[7.3/10] They’re probably never going to make an entirely quiet, introspective, down-to-earth movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We might be able to get that sort of thing on television with WandaVision or Loki when a cooldown episode is acceptable before the big giant fight scene. But that’s not what people come to superhero movies for. So every MCU film needs to end with the computer-generated fireworks du jour, lest moviegoers feel like they haven’t gotten their money’s worth.
It’s a shame because I mostly liked Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings! And then it’s overstuffed, overblown, uninvolving final act hit and stomped the whole movie down a notch. It’s not exactly a quiet film up until that point, but it’s one rooted in character, humor, and action sequences that punctuate those elements rather than crowd them out.
Shang-Chi is, like the MCU that preceded it, something of a family film, in the sense that it’s as much about its title character resolving issues with his father, reconciling with his sister, and the lot of them processing their complicated feelings over his mother’s death. There’s meat and meaning there, and the way the film is structured, including the ways it spackles those serious reveals about Shang-Chi’s family life with quality humor, means it never feels too heavy.
Seriously, the comedy stylings of Awkwafina and Ben Kingsley are worth the price of admission alone. The latter returns as Trevor Slattery, the actor/terrorist impersonator who is just as amusing as he was in Iron Man 2 and has more of a canvas to paint on this time around. His inclusion is a treat and in-joke, and the Oscar-winner is incredibly game.
Likewise, Awkwafina plays Katy, Shang-Chi’s best friend, and the character who’s able to take the stuffing out of all the deadly-serious lore-dropping and mortal threats in an entertaining way. And, like a lot of Marvel films, The Legend of the Ten Rings often works best as a buddy comedy, and her dynamic with the title character makes both endearing and lightens our protagonist up in ways that improve him as a leading player in this sandbox.
That’s probably my biggest complaint before the final act -- Shang-Chi himself is a bit bland as a character. He’s not bad, and Simu Liu does fine in the role. But he’s the least interesting major player in his own movie. Katy is a lot more fun and her arc, while oversimplified, has a clarity his lacks. Shang Chi’s sister, Xialing, has a more compelling angle as the overlooked daughter who built her own empire despite loss, neglect, and abandonment. His father, Wenwu, has the most engrossing backstory in the film, a conqueror who committed terrible deeds but found peace through true love, only to devolve into darkness and obsession when that love was lost. Shang-Chi is solid enough, but picking any of these characters as an alternate protagonist would have been an improvement for the story.
And while each of them basically exists to advance Shang-Chi’s personal arc, each has a journey both clearer and more compelling than his too. The main theme of Shang-Chi’s personal growth and eventual path here are muddled as all hell. The ideas they dance around are easy enough to identify. It seems like the film is trying to tell a story of identity, with Shang-Chi accepting and reconciling the different parts of his family history and personal experiences to crystalize the person he is today. It works well for a story that is both Chinese and Chinese-American, as he ultimately accepts the different parts of his past he’s been “running from” and finds his strength in the resolution.
That dovetails nicely with the structure of the film. Make no mistake, there is a lot of backstory and lore and world-building that The Legend of the Ten Rings concerns itself with. And yet, rather than just giving us one big infodump or one all-consuming flashback, the movie parcels out these details as we go. It helps gradually put the pieces of Shang-Chi himself, and the corner of the world he escaped from and returns to, into a context in an organic, well-paced way. The structural choices are the film’s hidden strength and part of what helps the medicine go down.
But by the time the third act rolls around, the film has trouble tying it all together, especially for Shang-Chi on the usual “punch stuff and have a personal breakthrough” path that most Marvel heroes go through. The self-identity material gets jumbled up with various notions of not succumbing to fear, on top of amorphous ideas about recovering from trauma. Each of these are worthy lines to follow, but The Legend of the Ten Rings tries to chase them all at once. And it leaves the overall point of Shang-Chi’s personal journey, and the steps he takes toward self-actualization, unclear and unsatisfying.
