As we reported previously, Iron Man 3, which officially opened in China on Wednesday, features four minutes of footage and two Chinese characters not seen anywhere else in the world. Will the presence of Fan Bingbing and Wang Xueqi in the ‘uncut’ version of the film inspire jealousy among Western fans, stuck as they are with only 10 seconds of Wang? Not really.
For instance, one of the first changes in the Chinese cut takes place before Tony Stark even appears on screen. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film opens with:
“What does Iron Man rely on to revitalize his energy?”
After a three-second blackout, three big Chinese characters appeared onscreen: “Gu Li Duo.”
Gu Li Duo is a milk drink. Congratulations Chinese moviegoers, you got to see an advert!
Wang Xueqi’s character (who has no spoken lines in the international cut) is also seen to consume a carton of Gu Li Duo during his small amount of (China-exclusive) screen time.
Hollywood Reporter collected some reactions from the Chinese blogosphere:
Chinese bloggers had a mixed reaction to these Chinese components, which they believe are superfluous to the narrative. Referring to Stark being treated by a Chinese doctor in a mix of surgery and acupuncture, blogger Lilijia’s Xiao A-wan said – perhaps mockingly – that the film “has proved that Chinese medicine is still the best!”
Meanwhile, blogger Beijing Ke’er wrote: “The appearance of Yili [the manufacturers of the Gu Li Duo drink] is really shocking. And I don’t know what that Zoomlion [a brand name which appears in a China-only scene] was – and after an online search I realized it’s a heavy industry enterprise in China … the advertisements are the shining lights of the film!”
Slashfilm provided this spoiler-free summary of all the exclusive scenes that the Chinese actors appear in (after the Guo Li Duo advert):
Later in the film Dr. Wu is talking on the phone in his office and behind him, Iron Man is seen on TV playing with school children.
Towards the end of the film, Dr. Wu is performing a task with Stark and has a conversation with his assistant [Fan Bingbing] about it.
Having not seen the film myself (130 minutes is way too long for me to look at Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr’s smug faces) I turned to Kotaku’s Eric Jou to find out whether the Chinese additions added to or took away from his moviegoing experience.
“This whole production is an insult to the intelligence of the Chinese audience perpetrated by the ridiculous co-production regulations set out by SARFT,” Eric told me by IM.
“The Chinese version is a hot mess of poor planning. The addition of Fan Bingbing and Wang Xueqi does absolutely nothing to advance the flow and plot points of the movie, I mean, seriously who the fuck comes to China for heart surgery?”
Jou points out that the crowbarring of Wang’s character into the film actually creates a continuity error between Iron Man 3 and (prequel of sorts) The Avengers. “The teaser/Easter egg [at the end] ties the movie together, otherwise who the heck is Tony Stark talking to? Iron Man isn’t a meta film, he’s obviously regaling someone with the story! And then they throw in a “flash back” of sorts with the Chinese doctor again, who never spoke to Tony in the film. They need to hire new editors.”
Finally: “Fan Bingbing doesn’t do or add anything to the film”.
I was extremely surprised to see they actually ADDED something to a western movie, and not cut things out. Either way they always end up fucking with the movie and making it worse.
“This whole production is an insult to the intelligence of the Chinese
audience perpetrated by the ridiculous co-production regulations set out
by SARFT,”
Uh, What intelligence?
Iron Man is such a stupid movie that is built to be suitable for all ages to maximize revenue, so there really isn't much need to cut.
On the other hand, there is Looper, which also had additional scenes for the China market, but needed to have some things cut as well, turning it into a steaming sack of feces.
Many in (the mostly Chinese) audience I saw Iron Man 3 with openly scoffed at the superficiality of the Chinese actors and scenes. No real spoiler: You also get to see the view of Lujiazui from a Bund venue. Wow. I guess for Chinese audiences not from Shanghai, that's kind of like seeing the New York skyline for Americans. Either way, it's a cliche.
I don't know if anybody from DMG is reading this, but you are all partly responsible for the dearth of plot and motivation. And don't bother blaming SARFT, Eric Jou. bprichard mentions Looper, another DMG co-production, clearly this is a pattern for the company.
On the other hand, it would seem Iron Man 3, unlike Looper, is going to be a huge commercial success, based on opening weekend box office, so congrats on having the foresight to latch onto a franchise this time.
Maybe since it's not a particularly smart movie to begin with, but I actually welcomed laughing at the blatant advertising and extraneous scenes with the rest of the Chinese audience. In fact, most people had already heard about this ridiculousness before heading to the theater and, near the end, you could hear people (mockingly) whispering “When's Fan Bingbing going to make her debut… OH THERE SHE IS.”
Only slightly related, but why do I feel like so many Westerners are surprised that Chinese people can be just as jaded and sarcastic about this stuff as they are?
I saw it last night. The ads at the start were weird but before the movie so It didn't matter. The milk product placement was bad yeah, but the movie was filled with obvious product placement. The tacked on short scenes were pointless and the locals near me were embarrassed or bemused by them, true. The real kicker though … was that after Fan Bing Bing had about a minute of tacked on screen time she got one of the huge turn-then-ACTION freeze frame full screen credits in the Marvel style end sequence. My face was burning with embarrassment at that point. It was all just weird. Why not just get one of the many capable Chinese actors and cast them in a proper role and dispense with all the other shit. It's down to the fact that the ppl calling the shots on the Chinese side are gov idiots and not creative movie ppl.
Elaine, please come back and write for Shanghaiist again.
I think it's great that they add things to sell to a Chinese market. The western movies companies should be sucking as much money from the Chinese as they can. We all know the Chinese have yet to actually produce a movie that can compete with the western movie makers on a global spectrum and even have to cheat just to “sell” tickets for on of their national epic (the historical docudrama I refer to was aired last year and promptly forgotten after movie theaters sold shows to it and then let you see whatever you wanted). Suck the money out of China, the more the better.