Directed by:
Destin Daniel CrettonCinematography:
Bill PopeComposer:
Joel P. WestCast:
Simu Liu, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Awkwafina, Meng'er Zhang, Fala Chen, Michelle Yeoh, Wah Yuen, Florian Munteanu, Ben Kingsley, Jayden Zhang, Stephanie Hsu (more)VOD (4)
Plots(1)
Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings stars Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, who must confront the past he thought he left behind when he is drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization. (Walt Disney Nordic Fin.)
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Reviews (11)
This combination of modern Chinese action movie with folk tales works. Disney understands that it’s making movies mainly for the Eastern market and so they honor their view of the world with occasional bow to the West. Shang-Chi’s acting is spot on. Simu Liu is a nice guy, despite the weird trailers, and comes across completely natural when he sings karaoke as well as in battles. Tony Leung steals the whole movie for himself and his "daddy" is another one of those baddies who you side with more than with the main hero. Choreography perfect, action just fantastic. Special effects are a bit shaky in places, but other times breathtaking. Thumbs up. P.S.: At the end, Bruce does more to attract you to watch his further adventures more than Wong.
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The most interesting thing about this film is how (well) it connects to the entire universe. Otherwise, it's an thoroughly generic Marvel movie that, while it takes place in a novel setting, is basically nothing special in itself. Decent fight scenes and an air of family drama are definite pluses here, but somehow I'm already feeling a slight fatigue after 25 MCU movies. [65%]
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The more/longer is it just a fantasy kung fu fairy tale rather than a Marvel movie, the better it is. What works throughout is the dynamics and likeability of the Leung/Awkwafina duo, the solid action choreography by Marvel standards (a sort of "post-Western wu-sia"), and, wonder of wonders, even a charismatic villain with understandable motivations. In the second half, things get a bit sketchy, because the writers don't know what to do with Awkwafina's character, and so she's turned into "Mulan Sue" out of nowhere, and the sister, who would work as a supporting character, is unjustifiably shoved into the foreground, where the creators have nothing for her. Also, the humour that has worked up to that point is killed by the overuse of a joke with an unnamed (non)actor and his sidekick. All the Marvel moments (characters, references, events) are incorporated, but they are kind of broken over both knees (except for the successful first meeting scene). It is then crowned with a downward trend of CGI kaiju shenanigans during the final act, which is a great shame, because it takes away from the solid choreography. What keeps the final act afloat, on the other hand, is the likeability of the new characters and the passable personal/emotional level. Still one of the best Marvel movies to take on an original character and introduce them to the world.
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Shang-Chi mixes in a mostly artful way the audience-appealing elements typical of the MCU (spectacular battles, action laced with humour, the importance of team/family, etc.) and as an added value offers (in the context of Marvel movies) an unfamiliar Asian setting. The Hollywood-style action is interspersed with fight scenes that are more typical of Asian films, all wrapped up in almost "magical" clashes (like in Doctor Strange), which I really enjoyed. Visiting Ta Lo and seeing all those creatures made me feel like I was watching an Asian version of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. My only major criticism would be the sometimes weaker visual effects (compared to other MCU-movies), like, for instance, the forest maze or the water scenes in general. Of the new characters, Ying Nan, Xu Wenwu and partly Katy won me over the most; the main character was rather bland. It was also nice to see a smaller role for Ben Kingsley (a.k.a. the Mandarin). I didn't even mind that a good part of the plot was a kind of family drama, as in this case the motivations and actions of the characters were understandable and this line didn't interfere with the film’s fantasy-action level.
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Marvel has gone the route of exploiting Eastern Asian culture and I would not mind if the final product was entertaining or at least interesting to the audience. This movie is neither. I got tired of live-action CGI comic book nonsense a long time ago, and Tony Leung and a few pretty choreographed scenes is not going to change that, unfortunately.
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