But much of that is just the way the time and space it would take to truly explore those notions is handed over to the latest CGI maelstrom. The film’s climax is another overextended mess, with three “boss fights” for lack of a better turn which lack enough of a rhythm or meaning or sense of progression to hold the audience’s attention. The overreliance of unconvincing computer generated settings and creatures makes the finale feel downright Star Wars prequel-esque. Visually, the big final battle is a bowl of mush splattered over an early 2010s phone background, with dragon-riding scenes and energy bolt battles looking conspicuously green-screened in a way that takes you out of the film.
It’s a shame, because there’s some above average fights in The Legend of the Ten Rings. When the movie feels more contained: a claustrophobic scuffle on a bus, an emotion-laden skirmish between siblings, and dance-like confrontation between soon-to-be lovers, the film’s martial arts quotient sings. The team that put together this film is more than capable of delivering that level of pugilistic excitement, even if the camera movements get a little overactive at times, detracting from the thrilling hand-to-hand combat that deserves the time and space to be savored.
The same goes for the character work and humor. Shang-Chi and Katy’s relationship feels lived in and fun. The struggles of a family to deal with loss, expectation, and old demons returning home is compelling. The moments when Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a human story -- hell, even the moments when it’s a martial arts movie -- are suffused with the laughs and bonds and sense of the personal amid the extraordinary that put Marvel on top.
But even the inimitable Michelle Yeoh can’t save the loud, ugly, overlong thud that the movie ends with. The third act fireworks will probably always be a fact of life when it comes to tentpole MCU films like this one. But rarely do they so undermine all the good work the movie’s done to that point, in an explosion of character-muddling, eyeball-staunching, story-stomping disappointment.
I don't get nearly as excited about the MCU as I used to (mostly because they're churning out movies and TV shows at a rate that I just can't keep up with), but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Definitely worth watching.
Some loose thoughts/things I enjoyed below (spoilers are marked):
- the story is good, the 2nd act is kind of slow, but it picks up towards the end
- the fight scenes are super cool and creative (especially the one on the bus and the one on the scaffolding)
- I liked the way they utilized the rings in fights, it felt really fresh and like something we haven't seen before
- the final battle is actually awesome (monkey brain loves big monsters and explosions)
- the cast is excellent (I'm particularly thrilled to see Awkwafina getting more recognition)
- the soundtrack is beautiful and I love the way they used traditional Chinese melodies
- badass women all around (Michelle Yeoh my beloved)
- impeccable CGI
- some gorgeous scenery
- MORRIS
- loved the callback to the Mandarin mess from Iron Man 3
- Brie Larson cameo (I know the fandom has collectively decided to hate her, but I don't care, that was a treat for me and me only)
- Xialing effectively utilizing girl power by taking over her father's crime empire (I feel like there was definitely some comic book reference flying over my head there but who cares). My friend and I joked that she'll be getting a Disney+ series shortly
Overall, it was a treat. Strongly recommend.
Well, half of it is wanking the the Chinese market and the other half is wanking to BMW's sponsorship. All glued together with useless fights and stupid plots. At least the fights are well choreographed and not cut-to-death like the other Marvel movies. Unfortunately for the price of bad CGI, so bad at most times. And a lot of slow motion, did Snyder make this? And there are guys in the background fighting nothing because the CGI creature wasn't put it. A desaster.
The plot is terrible and full of plot holes.
In the beginning, why did the father actually try to kill the siblings for the pendants? Couldn't he simply ask them?
Razor fist, where is his light-saber-wannabe stored when not active? It's longer than the whole arm.
Why is Katy always there? She just screams: nothing worth here, I'm just here for the exposition dump and as comic relief. As soon as we see here looking at the bow, it was obvious that she'll save the protagonists from the evil of the day, note, after 1 or 2 training shots just a few hours before.
Nothing in this movie is original or new. Everything is exactly by the book which makes the movie bland, boring, and uninteresting. Lot of fight scenes without any consequences, lot of fan service (Wong, Abomination, "Mandarin", mentioning the Snap) and so much talking nonsense.
Okay, so the people in the hidden village protected by a magic forest protect a magic gate and it seems like a paradise. But then they kill the mother in front of her children because she married an "unworthy" man? How does that make sense?
I can't see any other movie about father or mother issues and origin stories, I don't care anymore.
