Shang-Chi: Legacy of the Rings

Updated
 
9.5 (2)
 
9.8 (11)
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shangchilegacy_front
Faneditor Name:
Genre:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2021
Original Running Time:
132 minutes
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
111 minutes
Time Cut:
23 minutes
Time Added:
2 minutes
Subtitles Available:
Available in HD:
Synopsis:
A more streamlined and family focused story about Shang-Chi and his power mad father.
Intention:
In the original film, I found myself confounded by super Katy, flashbacks, trapped mother delusions, etc. I intended to refocus the story, front loading most of the flashbacks and reducing the presence of Katy and Trevor. I wanted to make Shaun's father more sane, although still clearly influenced by a thirst for power. The whole idea of 'he was evil but love made him good' seemed insulting, so instead, his quest for power is suggested as a way to combat his insecurities.

Most distracting parts are removed; the car joyride at the beginning, the air hostess, Wong vs Abomination, flashbacks, the postcard controversy, car chase in parking lot, much of Trevor, Katy being amazing, CGI monster sequence.

Wenwu was almost a joke of a villain in my opinion, going from pure evil, to family man, to delusional crazy man. Instead, he doesn't make any reference to their mother's voice, but he does hear strange whispers. He is clearly influenced to focus on the gate, but he is power driven in order to protect him and his own. That's who he has always been.

To give Xialing more presence, deleted scenes were also inserted.
Other Sources:
Additional Sound effects from https://quicksounds.com
spooky whispers by steven169 @ freesound.org
Special Thanks:
mnkykungfu
lifeincontext
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
edited in Davinci Resolve.
Cuts and Additions:
Inserted quote to set the mood.
Removed Wenwu meeting Shaun's mother in the intro sequence, as it confuses his character too soon.
Added Shaun's mother's death and him being shown how powerful and ruthless his father can be.
Removed valet scene,
Moved dinner and karaoke earlier and pared them down greatly.
Showed Shaun getting ready for work AFTER night out and then cut to him arriving at Katy's home.
Zoomed into postcard so it's easier to read.
Colour graded to make Deathdealer more prominent and recognisable.
Removed shots of Xialing training, Shaun was not aware of it.
Extended the flashback with clips from other flashback later in movie.
Removed air hostess.
Removed Wong and Abomination from fighting arena.
Removed Xialing's flashback.
Removed all references to who sent postcard.
Pared down the scaffolding scene, especially removing Katy's bad singing thing.
Removed the strange bit of tension where he has the ninja guy pinned to the floor
Removed Katy stating how 'scary' Wenwu was. There's no basis for this line from her.
Removed Wenwu's criticism's of the name' the Mandarin'.
Inserted Wenwu's first meeting with their mother immediately prior to his tale about family life. it seems to fit better there.
Removed all references to "I hear your mother's voice".
reframed Wenwu and introduced whispering voices when he mentions 'the gate'.
cut to 'water scene' earlier and carried the dialogue over to increase pacing.
reversed shot of Wenwu in the bedroom and colour graded, so I could reuse it later.
Removed the underground carpark 'chase'. it felt like needless additional action sequence and broke the pacing and structure of the movie IMO.
Trimmed Trevor's story about the monkeys. it dragged on.
removed more shots of Trevor in car.
Cut the bit with the 'horse' stopping the car and staring at Trevor.
Slightly reduced the hostility of the village upon their arrival.
Cut down Trevor announcing himself in village. Need to take attention away from him.
Removed Katy being taken to the archery area and told to start learning.
Inserted deleted scene 'Apology'.
Inserted Wenwu sitting on his bed at night time in contemplation.
Inserted some shots of the big lion things lazing on the grass, it looks like morning in that shot and it's a good establisher to suggest passage of time.
Removed Trevor teaching them football.
Introduced whispers to Wenwu scene, night before attack.
Removed Shauns flashback of his mother's death and him training as an assassin. It is all at the beginning now.
Removed Shaun saying "I'm going to kill him".
Removed Katy being told she can't fight.
Trimmed down the fight scenes a lot.
Inserted dialogue "You should've been there" at the culmination of Shaun's first fight with dad.
Added 'whispers' as Wenwu looks at gate just before he jumps.
Inserted small snippet of Shaun in the water just as a visual reminder of what the viewer should be caring about.
Removed Katy being 'allowed' to fight.
Inserted another snippet of Shaun underwater with the flashback of his mother reminding him about the dragon.
Rejigged the dragon emerging from the water so the villagers are watching the water a bit longer preparing to fight the soul eaters, to slightly increase tension.
Cut immediately from the dragon emerging, to the dragon advancing on the village taking out the soul eaters. It's meant to be badass.
During Shaun's fight with Wenwu before the gate, removed the cut back to the village, removing cowardly Trevor and just showing a wide shot of gate.
Removed villagers reactions to Dweller-in-Darkeness, this is an intimate moment between Wenwu and the thing that drew him here.
Removed Shaun's flashbacks to the moments with his dad, they all were kinda negatively loaded. Replaced them with the shots of the happy family before their mother died.
Removed Shaun colapsing the mouth of the gate. If it were that easy, they would have buried it long ago.
Cut majority of Dweller-in-Darkeness CGI fest, it is now a victory tour for Shaun after he won against his father.
Trimmed end dinner scene to remove Katy's brag about shooting the soul eater.
Inserted additional credits and edited title.
Edited 2nd end credits scene to include deleted scene "They're Waiting".
Dinner Test

