Synopsis:

A more streamlined and family focused story about Shang-Chi and his power mad father.

Intentions:

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.

Change List:

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".

Additional Notes:

Edited in Davinci Resolve.

Other Sources:

Additional Sound effects from https://quicksounds.com spooky whispers by steven169 @ freesound.org

Special Thanks:

mnkykungfu lifeincontext