Shang-Chi (2021)
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Shang-Chi Movie Review
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a 2021 superhero film directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Simu Liu, Awkwafina and Tony Leung. It’s one of Marvel’s best movies.
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“I told my henchmen they couldn’t
kill you if they tried. I’m glad I was right“
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Martial arts master Shang-Chi confronts the past he thought he left behind when he’s drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization. I’d expected this movie to be good and it turned out to be great. It’s everything that I love the most in the action genre, which is martial arts Asian-inspired action, plus it also has more than a sprinkle of comedy and fantasy elements thrown in for good measure. The result is a truly entertaining, wonderful movie that can appeal to various demographics effortlessly.
Probably the aspect that pleasantly surprised me the most is the small-scale storytelling that wonderfully contrasted the now boring end of the world or galaxy narrative most other superhero and especially MCU movies resort to. This movie is epic and big in the third act, but there is real emotion going beneath all of its impressively staged set pieces, and that affecting core I found to be important and beautiful.
That core is the father-son dynamic. Tony Leung plays the protagonist’s father and he is so set on his goal to bring his dead wife back to life that he will stop at nothing to achieve that unattainable goal. There is a real sense of tragedy and desperation lurking beneath his otherwise truly menacing, cold presence. Leung masterfully played both of these sides to this character, and simply the fact that Marvel managed to get one of the biggest acting names in Chinese history is commendable.
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So the villain being a father and not really being a true villain was a terrific choice that led to such a fantastic family drama at the film’s heart. How he met his wife and the entire backstory of theirs worked out splendidly. I would say that the central character’s flashbacks were very standard and even dull in comparison, but everything surrounding Wenwu was fabulous.
Which brings me to my next point – Shang-Chi himself is quite boring. This is the case with most blockbuster movies, but here especially the supporting characters as well as actors entirely steal the show from the main guy. Yes, Simu Liu is good-looking and his acting skills are serviceable, but nowhere near the quality of other talent in this film, and the flashbacks and development for him were simply not up to par with the supporting players. His fight scenes are amazing, though, and the physicality on display here is great.
I loved what they did with the whole Mandarin subplot. Ben Kingsley is very funny here, and although I didn’t mind this plot twist in ‘Iron Man 3’ as most others did, it was still a clever choice to apologize for the mistreatment of the character to the fans in this cleverly comedic manner.
Xialing as the sister is terrific. Somewhat underdeveloped, but still badass and cool, she stole the show in all of her action scenes. It was lovely to see Wong from ‘Doctor Strange’ here and that mid-credits sequence was just incredible as a great build-up for the next MCU phase. Michelle Yeoh is excellent per usual and very cool, but surprisingly underutilized unfortunately.
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And my favorite character has to be Katy. Wow, did Awkwafina steal the movie or what? She’s fantastic! I’ve always been a huge fan of hers, and now she’s cemented her status as one of the funniest female comedians working in Hollywood. Her Katy is incredible. Not only is she incredibly funny, but genuinely caring and wonderful, plus that whole relationship between her and Shaun is fascinating as it’s a mix between friendship and potential romance.
Their dynamic is the heart of the film along with the brother-son relationship, and it was a great choice to make her an archer toward the end to give her more agency. She’s hilarious throughout and the highlight was her final explanation of everything that unfolded to their friends. That entire scene really cracked me up.
I would contend that Shang-Chi is a rushed movie that could have been at least two and a half hours long easily given that it’s concerned with so much lore and mythology. Clearly the execution and pacing were rushed and the flashback structure had some problems, but still that magical village was enchanting with the dragon creatures and that funny “chicken pig” animal sidekick with no face.
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For once, the final act isn’t annoying, but genuinely exciting and fun as the fights are superbly executed, not just the martial arts, but the dragon battles as well. The movie honestly turned into a ridiculously awesome high fantasy film toward the end and I couldn’t have been happier with this particular outcome. The score is fine, but could have been more epic. The effects are outstanding, the designs of the creatures phenomenal and the action is consistently engaging to follow. The movie was dealing with a lot (comedy, fantasy, action, wuxia and even some crime elements), so of course it felt a bit structurally and tonally uneven, but for the most part they delivered and it’s one of my absolute favorites from the studio so far.