shangchilegacy_coverart
Faneditor Name:
Genre:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2021
Original Running Time:
132 minutes
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
111 minutes
Time Cut:
23 minutes
Time Added:
2 minutes
Subtitles Available:
Available in HD:
Synopsis:
A more streamlined and family focused story about Shang-Chi and his power mad father.
Intention:
In the original film, I found myself confounded by super Katy, flashbacks, trapped mother delusions, etc. I intended to refocus the story, front loading most of the flashbacks and reducing the presence of Katy and Trevor. I wanted to make Shaun's father more sane, although still clearly influenced by a thirst for power. The whole idea of 'he was evil but love made him good' seemed insulting, so instead, his quest for power is suggested as a way to combat his insecurities.

Most distracting parts are removed; the car joyride at the beginning, the air hostess, Wong vs Abomination, flashbacks, the postcard controversy, car chase in parking lot, much of Trevor, Katy being amazing, CGI monster sequence.

Wenwu was almost a joke of a villain in my opinion, going from pure evil, to family man, to delusional crazy man. Instead, he doesn't make any reference to their mother's voice, but he does hear strange whispers. He is clearly influenced to focus on the gate, but he is power driven in order to protect him and his own. That's who he has always been.

To give Xialing more presence, deleted scenes were also inserted.
Other Sources:
Additional Sound effects from https://quicksounds.com
spooky whispers by steven169 @ freesound.org
Special Thanks:
mnkykungfu
lifeincontext
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
edited in Davinci Resolve.
Cuts and Additions:
Inserted quote to set the mood.
Removed Wenwu meeting Shaun's mother in the intro sequence, as it confuses his character too soon.
Added Shaun's mother's death and him being shown how powerful and ruthless his father can be.
Removed valet scene,
Moved dinner and karaoke earlier and pared them down greatly.
Showed Shaun getting ready for work AFTER night out and then cut to him arriving at Katy's home.
Zoomed into postcard so it's easier to read.
Colour graded to make Deathdealer more prominent and recognisable.
Removed shots of Xialing training, Shaun was not aware of it.
Extended the flashback with clips from other flashback later in movie.
Removed air hostess.
Removed Wong and Abomination from fighting arena.
Removed Xialing's flashback.
Removed all references to who sent postcard.
Pared down the scaffolding scene, especially removing Katy's bad singing thing.
Removed the strange bit of tension where he has the ninja guy pinned to the floor
Removed Katy stating how 'scary' Wenwu was. There's no basis for this line from her.
Removed Wenwu's criticism's of the name' the Mandarin'.
Inserted Wenwu's first meeting with their mother immediately prior to his tale about family life. it seems to fit better there.
Removed all references to "I hear your mother's voice".
reframed Wenwu and introduced whispering voices when he mentions 'the gate'.
cut to 'water scene' earlier and carried the dialogue over to increase pacing.
reversed shot of Wenwu in the bedroom and colour graded, so I could reuse it later.
Removed the underground carpark 'chase'. it felt like needless additional action sequence and broke the pacing and structure of the movie IMO.
Trimmed Trevor's story about the monkeys. it dragged on.
removed more shots of Trevor in car.
Cut the bit with the 'horse' stopping the car and staring at Trevor.
Slightly reduced the hostility of the village upon their arrival.
Cut down Trevor announcing himself in village. Need to take attention away from him.
Removed Katy being taken to the archery area and told to start learning.
Inserted deleted scene 'Apology'.
