Linear like all the Bruce Lee films! None of this fragmented stuff like Captain Marvel.
The only kinds of flashbacks I want to see are those similar to Enter the Dragon where it showed someone fighting or being beaten by an opponent. Otherwise I want it to progress linearly.
But we don't necessarily need to see a whole origin story. They can have a flashback to show some of Shang Chi's training, but I don't want a whole film wasting time on him having to learn and then become the Shang Chi we all know. I don't want him to be only able to fight or get a costume in the last 15 minutes of the film.
In Enter the Dragon, Bruce Lee was already fully capable of fighting and it dropped us in there. He was sent on a James Bond-type mission and we got to see him do all his stuff. Lots of martial arts films also don't go through all the process of the person learning.
The only thing they can show about Shang Chi learning is maybe he gets beaten by another enemy earlier in the film and then has to retrain and learn a new style, similar to Drunken Master or other classic Kung Fu films. Otherwise he should already know how to fight.
This film can't just be a good Marvel film. It has to also be a good martial arts film in its own right even if it weren't a Marvel film.
