I actually adored when Wenwu said "Be careful how you talk to me young man" it's genuinely one of the few jokes that landed for me

Someone might've said before, but imagine a film in MCU where someone tries to kickstart their secret organisation to rule the world, but he has to struggle with other secret organisation that try to rule the world.

One more glaring issue: The Aunt delivers her eulogy to fallen warriors of ancient Chinese origins...in English...imagine being a ghost and needing subtitles for your own funeral.

My head canon is that Trevor is actually the real Mandarin and he has fooled everyone in a long con. After all, he is the only one to use the moniker and live past the credits.

Imagine if Cinema Sins, actually took his job seriously? That's this guy.

At 9:40 when the screen faded out I genuinely prepared myself for THERE’S NOWHERE TO RUN and got whiplash when it didn’t happen

During the transition between 9:35 and 9:40, when you went silent and screen turned black, I instinctively waited for Barry to say ''There's nowhere to run''.

Fun fact: the airbreaks on a bus are an active system that requires a constant airflow being pumped in to keep the breaks inactive, cutting the break line will cause the breaks to activate with no means of unbreaking without fixing the break line.

Seriously, there's a pretty easy way they could've fixed Wenwu's character: 1. He's still been alive for thousands of years, and did conquer the world, but eventually grew bored of world domination as there was no one to challenge him, as he found the hunt for power more fulfilling than actually having it. As for how he gained the 10 rings and such power, just have a montage of his life that shows him being trained to be a ruthless warrior since his childhood, with his family's dynasty having found one of the 10 Rings. Greed and desire for the ring's power caused the family to turn on one another, with Wenwu scraping through by the skin of his teeth. This is why he's so cold and ruthless, he was trained to be a remorseless killer since childhood, and was forced to kill members of his own family to survive. Combined with how brutal such societies and times could be, how could you expect such a man to be a saint? Of course he'd grow into a ruthless man. 2. As for how he gets the other rings, its explained that the rings are drawn to one another, and Wenwu would either have visions of where the other rings may have been buried, or would have led him to fight other warlords that had the rings. That way you could show off the power of each individual ring and show off what each can do, making wielding all of them that much greater. 3. When he 1st fights Ying Li, he experiences his 1st defeat in so long it shocks him, as despite the 10 Rings, her strange martial arts countered every one of them. Despite expecting death, he's even more surprised when she spares him, to which she replies that life is sacred/meaningful, and all have the potential to do good, and she wishes not to snuff it out. This angers him, so he'd challenge her again, and again, and again, yet kept losing. Eventually, this led to a breakdown when she questions why he keeps trying to use force and violence without seemingly thinking about it. This would be the point where Wenwu would crack and admit he can't find a point to his own life. At one point, it was a fight to survive, and the power he needed to acquire to survive. That fight led him to become someone who would conquer the whole world. Yet as stated earlier, when he finally had all that power, he had no idea what to do with it and lost purpose. It would also be revealed that he mainly sticks to the shadows, maintaining enough influence, connections, and wealth to live comfortably, but not to influence all manner of government, because in his mind, what's the point. 4. Slowly, the 2 would open up to each other and Ying Li would feel sorry for how empty Wenwu was. When she'd speak fondly of her own family and loved ones, Wenwu has none. He literally had to kill more than a few of them just to survive, and its not like he had anyone in the last few thousand years to connect to. In fact, she's the 1st connection he's made in what's close to forever. As she falls in love with him, she's eventually forced to come to blows with her people for violating their rules and forming connections with the outside, which goes against their duty. This is when she'd explain the whole, 'secret clan meant to protect the world from evil monster business.' 5. While Ying Li wants to allow Wenwu into the tribe, the elders deny it due to supposedly being able to sense the stains on his soul for all the lives he had taken in his life through some sort of special chi bull or whatever, it would be explained in the movie. Despite Wenwu genuinely feeling remorse for all he'd done now, he'd accept and leave, and despite still having a chance to stay in her home, chose to leave with him. They get married, and have Shang and Xialing, and live pretty happily. Both Shang and Xialing are taught martial arts in their childhood, although to contrast with his own past, Wenwu is actually a caring parent wo wants his kids to have lives free of the bloodshed he lived in, which Ying Li agreed with. However, Ying Li also wanted her kids to see her village, as she believed her sister deserved to know her nephew and niece. So she and Wenwu secretly take them to visit the village, but to Ying Li's horror, her sister rats her out and the family is caught in a trap. Wenwu and Ying Li manage to get through most of the onslaught, but Ying Li is forced to sacrifice herself and take the blow of a dragon scale rope dart aimed at Wenwu, killing her. Wenwu is barely able to escape from the kids. 6. Fueled by heartbreak and grief, Wenwu regresses back into the ruthless warlord he once was, as he just basically had to live the backstory that made him this way after genuinely repenting and wanting to be better. He then trained his kids to be assassins and began forming a criminal empire to take revenge on Ta Lo, which only gets worse when the monster the village has sealed away preys on his guilt and trauma with the voice of his wife, telling him she's still alive and that her people saved her life, only to keep her prisoner and away from him and their kids. Not gonna go into how the plot of the movie would go, but there's the backstory. I just gave Wenwu a motivation and backstory that is more sympathetic and fleshes him out as a character, showcases the powers of each of the 10 Rings, and gives him a much better reason as to why he'd want to usurp and/or destroy Ta Lo. And Wenwu isn't just using strange gimmicky weapons, the dude would be packing military grade guns, bombs, even missiles and warheads with him. The dude would use whatever resource he could find to go after Ta Lo, and it would be scary.

