Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is another delightful entry into the ever-expanding roster of MCU projects. With the MCU making as many projects as they are it’s comforting to know that they are nowhere near reaching fatigue or running out of ideas and saturating the superhero genre. Shang-Chi is a refreshing take on said genre, opting itself to be a martial arts movie first, superhero movie second. The beating heart of the film is that it’s a film about a broken family at its core and it’s this aspect of Shang-Chi that truly makes it shine against some already heavy hitters that the MCU has given us.

Starting off with my favourite aspect of the film: the choreography. The fight scenes in this film are something else, dare I say some of the best action the MCU has given us. There’s a fluidity and ease to the action that at some points it makes you feel like you’re watching a dance rather than a fight to the death. There’s a natural progression to the action too which helped the pacing of the film feel more natural, starting with hand-to-hand combat and making its way up to two dragon creatures duelling in the sky. It was really this grounded action in the start of the film though that had me engrossed in the film, the fight scene on the bus is practically perfect, the choreography is stunning, the way the fight built as it went on was genius and it felt real, which a lot of films when dealing with superheroes struggle with. The beautiful cinematography that accompanied said action scenes truly enhanced the film over others in the genre. One, it’s absolutely insane to look at (especially on an IMAX screen) and two it felt as fluid as the fights themselves, the choppy editing that can be found in many projects like it is abandoned and instead a more fluid approach is taken with the camera work leaving the fights feeling so smooth and doesn’t disorientate the viewer.

The character work in the film is again some of the best the MCU has to offer. Simu Liu is fantastic as the titular character, he’s effortlessly charismatic and incredibly charming. Both in more dialogue focused scenes and in the action, he sells the character of Shang-Chi expertly and has me clamouring to see more of what he has to offer. His dynamic is particularly great with his sidekick and best friend, played by Awkwafina, they have such a good back-and-forth that is so entertaining to watch as you go on this journey with them. Awkwafina provides a lot of the humour that this film has to offer and your enjoyment of that will depend on whether you like her brand of humour. For me, the humour worked perfectly, there’s only a few parts I didn’t enjoy, but on the most part I loved her confusion entering this mystical world with Shang-Chi and her quippy back-and-forth with him. Shang-Chi also has an incredibly captivating relationship with his father, played by Tony Leung. Leung absolutely tears up this role, providing us with what is easily a top-tier MCU villain. Basing his character in a desire to reunite with his wife and his family, and not a blood-thirsty, power-hungry antagonist that’s been played out a million times now, was so refreshing and entirely welcome. Leung is able to provide the subtleties needed to toe the line between this villainous figure but also a man of family and heart. Meng’ er Zhang, who plays Shang-Chi’s sister, does a decent job with what she’s given, she gets some interesting development in the second act but is overall under-utilised. The biggest surprise for me was Ben Kingsley’s return as Trevor Slattery. Now much like with Awkwafina, how much his appearance in this film works for you will depend on your prior history with him in Iron Man 3 and whether you enjoyed his use in that film. I loved the subversion in Iron Man 3, and I think he works great in this film, he provides some of the best jokes and biggest laughs of the entire film but this is balanced with some awkward jokes and timing of him in scenes that weren’t great. The times when the humour wasn’t forced though were great and his return was certainly a welcome one.

The story in Shang-Chi is brilliant and I echo the sentiment that many are saying that this is easily one of the best origin stories the MCU has to offer. Picking up in the middle of Shang-Chi’s life and just getting thrown into the story was incredibly refreshing and let the film keep a healthy pacing throughout. The use of flashbacks in the film really worked for me, each time chipping away more at Shang-Chi and Xialing’s past and that informing how we view the present. The spacing of the flashbacks really worked too, it didn’t feel as if the film was holding information back for the sake of it, it felt natural the rate at which we got to know more about Shang-Chi. The flashbacks shine though in the 3rd act with Xu Wenwu and his confrontation with The Dweller in Darkness. What would’ve been a cheap and empty ending was enhanced by the flashbacks to Shang-Chi and Wenwu throughout the ages and Leung’s fantastically nuanced performance.

I loved how Shang-Chi embraced the cultural representation and was dowsed in Asian culture, from using Mandarin in the film to the majestical score which utilises Asian instruments, it’s a delight to see the MCU embracing diversity and its better for it. Destin Daniel Cretton has created something special in Shang-Chi that will mean a lot for people who haven’t seen themselves in the MCU before, and it excites me for the future where we can get more diversity.

My biggest critique with the film though is its reliance on CGI. The film is truly at its best when the action feels tangible, and while I enjoyed the progressive scale of the action some of the visual effects in this film are laughably bad. This ends up being more distracting and more of a disappointment when it’s paired with some visually stunning sequences. It’s not to say all the visual effects are bad, the dragon at the end was stunning, but there are scenes throughout that should feel real but end up feeling lifeless as they are filled with unnecessary CGI. That brings me to the 3^rd act, unfortunately this is another miss for Marvel, while not as egregiously bad as some other entries in the MCU, it was a little disappointing after the brilliance seen prior. The 3^rd act devolves into a CGI-f*ckfest that is void of the technical brilliance seen throughout the film. The action isn’t choreographed particularly well and it’s visually displeasing to look at when these two creatures are battling each other. Cretton bit off more than he could chew with the 3rd act, it felt incredibly overstuffed, and it was to the detriment of the film, luckily there is still an emotional heart in there that saves it from becoming completely stupid.

Alongside a disappointing 3^rd act, I do have other small grievances with minor plot points, such as Awkwafina becoming Hawkeye in a day and other plot elements that happened just for the plot’s sake. This hardly takes away from the film though, it’s just a slight disappointment as the rest of the film is so well done. The characters, the story, the cinematography, and the insane choreography makes Shang-Chi a worthy entry into the MCU and a character I’m exciting to see in future projects. 

Also, the mid-credits scene… I have so many questions.

★★★★