Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

 

To be truthful, before I saw the movie I had no idea of where this storyline played into the larger Marvel universe. The cross over between characters were well done, but if someone had not seen the previous Marvel movies they may have been lost in what these characters meant. I actually liked how they went a little more into Trevor Slattery backstory. My favorite was the scenes where Wong popped up and the ending scene was one of my favorite of the whole movie.

When it came to the main characters I enjoyed Awkwafina’s portrayal of Katy way more than Simu Liu’s of Shaun. The more I see of her work the more I like how she does her characters. I feel that the casted the wrong actor as Shaun. He just seemed too detached from the character where Awkwafina embraced hers. 

I feel that this was a much more serious Marvel movie. I saw that they tried to work in humor, but many times it still did not have the same emotional impact has the humor in the other movies. The overall plot of the movie showed how peoples’ lives were shaped not only by events, but also the people they meet. There was some complex character development in the character of Xu Wenwu (the father). I liked how they developed the other realm where their mother came from. As a folklore lover I loved how they presented the different Asian creatures. There were foo dogs, Kirin (qilin), kitsune (huli jing), and a dragon. The special effects for these were amazing and I wanted to see so much more. I actually got really excited during the movie and was telling my mom what each creature was as they popped up on the screen. 

The coloration of the dragon remined me of a koi.

For more on the animals of the movie check out:

https://www.cbr.com/every-mythological-creature-shang-chi/

https://www.looper.com/596601/all-of-the-incredible-creatures-in-shang-chi-explained/

https://www.marvel.com/articles/movies/meet-morris-shang-chi-and-the-legend-of-the-ten-rings

https://screenrant.com/shang-chi-ta-lo-mythology-powers-creatures-explained/

https://www.insider.com/audiences-thought-mythical-creature-shang-chi-pokemon-ninetales-2021-9

There was talk about some of these looking like Pokemon (Japanese culture), but there is a lot of crossover in these animals because of the link in cultures. Actually I first used the Japanese versions then went back and added the other names that they were know by.

To me the special effects could not save this movie. I really wanted to like it, but just didn’t get pulled in as much as I would have liked. The most I can say is that it was better than Ant Man (so far the worst of the Marvel movies to me) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Neither of which had very high standards. Overall I give it 3 stars or a C. So just an average score.

Picture 1 from: https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Flumiere-a.akamaihd.net%2Fv1%2Fimages%2Fau_marvel_shang-chiandthelegendofthetenrings_payoff_mov_cc4c0527.jpeg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.disney.com.au%2Fmovies%2Fshang-chi-and-the-legend-of-the-ten-rings&tbnid=0w37GHWCcEks3M&vet=12ahUKEwja2738yubzAhUbUM0KHXaCBGcQMygGegUIARC9AQ..i&docid=15dGO1sn_NI3WM&w=540&h=810&q=Shang-Chi%20and%20the%20Legend%20of%20the%20Ten%20Rings&ved=2ahUKEwja2738yubzAhUbUM0KHXaCBGcQMygGegUIARC9AQ

Picture 2 from: https://maxblizz.com/shang-chi-and-the-legend-of-the-ten-rings-new-characters-poster-revealed/

Picture 3 from: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9376612/

Picture 4 from: https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FwATxbRf5fvQ%2Fhqdefault.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DwATxbRf5fvQ&tbnid=i0IAYT2qKfqecM&vet=12ahUKEwj5nP_vzebzAhUZXs0KHZSBBDAQxiAoCXoECAAQHw..i&docid=b8GLLcKWZUxCNM&w=480&h=360&itg=1&q=Shang-Chi%20and%20the%20Legend%20of%20the%20Ten%20Rings%20dragon&ved=2ahUKEwj5nP_vzebzAhUZXs0KHZSBBDAQxiAoCXoECAAQHw

Picture 5 from: https://screenrant.com/shang-chi-what-is-morris-chinese-hundun-myth-explained/

Picture 6 from: https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Qilin