Feel like the story could have worked better if they said that he did successfully conquer the world millenia ago, but then got bored with having absolute power and just spent the rest of his time fucking around, leaving the earth to do whatever, only for the mystical village and the woman he meets there to reignite his passions. Avoids the nasty question of arguably causing atrocities throughout history, though he'd still be letting it happen with the power to stop it, so he'd still be squarely in selfish territory.

Professor Hulk isn't a compromise, it's Banner taking everything. The Hulk was his own separate personality. Professor Hulk wasn't a combo personality, it was just Banner. One person dying or never waking up isn't a compromise. Professor Hulk was a really disturbing concept.

The only way I can explain Wenwu going to Ta Lo multiple times and then forgetting how is that he's such a strategic genius, _even he himself_ doesn't know how he does it

I was waiting for you to point out that what Wen Wu says about "chicken dish" and "orange" is idiocy. Mandarin was first and foremost, a RANK in ancient China, comparable to a minister or councillor to the Emperor. That is what the Mandarin of the comics was named for.

Katie’s distraction trick wasn’t even what got her attacker to stop, it was her putting her hands up! He only started again because she was singing!

But Madvocate, Xialing was able to teach herself to fight better just by watching because she's obviously the real Taskmaster. You must understand

biggest piss off for me was 10 unique rings being macguffined into bland same power bracelets

I seriously hate the "haha gotta BREAK THE TONE" moments modern movies HAVE TO have. Every time it's out of place, it's cringe, it's unfunny, and it's in service of making the movies less enjoyable over all because you can't emotionally connect with shit. Fuckin Disney/

35:17 - Sooo true. Compare this with how Ra's al Ghul (of whom this new Mandarin was based on) operates. His League of Shadows ninjas attack at night, leave no witnesses, and most of them work undercover not wearing any garb that would help people trace them back to their origin. When Ra's wanted Batman's attention, he did not attack Bruce Wayne in public - he showed up in the Batcave, knowing full well who he is.

I found another flaw in this movie regarding the blade arm: If you heat your blade, you just make the blade more breakable; when metal heats, it becomes softer and more vulnerable. If you want to use heat to make your blade cut better, then heat your target, not your blade.