I have to say that this was a surprisingly good movie. I say surprisingly because Marvel (or DC for that matter) have not exactly excelled in making even decent movies for quite some time. That the woke “critics” on Rotten Tomatoes gave it high ratings was a bit of a red flag as well but not only was the movie rather free from woke ramblings and preaching but it was a very fun and entertaining movie to watch.
The movie starts off in a somewhat bizarre way with Shang-Chi and his girlfriend swiping a car from a valet parking and going for a joy ride. It turns out that they are telling their story to a couple of friends and that is pretty much how this movie is told.
It begins more or less right away with some nice action and it continues that away with plenty of action sequences intermixed with story telling. The action and martial arts is really good in my opinion. They are in stark contrast to the mediocre rubbish we were treated to in Snake Eyes. The latter which was quite a disappointment.
This movie relies heavily on fantasy elements with tie ins to Doctor Strange, especially towards the end. Another movie that I liked a lot by the way. Thus there are of course plenty of special effects and CGI. Most of them good or very good. I really liked the beautiful world of Ta Lo. The combat scenes, especially when the rings are in action are both cool and beautiful.
There are quite a lot of comical relief in the movie as well and, for once, it is not to silly, outrageous or plain stupid. It contributes well to the enjoyment factor of the movie. The washed out actor is a bit on the limit but otherwise it works well with the rest of the movie. That guy on the bus starting to film and make commentaries was quite hilarious for instance.
The story? Well it is a Marvel special effects movie so one should not expect too much but the story is not bad. It mostly holds together and works well enough to tie all the action together. The acting is pretty much the same thing. One should not expect too much but it is good enough. It was nice to see Michelle Yeoh as Ying Nan though. She was one of the few cool characters in Discovery and she does know how to act.
Overall I very much enjoyed this movie. It is a simple super hero and fantasy adventure story with lots of action and special effects and with the single purpose of entertaining the audience that doesn’t fall in the trap of trying to “educate” said audience.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is the latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and is an origin story for the titular character. The film boasts visually stunning settings and action sequences, as well as an effective score by Joel P. West. The cast, led by Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, is strong and delivers great performances, with Awkwafina as Katy and Tony Leung as Wenwu standing out. The story is unique in comparison to other Marvel films and explores Asian culture and representation in a meaningful way. However, the film does suffer from a slight lull in the second act and a slightly overblown finale. Additionally, while the humor is well-placed and not always at the expense of drama, the references to the larger MCU are subtle. Overall, Shang-Chi surpasses expectations and is a welcome addition to the MCU, providing a positive Asian superhero role model for viewers to relate to.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings es la última incorporación al Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) y es una historia de origen para el personaje principal. La película cuenta con escenarios y secuencias de acción visualmente deslumbrantes, así como con una banda sonora efectiva de Joel P. West. El elenco, encabezado por Simu Liu como Shang-Chi, es fuerte y ofrece grandes actuaciones, destacando Awkwafina como Katy y Tony Leung como Wenwu. La historia es única en comparación con otras películas de Marvel y explora la cultura y la representación asiática de manera significativa. Sin embargo, la película sufre una ligera pausa en el segundo acto y un final un poco exagerado. Además, si bien el humor está bien ubicado y no siempre a expensas del drama, las referencias al MCU más grande son sutiles. En general, Shang-Chi supera las expectativas y es una adición bienvenida a la MCU, que proporciona un modelo a seguir de superhéroe asiático positivo para que los espectadores se identifiquen.
Marvel gets mystical in this mashup of the plucky, familiar MCU character and the more stoic, legend-heavy air of wuxia films. It's a fresh mix, effectively breaking the gravity of its more serious moments with a well-timed jape while lending credence and lore to a lesser-known corner of the comic kingdom, but these crossover moments sometimes test their limits. I could see more grounded viewers being turned off by the dragons and soul-sucking demons (far cry from the feasible reality of the first Iron Man, that) while serious fans of Chinese fantasy are bucked by the constant injection of loose wit and slappy one-liners.
When it's rolling, Shang Chi does manage to toe that line and deliver something appropriately new and versatile, a good reflection of both worlds. It benefits from a tight pair of central performances (Simu Liu and Awkwafina as a team of underachieving twenty-somethings) and several big, powerful action sets (the articulated bus fight might be one of the best combat scenes Marvel's ever put out) while tying in a dangling thread or two from earlier films to provide a sense of greater connection. On several occasions, however, it's guilty of being too self-indulgent and losing the narrative. It's great to see Ben Kingsley again, adding nuance to his part in Iron Man 3, but his scenes are the main offender here; excessive and distracting and way too cute.