Inserted Wenwu sitting on his bed at night time in contemplation.
Inserted some shots of the big lion things lazing on the grass, it looks like morning in that shot and it's a good establisher to suggest passage of time.
Removed Trevor teaching them football.
Introduced whispers to Wenwu scene, night before attack.
Removed Shauns flashback of his mother's death and him training as an assassin. It is all at the beginning now.
Removed Shaun saying "I'm going to kill him".
Removed Katy being told she can't fight.
Trimmed down the fight scenes a lot.
Inserted dialogue "You should've been there" at the culmination of Shaun's first fight with dad.
Added 'whispers' as Wenwu looks at gate just before he jumps.
Inserted small snippet of Shaun in the water just as a visual reminder of what the viewer should be caring about.
Removed Katy being 'allowed' to fight.
Inserted another snippet of Shaun underwater with the flashback of his mother reminding him about the dragon.
Rejigged the dragon emerging from the water so the villagers are watching the water a bit longer preparing to fight the soul eaters, to slightly increase tension.
Cut immediately from the dragon emerging, to the dragon advancing on the village taking out the soul eaters. It's meant to be badass.
During Shaun's fight with Wenwu before the gate, removed the cut back to the village, removing cowardly Trevor and just showing a wide shot of gate.
Removed villagers reactions to Dweller-in-Darkeness, this is an intimate moment between Wenwu and the thing that drew him here.
Removed Shaun's flashbacks to the moments with his dad, they all were kinda negatively loaded. Replaced them with the shots of the happy family before their mother died.
Removed Shaun colapsing the mouth of the gate. If it were that easy, they would have buried it long ago.
Cut majority of Dweller-in-Darkeness CGI fest, it is now a victory tour for Shaun after he won against his father.
Trimmed end dinner scene to remove Katy's brag about shooting the soul eater.
Inserted additional credits and edited title.
Edited 2nd end credits scene to include deleted scene "They're Waiting".
Cover art by tremault (DOWNLOAD HERE)
image

Dinner Test

Trusted Reviewer reviews

2 reviews
Overall rating
 
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
The short of it: This replaces the theatrical version. Go, watch and enjoy!
Technically excellent. Coherent narrative. Clear character development.

There were a few moments that I missed though:
- cagefight of Wong vs Abomination. Yes it's a "WTF?" scene, but it's memorable.
- Katy's amazing arrow. Another memorable moment, and a perfect illustration of Lao Tzu's saying that opens the edit.
- Trevor playing dead on the battlefield.

The last two also would've added to the runtime of the speedy final battle. Despite missing these details, this edit wins over the theatrical with clearer focus on character development and less CGI fest.

Extra praise for tremault's openness to feedback and willingness to incorporate good points in the edit.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
Owner's reply July 03, 2022

Thank you so much! It's a shame those removals were missed by you, I do recognise that it reduces their stories and I was thinking about doing a Katy and Trevor special at some point, but this edit was meant to be pure Shang Chi and his family so it was inescapable :)

Comments (1) | Was this review helpful? 2 1
(Updated: June 21, 2022)
Overall rating
 
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
I had the good fortune of being invited to preview this edit, and so saw the many thoughtful changes along the way to this final version. What we get here is a faster-moving action film, one that is still fun and funny but that now allows the heart of the movie to shine. I can recommend it without hesitation to anyone as a shelf-replacer.