The easiest thing they could've done is to make set the meeting between the mandarin and his wife earlier in the time period like 14 or 1500's. Have everyone in Ta Lo be essentially immortal as long as they stay inside and you have a long drawn out romance between Wenwu and Ying Li over centuries as he tries to conquer the mystical place. As he concentrated over a single place, the ten rings would essentially end up what's it today, a shodowy organization instead of a conquering army with the rumors of an immortal leader. Ying Li would end up exiled because of the forbidden romance losing immortality and getting married with the mandarin in the 1990's. As he would give up his immortality in favor of living with his wife, this would lead to children. You could say, Immortality and Children doesn't go hand-in-hand. When the wife eventually gets murdered by ten rings in his name, The Mandarin would return to his ruthless form donning the rings again and taking back reins of his former organization in order to build a "safer world" for his children under his rule.

Please make the flash is insufferably inconsistent season 4 your editing is always top tier and the videos are so funny!

Your plan is to decimate a group of people guarding a gate. They use Bows 'n Arrows and swords. What do you bring with your near infinite resources? Guns? *No* Stun guns? *No* Stun batons? *No* Swords that stun people for 5 minutes? What! Imagine they had wiped the floor with the gate guard people (as they likely should have) and had to deal with the creatures that are immune to their weapons without the knowledge that dragon scale weapons where the only way. That realisation in the cinema was hilarious.

whenever there’s a break in the video, i expect to hear “there’s nowhere to run” followed by the smash bros music

They really need to understand that someone who's thousands of years old with combat experience should not lose to someone a fraction of his age without some really good explanation. Edit: I'm sorry, I guess I shouldn't have questioned anything from marvel.

After your Flash videos i'll watch literally anything you upload. You've given me hours of laughter, HOURS.

Potentially unpopular opinion: I like that Madvocate takes so long between uploads, since it means he's putting the time & effort into his scripts that don't go into his reviewed projects' scripts. I can't help but wonder if there's MCU films he likes, given how many of them have writing problems like this. Also, I can't help but wonder how long it would take for him to have an aneurysm if he watched a Michael Bay Transformers movie.

HAVE TO ADD *In the comics, not only The Mandarín is IRON MAN'S ARCHENEMY, but also he HAS A REAL MOTIVATION* He wants to conquer the world to lead hummanity at its peak, but unlike Dr. Doom isn't only cause he thinks he's the only one who's able, BUT ALSO 'CASUE HE WANTS TO BE HIM THE ONE WHO SAVES THE HUMMANITY, after his family perish he wanted to prove himself his existence was worthy & that he found the 10 rings for a reason(WHICH ARE ALIEN TECH, NO MAGIC) Here, Wenwu just wants world domination because why not, but not really since after simping a girl for 1 day he gave up his 2 milenium motivation, & his BRACELETS(not rings) ARE MAGIC IF THAT ISN'T BUTCHERING A CHARACTER THEN NOTHING IS

My brain is trained to expect a "There's nowhere to run" after every fade to black

I love how the sister says she hasnt seen him in 6 years yet somehow he has been friends w whatserface for 10 years?

Abomination always had a "Creature from the Black Lagoon" look in the comics, so I did not mind the redesign. But makes no sense how/why Wong, a person who is in no way associated with SHIELD, can just take him from his cell for fights. Why does Abomination not try to escape?

The world building in this film constantly clashing with the rest of MCU really killed my immersion during my watch

small correction 1:04:22 the suit that was made for Shang Chi is made of Dragon scales. It's not weaponry but it would protect him from getting his soul ripped out.

Just want to say about the falling in love thing: Could be explained by him finally meeting someone who matches his power. She shows that she can potentially control the rings after the throws them at her. If you haven’t been matched in power for thousands of years someone who matches you could at least trigger a reaction

I can't wait till the "Flash is inconsistent season 4" video. If this man thought the first three seasons had issue, he aint seen nothing yet.

No KZfaqr makes me laugh the way madvocate does. Keep up the good work!

