Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

UK Release Date: 03 September 2021

Certification: 12A

Director: Destin Daniel Cretton

Cast: Awkwafina, Fala Chen, Ben Kingsley, Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Simu Liu, Michelle Yeoh, Meng'er Zhang

Rating: 67%

"I speak ABC"

Review:

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is the MCU's take at a martial arts story inspired by movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The movie isn't void of it's MCUisms but it's a decent origin story that expands the world and introduces a new likeable character. 

Shang-Chi is played by Simu Liu in his breakout role. He's charismatic, caring and I'm very excited to see him as a new leading man in the MCU. But Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings focuses on the villain and Tony Chiu-Wai Leung is brilliant playing the real Mandarin. Destin Daniel Cretton did a good job working around the racial stereotypes that are often associated with the comic book version of the character. He sells every emotion and was a villain that's conflicted and you could sympathise with as all he really wanted was to see his wife again. I don't particularly like Awkwafina but she's okay in the movie. And Michelle Yeoh and Meng'er Zhang are good in supporting roles and I probably would've wanted to see more of them. 

For the first hour, hour and fifteen minutes, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a near perfect action movie but I feel Kevin Feige had to remind the audience that this is a MCU movie by putting in a bland, CGI battle. I loved the action scenes, especially the bus fight which may rival anything seen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it's exceptional. The martial arts is unlike anything ever seen in a Hollywood movie. On top of that every fight feels personal -  whether it's between a son and a father or a brother and sister - and that is so unique. But, and it pains me to say, I was just bored by the final act. I simply didn't care seeing two dragons fight whilst mindless goons are slaughtered on screen. It was just so frustrating to watch as the studio clearly didn't trust Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings just to be a solid martial arts story, the clear highlight of the movie. 

The comedy was also fairly mixed throughout the movie's run time. At times it was hilarious - as seen by my caption above - but most of the time it fell flat and didn't work. The most notable one was Trevor Slattery's appearance, a return from the controversial Iron Man 3. It was a funny gag at first but as the movie went on, I began to wonder why he was still in the movie other than a lazy way to provide comic relief.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is in my opinion a disappointing film - that for the record I still thoroughly enjoyed - because I can picture my ideal version of the movie in my head.