Shang-Chi must confront the past he thought he left behind when he is drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization.
Released: 2021-09-01
Runtime: 132 minutes
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Stars: Simu Liu, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Awkwafina, Zhang Meng'er, Fala Chen, Michelle Yeoh, Yuen Wah, Ben Kingsley, Florian Munteanu, Andy Le, Paul He, Jayden Tianyi Zhang, Elodie Fong, Arnold Sun, Stephanie Hsu, Kunal Dudheker, Tsai Chin, Jodi Long, Dallas Liu, Ronny Chieng, Daniel Liu, Stella Ye, Fernando Chien, Michael-Anthony Taylor, Zach Cherry, Raymond Ma, Lau Ga-Yung, Johnny Carr, Harmonie He, Lydia Sarks, Dee Bradley Baker, Benedict Wong, Tim Roth, Mark Ruffalo, Brie Larson, David Chea, Bingchen Ye, Jade Xu
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Comments
JPHReviews - 22 May 2024 Some Great Fight scenes but a pretty average Marvel Film After the great bus fight this film goes downhill. Simi Liu as Shang-Chi and Tony Leung as Wenwu are easily the best parts of this film, they carry this film hard along with some good fight choreography. Their moments together are the best part of the film, such as shame they often sideline these compelling father/son scenes for awful jokes and a messy CGI 3rd act fight.
I'll be honest I'm half on the Awkwafina hate train, she isn't an actress that makes me go eww she's in this guess I won't be watching but at the same time I do find her annoying in most films I've seen her in. She was almost good in this, I like her in the first part of this film when she's just Shang-Chi's best friend and helps him in the bus fight by driving the bus however she just gets crammed into the rest of the film for no reason. She has absolutely no reason to tag along with him on his very personal quest other than to act as comic relief (which is pointless anyway since midway through the film they bring back Ben Kingsley's Trevor Slattery for that role), it makes even less sense when they randomly make her an archer in the final act and have her new skill help defeat the big bad.
I'm also not a fan of Shang-Chi's sister (god it's like I'm ragging on all the female cast of this film but I feel like that's more on the writing as the only cool female characters in this film are either killed off or get not much to do). She's just a boring character, granted there's something interesting in her story but the film just doesn't follow through on it much outside a few lines (about how Shang-Chi leaving her made her cold and unforgiving). I'm even less interested in seeing a sequel where she leads the Ten Rings.
Also I know it's kinda beating a dead horse but the MCU humour is really awful here. The most egregious moment is when Shang-Chi is telling Katie about his past only to be interrupted by a stewardess multiple times.
sarahlloyd-moss - 28 December 2023 Pleasantly surprised I wasn't sure about watching this movie as it's not your typical MCU film and eternals really disappointed me. However it was a breath of fresh air and I loved it right from the start; fantastic plot, great characters (big fan of Awkwafina) with equally great chemistry and stunning visuals, as can always be expected from a marvel movie. The martial arts aspects and stunts were brilliant, I'm usually one to occupy my hands whilst watching a movie with some sewing etc but I could not look away from the screen.
Yes it is a little cheesey at times but I laughed so much whilst still enjoying the plot and character development. Left me wanting much more!
MickeyTheConstant - 12 September 2023 Fun & Entertaining So is this movie one of the best MCU entries..No, but it is still a fun and entertaining entry. The lead actor was fine in his role, action sequences exciting and original. It added a new dimension to the Franchise with new characters and locations. The plot was good. Was great to see Sir Ben Kingsley back in his comedic role as Trevor Slattery. He genuinely was loads of fun. I also loved seeing cameos from Wong and The Abomination. Unsuspecting and a nice surprise. One of my few criticisms really was the end battle. The CGI was on overload and Marvel seem to live these big battles. Don't get me wrong, these rocked in Avengers and Infinity War/Endgame but I would have preferred just a good old fashioned dust up between hero and villain to be fair. A solid entry and a fun movie.
zvp74753 - 3 December 2022 Beautifully shot and choreographed martial arts movie that is still recognisably Marvel A beautiful film that brings a new dimension, both metaphorically and literally, to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has a style and tone that is quite different from others in the franchise, though it shares the sly humour and ability to poke fun at itself that has become characteristic of the MCU. The film nicely shakes off the shackles of Shang-Chi's somewhat questionable comic book origins by making a film that appears to owe more to Chinese culture than the Western one that spawned the comics. The most obvious influence is wuxia, a genre of films that are most likely to be familiar to Western moviegoers lacking any great knowledge of Chinese film, like myself, from examples such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, and House of Flying Daggers.