Have you heard the amazing love story between a nazi officer and a jew that was trying to avoid that he found his family to take them to the concentration camp? He was the last person she would fell in love with but love had other plans. For anyone else the girl would have asked explanations but the nazi guy was super hot, charismatic and had killed a ton of Jews, so it just was natural. :)

I'd just like to say, the daredevil episode where Foggy finds out Matt is Daredevil had much better character moments than the rest of the MCU

Can't wait for the "People who should have been saved" list

Anyone else wondering why the hell the SORCERER SUPREME is doing cage fights

4:10 There's a worse option you didn't mention. The Nazis overthrew his shadow rule. Why is that worse? It would mean the Nazis were wrong about _who_ secretly ruled the world, but not that it was.

1:02:12 Glorious edit One of my favorite points you brought up was Wenwu's change in demeanor towards Shang-Chi, suddenly blaming him for the mother's death when he hadn't been trained to defend himself OR kill as far as we're told. I thought that was bizarre in the theatre, but didn't fully digest it. I guess it's written off as "Well Wenwu's mind is getting increasingly poisoned by the Dweller's voice". But then you also point out how dense it is for Shang-Chi not to realize his mother was fine with his warlord father for quite some time, so present-day Wenwu really wouldn't phase her.

Are we supposed to believe because the sister is a "strong independent woman" and just saw Shang train instead of having a teacher is a BETTER FIGHTER than him? Bruh

"Unless he does a winter soldier and has his men in every organization" World Economic Forum? Disney would do commentary against their masters?

1:08:28 When Hulk with Bruce Banner's mind was introduced in "Avengers Endgame" I concluded that logically Banner should now be able to turn into Hulk and back at will and thought it to be silly that he didn't do that in "Endgame". But then "She-Hulk" dropped and kind of confirmed that Bruce can no longer turn into a human on his own for some reason. On the other hand, "She-Hulk" also showed how Banner can artificially achieve his human form and why would he want to do that so either way there's nothing to complain about in this scene.

There was a pretty awesome bus driver operator type person who did a breakdown of the bus sequence in terms of what might or might not work and the plot holes/technical issues with it.

Even Madvocate didn't question why Bruce is acting like an expert on vibranium when he only researched gamma energy and MCU has Shuri as the vibranium expert available who proved she was more knowledgeable when it comes to technology involving vibranium as shown in Infinity War when it came to fixing Vision. 😜😜😜😜

Regarding the "Rings being Bracelets", it would be pretty cool if the rings were from space like in the comics (Mokluan race, like Fin Fang Foom), found in the hand of an alien in a spaceship, and the rings are used as bracelets because the alien's hand is way bigger than a human hand, but still called Rings cause it was found in the hand of said alien...

I didn't think you were gonna defend wu based on the title. I actually thought you were gonna talk about how the concept of the "strategic genius" is a myth in and of itself, or that writers with an IQ of 50 shouldn't make one of their characters a strategic genius when they themselves could be outsmarted by a fly.

I think that 5:37 actually makes some sense. He's not there to bulldoze through everybody as fast as he can, he's here to figure out what kind of power they have so he can take it for himself. So naturally, instead of instantly curbstomping the first display of these powers he's been searching for that he sees, he patiently waits. Confident in his experience and power, watching to see what makes her tick. Him losing makes no sense since he's 2000+ years old and the rings are stupid OP, but it does make sense why he didn't instantly KO her. He's an immortal, he has patience to spare here.

"This Skyrim game is interesting. Alduin reminds me of that soul eating dragon my dead wife told me about... maybe sending assassins after my kids was a bad idea."

You're like the substitute teacher for when mauler's not here and i really appreciate that

I agree with most of the things you say Madvocate, 'most' but as if backstory of Wong visiting Abominable and making him get to fight cage-match beforehand would make this movie better.

Madvocate you gotta make one of these for Spider-Man NWH I love that movie (and this one) but there are so many plot holes and Character Assassinations

Also, The Network from "Utopia" is somehow more menacing and secretive than a 2000yo warlord. Good going, Kevin Faggy.