The action is strong, the dialogue (mostly) works, the scenery looks great, but in the big picture, Shang Chi feels small-scale and disposable. Non-completionists won't miss anything crucial if they choose to skip it.
3 Thoughts After Watching ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’:
Starting with the good: I thought this was one of the most visually beautiful Marvel films. Just so much fun to look at. It makes me wanna travel to China. The martial art scenes were top notch. And I obviously loved the characters. We cared about them. And I think Simu Liu is a fantastic leading man.
One of my biggest criticisms through much of the film was that the rings were not explained, even a little. What were they exactly? Where did they come from? And what the heck do they actually do? Obviously I felt better about this after watching the post-credit scene.
But I think the lack of explanation for the rings, at least what the power was, did a disservice to the story. For example, I found the finale to be a little anticlimactic. What exactly did Shang-Chi do to kill the big bad soul-sucker? I saw a lot of magic going on, and some spinning, lots of water and light… but I hate when magic happens for magic sake, if that makes sense. I wanna know what I’m seeing. Not just, “Woohoo! He killed the bad guy!” I wanna know what our hero was harnessing. What he went through. In the end, he just got the job done because of the rings. I was hoping for a little more.
Bonus Thought: The dude with the one arm can get it. :pound_symbol:sorrynotsorry
After being burned multiple times by Phase 4 so far (it's been mediocre for the most part), I just wanted this movie to impress me in some way.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a breath of fresh air. It goes deep into a father-son relationship at its core, and explores what family heritage and legacy can do to someone. These strong themes ground this movie unlike any other MCU film since Iron Man, I'd say.
As someone who's tired of quippy jokes undercutting serious moments, I really liked the writing. It's not afraid to stop the action for meaningful character moments, and there are way fewer jokes than the typical MCU movie these days. It feels like the early days of the MCU; because there were fewer jokes, more of them landed well, and I'd say that about 90% of the jokes in this movie did just that. Plus, the actors just blended into their roles so well, which immersed me more than anything else.
And that isn't even mentioning the best part: the action. The choreography is so insanely good; you get a good sense of who has the upper hand at any given moment in the fight, especially during the martial arts fights. Each of said fights is like a mini story unto itself, and they're all so fun to watch. Even when things get super CGI-heavy near the end, it keeps that cool factor going.
Shang-Chi is way better than I thought it was going to be, and it's good writing like this that gives me hope that Marvel doesn't have to turn everything into a joke to make a good movie.
Honestly, on all levels this movie excels! The casting is perfect. The world building is creative, beautiful and faithful to its Asian roots. The CGI and location shoots are breathtaking. The fighting is the best I’ve ever seen and even the training ground sequences have an exquisite grace. The action was balanced by heart. I was concerned Awkwafina would take the humour to campy lows but she truly showed she has some serious dramatic chops. She was not the comic relief! They gave that honour to the Shakespearean stage giant, Ben Kingsley, Our own, homegrown :flag_ca: Simu Liu was perfect for the part and his performance was world class. I could go on raving but I’ll conclude my feedback by saying that this is in every way as powerful a MCU solo representation of Asian culture as BLACK PANTHER was for African culture. I gathered some feedback as I left the theatre, and got ratings of 7.5 (felt it needed more MCU content), 8 (saw many of the things I have just commented on). I’ve read the criticism that the storytelling was choppy, but I didn’t find it so. For me it was more like chapters in a book, completely working together to create a world of content and design. Upon leaving the cinema, I was going to give the movie a 9 (superb) out of 10, but after reflecting on it, I don’t know what they could have done to make it better, so, I give this film a 10 (perfect) out of 10. [Superhero Action Adventure]
Well, I would have had more fun, I think, if I was aged between 6 and 25 years. Waaaay too many corny jokes & stupid, added plot lines just to progress the story along - yawn. The "tell it to me like I'm 5 years old" type of story telling - this happens for the first 20 minutes or so. Then you have to add in the scenes that make your eyes roll and the bad jokes that make you want to cringe at times, hard! All forced comedy.
