If you’ve seen the latest short from Marvel’s latest movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and found it somewhat familiar, you’re not the only one as Jackie Chan fans have been rumbling about the similarities on Twitter, and for good reason.
Over the weekend, the legendary Hong Kong action star and martial artist trended on Twitter after the new clip from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was released on Friday, showing lead Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) fighting bad guys on a bus, in which he makes use of his jacket in the fight.
The use of a jacket is somewhat of a signature fight move used by Chan, where he fumbles with his opponents before taking the advantage, To Western audiences, it was a move famously used by Chan’s Ma Hon Keung in Rumble in the Bronx (1995) where he stops a gang from attempting to rob a supermarket. Later on in the scene, Chan incorporates other objects around him into the fight.
Asian audiences would remember something similar in Police Story 4: First Strike (1996), where Chan does the same with his jacket (Time code 1:10).
Fans assumed that Liu’s jacket move is a homage to Chan, who defined Hong Kong action cinema in a career that began in the late 1970s but there’s more it as Shang-Chi‘s fight coordinator, Andy Cheng (Cheng Kai-Chung), is part of the famed Jackie Chan Stunt Team aka 成家班, a team of stuntmen and martial artists who work with Chan. Cheng has worked with Chan multiple times in the past as a stunt double and assistant stunt choreographer on projects, including Rush Hour, Shanghai Noon, Mr Nice Guy and Who Am I?.
Aside from Cheng, Shang-Chi supervising stunt coordinator and second-unit director Bradley James Allan was also a close friend of Chan. Allan was part of Chan’s stunt team and acted in Gorgeous, Shanghai Noon, The Tuxedo and the second and third Rush Hour films, among many others, with Chan. Alas, Allan passed away recently and Chan grieved in a blogpost on his website.
You can see Allan’s debut in Jackie Chan’s Gorgeous, which coincidentally also stars Hong Kong superstar Tony Leung, who plays Shang-Chi’s father in the Marvel Studios’ film.
And there you have it, on the inspiration that both Cheng and Allan brought to the Marvel Cinematic Universe project, which features Marvel’s first Asian superhero in the lead. Director Destin Daniel Cretton might be Asian American, but he clearly know where and who to tap on for kick-ass kung-fu action.
From the looks of it, Shang-Chi has some pretty badass action scenes inspired by Chan and other martial artists. With famous Hong Kong action star Michelle Yeoh also in the movie, martial arts fans definitely have a lot to look forward to.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings premieres on 2 September 2021.
Don’t judge a book by its cover, for behind all this makeup, is a geek just like you. To simply put it, superheroes, Star Wars, Harry Potter and all things gore and creepy makes this girly girl swoon.
Natalie
Trinity Sun