There are a few central strengths to this edit. Firstly, most of the forced elements and cringey humor are gone. Secondly, the supporting characters no longer threaten to dominate the story and steal focus from the title character. Finally, the narrative is cleaned up and restructured so that it makes more sense and has less obvious plot holes.

I still have a few quibbles with the edit in terms of how I view a few characters and would prefer their motivations to be portrayed, and the ending feels a bit rushed and anti-climatic to me (criticisms I discussed with the editor) but these are easily outweighed by the major benefits to the story. The narrative is now shifted to firmly focus on this one, screwed-up family, and their emotional connections with each other. Xialing now seems worthy of evolving into her comic book counterpart as Shang-Chi's main antagonist, and Katy is treated with more value and less as a walking trope.

Unless someone comes along and massively reworks this into a wild, redubbed, Warriors of Zu type wuxia romp, this is likely to remain the definitive version of the film. Highly recommended for anyone with even a passing interest.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
Owner's reply June 23, 2022

Thank you so much for your help along the way! Your assistance and perspective was incredibly valuable!

Comments (1) | Was this review helpful? 1 0

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Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.9(11)
Audio Editing
 
9.9(11)
Visual Editing
 
9.8(11)
Narrative
 
9.7(11)
Enjoyment
 
9.5(11)
View all user reviews View most helpful
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
I never had a problem with the theatrical release of Shang Chi. Sure, there were some small nitpicks, but that could be said of almost any MCU movie, including the best ones. That being said, after watching this edit, it has rearranged a few things and cut some of the annoying 'jokes' and scenes that made the movie a little worse than it otherwise could have been. As other commenters have stated, this has fully replaced the theatrical cut for me. Great work!

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 1 0
(Updated: January 19, 2024)
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
I believe this is how Shang Chi should had been released. Definitely a lot slicker than the theatrical, and I didn't notice any jarring cuts or misses. Good job!

(Something that I personally dug was that the cut was available in the hevc x265 format, which is appreciated as it doesn't account for mammoth sized files and long download times. In my experience, I had a similar experience with Stromboli Bones, and I wish more creators offered the same..)

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 1 0
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
I'm going to come out & say that this edit, thoroughly replaces the original movie for me. Whereas with the original I couldn't get over my negative biases towards the almost Rise of Skywalker specialness placed on Shang-Chi & his family, the opening of this edit focuses more on the trauma Shaun has as a result of being his father's son, which is far more engaging. Nothing feels out of place & I like that Katy remains someone who's satisfied with where her life is right now.

Without saying too much, while I thought it was a little weird how the valet parking job was basically removed, I did love how the first time we see adult Shaun is with Katy at dinner, showing what positive influence she is in his life. That's how much thought went into reordering the movie. Literally, I only have one nitpick about removing Katy trying & failing to confuse the assassins by singing Hotel California, both because it's a setup that isn't paid off until the post-credit scene, & the rule of threes for comedy.

Honestly, that's my only complaint. This edit rescued the movie for me. Don't go looking for spoilers, just watch this edit & see for yourself.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
Owner's reply September 24, 2023

Such a powerful review and high praise, thank you so much!!

Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 1 0
Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
Fantastic edit by Tremault. I liked the original, but definitely felt it needed to be a little more cohesive. BIggest positives from this edit is majorly toning down Katy and Trevor, and a more focused final battle. Katy is a lot more bearable when she isn't in the spotlight every scene now, and I always hated that she made that amazing shot with the arrow at the end after a day of training. I wish she wasn't part of the battle at all. This new finale is much better!

Next best thing was the changes to Wenwu so that he wasn't hearing his wife's voice, and the rearranging of the flashbacks. I can't exactly say why, but I was more invested in his character this time.

Great addition of the deleted scene with the brother and sister. I could go either way with the Wong vs Abomination fight. Personally I would have preferred to keep the car escape sequence, but I understand why it was cut. And I'm glad the postcard plotline got cut.

All in all a great edit with just a few minor nitpicks.
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Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
I definitely preferred it over the original cut and felt really smooth. Deep down under all the bad jokes I knew there was a decent movie. Some of the scene reordering also helped set up characters better.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
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