Light at the end of the tunnel...maybe, but nope. When it gets a little bit better going, it's enjoyable, I settled in for some fun Marvel action but soon after, here comes the kid gloves, the really annoying Asian sidekick/girlfriend Aquafina something and oh, wait, not a single sign of blood or broken body parts nor any convincing deaths shown given the type of power being dealt out. At times it felt like a Disney action movie for pre-schoolers I'd say.
It has its pluses with the Excellent karate and stunts, CGI too.
But man, this was not made for anyone to really enjoy a fine, 'take me away into fantasy', not if you are over 30+ years imo. Or only if you are perhaps a huge comic nerd and man-baby.
Fair rating from me, but I'd Not watch again unless I'm about 75 years old and infantile again.
I went in with kind of low expectations, but still hopeful after seeing a lot of positive reviews. However, I surprisingly really enjoyed this movie! I thought it was going to be a cheesy movie that touched on cheesy Chinese/Asian-American subjects, and in some ways it did, but it did not feel super cringey to me at all. I felt like it had everything -- family drama, great action/fighting scenes, cool CGI, training montage, martial arts, Chinese, a smattering of familiar Marvel characters, car chase, and humor. I also really liked how much Chinese language was integrated into the movie in a natural way, unlike the Mulan live action movie, which felt so weird to have all the characters to be speaking English the entire time. One issue I had is that some of the themes felt unresolved by the end of the movie (I would have liked to see what happened with the father, instead of them just leaving him dead on the side of cliff lol). I also felt like Simu Liu had like, an NPC expression for most of the movie lmfao I could NOT tell what kind of feelings he was trying to convey in his face. However, I felt like the supporting cast (especially Tony Leung) totally killed it. Someone I know pointed out that the movie was written and directed by two people who are Wasian (white on their fathers' sides), which is a bit questionable because this movie is about Asian father/son relationships so that is also a bit questionable lol. Also, the director said in an interview that he only called on his own Asian-American experiences because those felt more authentic to him and didn't consider other Asian-American perspectives which is.. pretty bad imo lollll. Regardless, I still really enjoyed the movie (honestly probably one of my top Marvel movies as of right now) but I'm glad that I'm aware of these other aspects of the movie's production.
THIS MOVIE WAS THE GIFT THAT KEPT ON GIVING. WOW...HOLLYy...WOW,WOW
THIS MOVIE IS SUPER FRICKING AWESOME AMAZING FANTASTIC AND THEN SOME.
AND A HELLA LOT OF FUN
I THOUGHT ETERNALS WAS A
SIGHT TO BEHOLD AS VISUALLY STUNNING
AS IT IS BUT THIS WAS SOMETHING ELSE
ENTIRELY.
UNLIKE THE ETERNALS WHICH TOOK
ME A WHILE TO WARM TO THEM
AND THEIR GOING-ON'S
I WAS IMMEDIATELY INVESTED WITH SHANG-CHI. THE STORY WAS FANTASTIC AND NOT OVERLY COMPLICATED, THE CHARACTERS ALL PLAYED THEIR PARTS VERY WELL, LOVED THE CAMEOS AND THE ACTION AND THOSE FIGHT SCENES WERE OUT OF THIS WORLD, CRAZY, INSANE CHOREOGRAPHY LIKE THE BEST IN THE MCU TO DATE, MADE CAP AND WINTER SOLDIER ONE'S LOOK LIKE THEY WERE SLEEPING ON THE JOB WITH THERE HAND TO HAND STUFF AND I LOVED THEIR'S, BUT THIS
HAND TO HAND STUFF IN SHANG-CHI WAS ON ANOTHER LEVEL COMPLETELY
LIKE EPIC LEVEL, JUST LIKE THE MOVIE
ITSELF WAS.
THE RAID 1,2 WHICH ARE TOTALLY AWESOME
AND EPIC ARE THE ABSOLUTE BEST MARTIAL ARTS MOVIES I HAVE EVER HAD THE HONOUR TO SEE PERIOD. SHANG-CHI IS ON THAT
KINDA LEVEL-
JAW DROPPING, EYE POPPING
MIND BLOWING
MARTIAL ARTS LEVEL. WHICH IS CRAZY INSANE FOR
THE 25th ENTRY INTO THE MCU.