That whole professor hulk bit will be probably explained in the upcoming 'She Hulk' show. The orgins of SheHulk demand hulk back into human bruce banner again. Because you can't poke a hole to collect blood when bruce is in hulk mode and the orgin of she hulk won't happen, if things go the way in the comics.

Just like Janet in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," Ying Li decided NOT to tell her husband and children about the incredibly dangerous threat lurking out there until it is too late. Is Marvel saying that women shouldn't keep secrets because they'll f*** things up for everyone else?

Mu favorite implication from this movie is that during WW2, between 15 million and 20 million Chinese people died and The Mandarin did nothing to stop it.

So he spent who knows how many thousands of years conquering and not ONCE decided he wanted some bitches? This is somehow the least realistic MCU movie and I'm including Eternals in that.

51:19 oh you forgot one! He doubles as a merchandising device!

I always watch the whole video from start to finish. I love these videos from madvocate

The beef or vegetarian joke gave me a headache in the theater. I got one again when the clip played in the video.

No Way Home made Wong the Sorcerer Supreme too! It was because Strange was gone 5 years and Shang-Chi is post snap. Fucking brilliant.

"It is of no concern" is gonna live rent free in my head for the next decade😂😂

I immediately recognized them not following the "three minutes without air" rule Especially when he didn't have a chance to hold his breath

I like your funny words magic man. Seriously, entertaining as always

Something I thought about your point about bringing him back to his father. Since Wenwu was established as a warlord in his introduction sequence, I think it's reasonable to think that the character would believe that if his son couldn't live to fight off the thugs then he would be completely useless to him. The thugs were only there to retrieve the necklace, so they would have done so regardless of if he had actually died. Completely contrived in his methods but whatever. Also I agree with everything else mentioned in the video.

Also that when the dragon soul was being stolen the one person to do something was a character who had learned archery a matter of days beforehand. Firstly, there would have been a number of people readily avalable with litteral thousands of times more experience than her. Secondly there is am exactly zero chance of her landing that shot. That arrow flew for hundreds of feet with minimal curve and enough power to fly through several feet of solid tissue without even changing trajectory, the power on that bow must be crazy, and she 100% would not have the strength to even draw it, nonetheless line up a shot. I swear they just shoehorned her character into every scene and I dont know why.

"I learned Kung-Fu by watching them and making it better." You know who says things like that? 30 somethings that live in their parents basements saying "I have no need to carry a weapon because I have unlocked my true power, don't even try me kid." ... so me basically :|

This villain pisses me off so much, he's so ineffectual and his tactics make very little sense. At least most villains seem to be trying to be successful, but Wenwu feels like he's handicapping himself at every turn.

The reason Hulk was in his Human form is because Mark Ruffleschips needed his face in the film atleast once via contract. Otherwise hes just a VA

At 30:01 the glass of window conveniently breaks at specific sections of the edges where Shang-Chi is gonna grab to hang on to the bus, so that the sharp glass pieces don't have to penetrate his hand.

I agree with most of the criticisms, except for the Genghis Khan one. Wen-wu calls himself the master Khan because Khan means king. A Khan is a ruler. Genghis Khan's name wasn't Genghis Khan, he was a Khan. After him there was Kublai Khan as the Mongolian leader. A reference more people might get is Shao Khan from Mortal Kombat. He was a Khan who eventually lost power and Kotal Khan took the throne. Basically Master Khan has nothing to do with Genghis Khan, so that criticism is very flawed.

Almost all of these points went over my head as I was watching the movie, but they are valid nonetheless. The movie did feel weak though, and I didn't like how it seemed to be promoting Tai Chi which isn't a viable martial art for fighting.

Man, it's always a great day when madvocate uploads

Honestly, it’s more believable than Razorblade in the comics who has his blade arm constantly out and exposed everywhere at all times I think in the comics both his arms are blades as well so that’d make day to day like like he was Edward Scissorhands In the comics it isn’t even detachable it’s just THERE always This is one of the few instances the MCU actually makes a character more powerful and versatile than their comic book counterparts

Wenwu, like Damien Darhk from Arrow, had to be dumbed down in order for the protagonists to survive.

