they changed their approach to action to emphasize the choreography.
This movie is the first time that I think Marvel has put a lot of their emphasis in the action design and, specifically, the choreography. And it’s their first time really tackling a more purely martial arts movie, which is super exciting to be a part of. They obviously didn’t hire me because I’m amazing at martial arts movies, so there’s also a very strong emotional, dramatic and comedic element to these characters.
Destin Daniel Cretton
He even goes on to highlight how they took a Buster Keaton storytelling approach with some of the action sequences. The first clip released for the film highlighted this approach, as you can see physical comedy with various payoffs. Cretton calls it just a small taste of what the film has to offer.
The first glimpse at action seems promising, as it doesn’t rely on over-editing that some MCU films shave done in the past. The approach of adapting Keaton-style storytelling is also a perfect tribute to the way that Jackie Chan also molded his martial arts films. He famously paid tribute to the famous clock hanging sequence from Safety Last! in his film Project A back in 1983. We can’t wait to see what action awaits us, especially when Shang-Chi faces off against his father Wenwu.