SHANG-CHI HAD EVERYTHING AND I MEAN EVERYTHING AND THEM 10 RINGS AND THEIR POWER LEVELS ARE INSANE LIKE CRAZY INSANE AND I FRICKIN LOVE THEM, THOR WOULD BE PROUD FOR THE POWER LEVELS THEY OPERATE AT. THEY OPERATE ON A HOLE OTHER LEVEL
AND THEY ARE SO
BLOODY INTERESTING,
I WAS IN AWE JUST WATCHING THEM AT WORK.
AND THAT AT THE END WITH THEM 10 AND
WHAT HE DID WITH THEM TOTALLY BLOW
MY FRICKIN MIND in a awesome way.
I was like did I really just see how you can use them like that, Holy....shit that's cool....COOL.
I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE SHANG-CHI FIGHT AS AN AVENGER WE NEED A BIG HEAVY GUN LIKE HIM FOR THE COMING NIGHTMARES, YES PEOPLE HAVE KNOCKED HIM BECAUSE HE DOES NOT HAVE THE CHARISMATIC CHARISMA OF ANTHONY,CAP,SCOTT, THOR,SAM,PETER AND MANY MANY OTHER'S IN THE MCU BUT THAT'S BECAUSE MOSTLY HE'S JUST CHILLED AND AT PEACE
HE'S NOT GOT A 1000 n 1 PROBLEMS GOING OFF
THE GUY IS AS CALM AS A COMA MOSTLY, BUT THAT'S NOT TO SAY I HOPE HE SHOWS US OTHER SIDES IN FUTURE MCU OUTINGS NOW HE HAS BROKEN THE ICE WITH US.
FINALLY I THOUGHT NOTHING COULD BE MORE VISUALLY STUNNING THAN ETERNALS
WITH ALL IT'S GLOBE TROTTING
BUT
SHANG-CHI IS TRULY A SPECTACLE & MORE,
IT'S PULLING VISUALS OFF I'VE NEVER SEEN DONE IN ANY OTHER MOVIE BEFORE,
INSIDE ARE OUTSIDE THE MCU.
JUST LIKE ETERNALS SHANG-CHI IS A VERY WELCOME ADDITION TO THE MCU & I ABSOLUTELY CAN NOT WAIT TO SEE LOTS MORE OF BOTH THROUGH OUT THE MCU,
will they ever meet....
Even team up along with
Dr Strange...wow now their's a thought.
WELL FOR NOW I'LL BE MORE THAN
HAPPY TO SEE
"SHANG-CHI 2
AND THE WRECKAGE OF TIME"
IN 2025 "CONFIRMED".
Just like his 10 rings
I GIVE SHANG-CHI
10/10
I Need to see more of these 10 ring's kicking ass because they are a force to be reckon with,
Like Thor's Stormbreaker power level, which is crazy. wow...wow. yes please
I'll have some more of that.
Oh Them Ten Ring's are definitely sending a signal for the Eternals to pick up and
Ms Marvels bangle
and god knows what else.
Here we go, Here....we.....go.
That was entertaining enough. It changes a bit from the regular Marvel stuff, probably more if you've never been exposed to Chinese style. However the pacing is pretty bad, most of it is too slow / too long.
Best part is definitely the martial arts fights that are top level. The fights with the rings are somewhat ok. SFX for the final fight are a bit below what would have been needed.
The story itself is a bit lacking as well as the family drama that definitely feels as it could have been handled better.
Shang-Chi himself is interesting as a character, though the way he's becoming basically the only useful fighter of the end fight is a bit out of nowhere, he'll be less interesting as a hero.
The Kate character is almost OK as comic relief but basically useless otherwise. Why would Wong ask her to come at the end ?? That's just endangering civilians. And even as comic relief, she is totally eclipsed by Ben Kingsley's destitute Mandarin (and Morris) that is just stellar. The best idea of the movie that also serves as slightly anchoring this in the MCU.
It's called "legend of the 10 rings" but we literally know and learn nothing about the rings. Assuming they will play a role later, Sones of Power style ?