This is most obvious in the gorgeous fight scenes, in which a physical confrontation can also be a conversation and a battle as much of ideologies as of hands and fists. It feels entirely plausible that Shang-Chi's parents come to know one another and fall in love over the course of a fight, and it's genuinely moving when, at the end, Shang-Chi adopts a fighting style that is recognisably a fusion of his father and mother's, showing he has come to terms with both sides of his heritage. This is made possible by the excellent cast, many of whom have the awe-inspiring martial arts skills that allow more flexibility and immediacy in the way fights are filmed than would be possible had the shots had to cater for swapping in stunt-doubles.
This includes Simu Liu as the title character, who pivots successfully between comedy and drama on his journey from slacker valet parker to super-hero, triggered when henchmen of his ancient crime lord father attack him on a bus, stealing a necklace given to him by his mother, who came from a mystical village in another dimension but was murdered when he was young. Shang-Chi sets out to find his estranged sister, who he believes will be the next target, and stop his father. Tony Cheung plays Shang-Chi's father and main antagonist with a quiet menace and deep heartbreak that put him up there, along with Josh Brolin's Thanos, as the best of the MCU's villains. And while I'm not generally a fan of gobby comedy sidekicks, Awkwafina is fantastic as Shang-Chi's fellow slacker, Katy, and the friendship between those two is the heart of the film. I'm hoping that the talent for archery Katy discovered in the course of the film and the fact she was included when Shang-Chi meets other Avengers at the end of the film mean she might have a superhero identity of her own in store.
I could have done with less of Ben Kingsley's actor Trevor Slattery. It was good to address the previous appearance of "The Mandarin" in the MCU, but despite some amusing interactions, the character just seemed too much of a parody when compared to the subtlety of many of the other performances. Contrast can often be good, but for me this was too jarring. I'm also not entirely convinced by the plot, which seemed merely to be a rough framework on which to hang the story beats, fight scenes and character development.
However, for me Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is up there amongst the better of the MCU entries, and shows that it's still possible to do something different within the universe while remaining recognisably part of it, even after all these years and films. I'll look forward to the return of Shang-Chi and others we met in this film in future.
bertrandborn - 20 October 2022 Lame! what is wrong with Disney & Hollywoood these days??? The movie starts off in a fun way, introducing a cast of characters that could potentially be interesting and including some funny and occasionally even witty dialogue. (wow - people talking longer than a minute for a change, and where you don't guess what they're going to say after the first five words! That's good, to get people away from the usual mono-syllabic twitter conversations, and requiring an attention span longer than a horsefly! @Screenwriter: kudos, well done!). Alas, it's just in the first few minutes of the movie.
Not sure what's wrong with Hollywood these days, but the industry seems to be churning out more and more utterly forgettable garbage. In Shang-Chi, as in most movies these days, the characters remain "flat" and gain no real depth as the story proceeds, and have no interesting "edges" or controversial multi-facetted traits, but are one-dimensional and remain way below their potential. Why not have a few more moments of atmosphere and character building, and 10 less explosions?
Obviously this is an action film and no high-brow drama, but c'mon guys: in the past (1980's, 1990's) even hollywood action characters were edgy, unique and memorable, and the plot (sometimes) not entirely predictable after the first 5 minutes... today all characters are smooth and mushy and politically correct.... same as the plot is formulaic and robotic.. making characters and stories and utterly forgettable and BOOOORRRRIIIINNNGGG!!!
It's like hollywood studios have agreed on a single basic "cookbook" with standard story and character and plot recipes ("save the cat" and blake snyder beat-sheets over and over?) and are scared or too un-creative to experiment or try anything new.
Thing is, if you always just follow standard recipes what you get is a cinematic McDonalds, which is fine once in a while, but not day after day, and that way you will NEVER ever create a premium dish or get even remotely close to a cimematic michelin star (or oscar) delicacy.... and that despite gigantic production budgets?!! What a waste of money and talent!
So, dear Hollywood & Disney/Marvel studios and directors: boys & girls, wake up please and get creative again, and have the guts to get experimental and try something new, not the formulaic boring slosh being churned out en masse these days, it's really bad and forgettable.
You're better than this!
aishwarya-iyer22 - 2 September 2022 Shang Chi and the Ten Stars I'm going to keep this short and simple. When i find myslef craving a well choreographed action scene, almost like a dance, I start Shang Chi at the bus sequence, and then I stay for the scaffold one, and then I find myself inevitably finishing the movie. It's characters are engaging, the action so beautifuly choreographed and shot. You can relate to the people you're seeing, because they are each well fleshed out and we're given a sight into their world. Dealing with choice,, strife and triump, it's a tale as old as time. For a reason. Its a movie with heart that I come back to often. Watch it atleast once, it's worth your time.
I'd be remiss if I didn't shout out to the score, the track is sick.