"Marvel, are you happy with your recent movies? Don't you think you could..." "It's of no concern"

So Wenwu was The Thinker all along.

29:25 don't forget the war rhinos The most high-tech nation in the universe (MCU) rely on animal protection

Thing is: Help his sister with what? There is at no point in the movie any indication that the sister was being abused, unless we are assuming not being trained as an assassin using cruel methods is abuse, nor anything that would constitute requiring saving, on the contrary when she decide to "run away" she is allowed to do it. Reason for Kate to be taken to 10 rings hideout: Mandarin thinks she is Shang's wife/GF/beloved, which is not far from the truth...

Hey Madvocate, I saw your cameo as Bully Maguire on G.I. Gio's channel it was hilarious: "I'm not ready for this sh!t"

I want mention something you forget. The ring is pretty "stupid". What do I mean by this is how the Mother was able to use the rings against Xu Wenwu just by.... getting them and use them. Also the rings change colors, how did she know that the ring can "betray" the user and she knows how to use it instantly and use it better than someone who uses the rings for 2000+ years. The same could be said with Shang Chi, not only does Shang Chi able to compete with his father with thousand years of exprience and also the rings "betray" Xu Wenwu as well. So basically I can take Xu Wenwu on after learning martial arts and also stretch my arms to get the rings to use against him lol.

god i miss when the 90s marvel mandarin was a scary villain he can summon 10 dragons who can cause the end of the world but this movie got everything wrong .

Madvocate officially my new fav movie show review channel your commentary is absolutely hilarious, and its good too see other ppl struggle to enjoy shows or movies because logic or therefore lack of it.

Obligatory "when the world needed him most he returned" comment.

Someone said this channel is like if CinemaSins took his job seriously and I agree lol

Excellent background music selection - I was quite happy to hear some Proleter in there!

Hey madvocate, you introduced me to the world of KZfaq movie critiques so thank you.

So tired of MCU third acts, somone tell feige that you can have third acts without fighting giant monsters.

Wake up babe! New Madvocate video just dropped!

This is another problem of a shared universe that even the actual comics have. So many stories where the all powerful bad guys rule things from the shadows for centuries except they are more than one group and they somehow never met even though they all have the same tactics, for instance the Ten Rings, HYDRA and now the Skrulls all sending agents, well, how lucky that the Hydra agent being actually controlled by the Ten Rings didn't know that his boss was actually a Skrull in disguise.

“It is of no concern”

5 minutes underwater while being unconscious should've caused Shang Chi brain damage so it is wild how he was able to survive for so long However what I believe is happening in the film is that they're showing what everyone else was doing while he was underwater so the actual time underwater should be less Regardless Shang Chi should've drowned underwater after taking such a serious punch. But hey that's MCU logic for ya

This man single handedly made me realize one of my favorite marvel movies is written by 500kg of horse shit by using his brain

Another great video by my favourite rising youtube critic.

49:12 Clearly that was actually the problem. Not that he didn't have cameras watching the prison, but that he had cameras watching EVERYTHING ELSE too. So many cameras in fact that the goons couldn't keep up with watching everything at the same time, and so they missed the actual moment of escape on the prison feed.

Surprised you didnt mention that there are no consequences for Shang-Chi from the bus fight. Like, wouldnt he be wanted for all the damage? At bare minimum, brought in and/ or detained for questioning by the authorities.. even if no charges brought up.. he was streamed and viewed by millions fighting a man with a flaming sword arm and got away with all that life threatening antics and damage to a lot of property

Awkwafina seems like the type of person who never got told they aren’t funny because people felt bad and she somehow made a career out of it

I was so confused when I watched this movie and I was like "Oh no, they're gonna have to break the news about their mom dying to her family:(" But then they just already know for some reason. Why would you intentionally mess up an important emotional scene? It wasn't even contrived like a lot of the other emotional moments in the movie- it was perfectly established and they just... ignore it.

Can't believe this was released 2 months ago... Hope to see more from ya!