Im confuse wasn’t his father an asshole conquer? Are we suppose to just forget about that?
Great fight scene in the bus
Ok thats answers my question about the dad being an asshole.
The Bamboo breaking was bullshit.
Also pretty stupid that he can beat his teacher after not training for 6 years. Hate when movies do that bullshit.
His father is a psychopath, he’s just pretending like everything is hunky-dory
So an evil man with powers comes to your village where you are suppose to protect and keep people from and you fall for that man?
Don’t believe a damn thing that man says. They just sucking up his lies lol dummies
Why take the car in couldn’t they just walk in like the father did?
“WELCOME TO JURASSIC PARK” lol
Am i suppose to feel bad for the psycho? Like he hasn’t killed 1000’s of families lol. Text book hypocrite. This is how wars continue, someone somewhere does something someone else thinks they deserve revenge but the one that started it is always the most righteous
All and all. This is by far the best Marvel movie since the first Iron Man :clap_tone3: everything was so well done.
After rewatching I even deleted my old comment. the movie is really very good, of course, it makes the same usual script mistakes from marvel, but otherwise it manages to be extremely fun. something that bothers me about the script is that it is so rushed, one hour we are learning about Wenwu's life, soon after Shang's situation is shown and suddenly he is attacked??? it's anticlimactic, the fight itself is well choreographed but the direction and visual special effects not so much. seriously, I don't know what happened with the direction and photography, at times it seems like I'm watching an American commercial (as a Brazilian I say that our commercials are a thousand times better than those from the USA), the camera movements are generic but at the same time the photography has this plastic blockbuster vibe where everything looks kind of fake. my favorite scene is Shang going to Katy's house listening to music, I don't know but it gives me a real/philosophical/cult movie vibe but in a way that's made to sell. well, the CGI is horrible in some parts (cars and landscape) and beautiful in others (CHINESE DRAGONS!!!). But at the same time it's all kind of colorless, damn it's two dragons, one good and one evil and the villain has more color than the good guy??? another thing that bothers me about the script is a lack of a villain, Wenwu doesn't frighten me and he's kind of right, not every villain is evil, but the movie tries to show that he is and fails at that (a little more violence would be nice here, but they chose to be violent in DS: MoM lol), so the first time I saw it I was like "wait, now he wants to KILL his father???". The final battle is also kind of emotionless and here it's a mix of everything wrong, the music, the direction, the editing and even the acting, no one seems really scared of a fucking soul-eating demon. the humor is very good on the other hand, Awkwafina is amazing, the return of Trevor as well as being funny, it's also a portrayal of perhaps the worst choice Marvel has ever made (after MoM) and Wong is… well, Wong (i love this guy). At the end of the day, it's one of the best Marvel Phase 4 movies and one of the best origin movies too, but kind of forgettable.
78 I Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings fulfilled the expectation almost at an optimal level. This film brings Marvel Cinematic Universe into a different area of film. We can see that in the action elements that this film has. It is different than average MCU films and better. There are not many Hollywood films that have great choreography. Shang-Chi's fighting choreography is at the same level as John Wick's.
But Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings did not take the inspiration from John Wick. Its action has more similarities with some Asian films such as Hero and The Grandmaster. Tony Leung who played The Mandarin also played the main character in The Grandmaster. Destin Daniel Cretton, the director did his homework perfectly to bring that Asian martial art into Hollywood
Every time the characters fight, they are like dancing with their enemies. Every punch, kick and dodge is very amusing to watch. All of those are supported by smooth camera movement that is much prepared by the people behind this film. The camera movement of this film is better than the other elements of cinematography in this film.
Shang-Chi has a beautiful visual but sometimes it felt too unreal. The visual effect is mostly good but at some point, it looks terrible. This film all out when making a scene about the Monsters. Never in mind, that there would be a Godzilla versus Kong scene in this film, well at least in its version. All of that magical creatures and monsters are interesting elements to add to Marvel Cinematic Universe. It could be a very big potential to enhance the story in MCU films.
The action element is the winner in this film, but we should also mention some funny moments that this film has. At first, it seem Awkwafina's character would be the funniest person in the room but instead, it was Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery. His appearance is so entertaining but also not overpowering the main character. Talk about the main character, Shang-Chi himself not getting much exposure in his film. But it is probably a good thing because the main focus of this film is how he got the ten rings' power. To make his father, The Mandarin has more exploration is a smart decision to introduce the audience to the power. But unfortunately, it was not fully successful.
The Mandarin is the worst written character in this film. He probably has a cool power but his motivation, goals, and behavior are badly written. Almost all of the action stuff at the beginning of the film are unnecessary to happen, he could simply ask and explained his children. His rushed and unwise decision made him a shallow character. It was such ashamed with that kind of character played by a legendary actor. The Mandarin live a thousand years but he is still unmatured and irrational. It was very unfortunate. But thankfully all of that bad writing was saved by the great action scenes.
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Rating: 77.25
Plot
P1: 1.2
P2: 2.0
P3: 1.6
P4: 1.4
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Favorite Characters
1.5: Trevor Slattery
1.4: Shaun / Shang-Chi
1.3: Xu Xialing
1.1: Katy Chen
0.9: Ying Nan
0.7: Xu Wenwu / The Mandarin
Character Score Meaning
0.0 - 0.1 - 0.2 - 0.3 - 0.4 : Terrible
0.5 - 0.6 - 0.7 - 0.8 : Bad
0.9 - 1.0 - 1.1 - 1.2 : Average
1.3 - 1.4 - 1.5 - 1.6 : Good
1.7 - 1.8 - 1.9 - 2.0 : Great
Review by JordyVIP 8BlockedParent2021-09-03T11:53:57Z
Pros:
- Whoever worked on the second unit of this film, give them a medal. Lots of beautiful choreography, wide shots and sweeping camera movement. Great stuff, it has the best action choreography of any Marvel film. Massive props to the editing team as well.
- The casting is great. Simu Liu ticks all the boxes for a Marvel hero, Tony Leung is an amazing actor and he shows it here, Awkwafina does the best with what she’s given, Michelle Yeoh is great.
- The characters are of course very well drawn, as expected from Marvel. That includes the villain, even if his motivation is a little generic. I’ll say that they could’ve given some more development to Xialing, though.
In between:
- The music. I liked the score quite a bit, it felt very authentic to something you’d hear in a traditional Chinese kung fu film. But then they also got some of the worst contemporary artists to add actual music numbers, like Rick Ross and Swae Lee. Was Kendrick too busy this time around? It’s kind of a nitpick, but it ruined some of the credit that I was willing to give the score in this. I’ll give them props for putting the very underrated Anderson .Paak over the credits, though.
Cons:
- For such a basic story, it is really overstuffed with exposition. The worldbuilding is done though a lot of talking, and no showing.
- One of their ugliest films in terms of colour grading. It’ll pop occasionally, but it’s overall really drab and grey. It does no justice to Bill Pope’s cinematography.
- The comedy. Not everything misses, but these films used to have a lot more clever and subversive comedy in them. That’s slowly starting to phase out in favour of basic comedy writing. It’s also placed in awkward moments where it messes with the tone. Ben Kingsley is very annoying in this in particular.
- For as good as the choreography is, some of the action is still very overblown and fake looking. There’s a scene in the trailers that involves a bus, which you’ve probably seen and thought: that looks wonky and fake. Well, the final set in this piece is even worse, and I can almost guarantee that it’ll give you flashbacks to Black Panther’s final act. It kinda throws everything at the wall and sees what sticks.
- In terms of pacing, it makes the exact same mistake as Captain Marvel and Black Widow. The first act is fast paced and filled with 2-3 set pieces. Then, during the second act, it hits a lull. We get to one location, and the film is filled with nothing but dialogue. This problem could easily be fixed if the action was just more spread out.
Yeah, another disappointment if you’d ask me, in a string of disappointments coming from Marvel Studios.
It’s a shame, this could’ve been great. Keep the actors, characters, central conflict and the grounded action scenes, but remove all of Marvel’s shitty production choices in regards to music, colour grading, overblown action, incel comedy, pacing and meaningless references, and this would’ve easily been an 8.
There’s more than enough good and fun stuff in here, but it gets bogged down by the machine.
5/10