MOVIE REVIEW: Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings

(Dr. Ford - Ramin Djawadi)

I'm going to state here and now that when I sat down to write this review, I wasn't sure at all about how to go about getting my arms around it. As I type this sentence, I'm still not entirely sure where this review is going to go.  This is largely due to the fact that I'm not sure what Marvel was trying to do with Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings.  The finished product certainly isn't like any other Marvel movie out there.

See, Marvel movies are sort of formulaic. If we're being honest, that formula is largely derived around entertaining audiences from the western world and, continuing with the honesty, it's very clearly a good formula. 'Shang-Chi' doesn't appear to follow much of that formula at all and because of that, it's difficult to know how to pin it down.  

I want to sit here and write the very simple sentence of, "Shang-Chi just wasn't that good a movie," except I'm not sure that's the case.  Upon closer scrutiny, I cross that sentence out and write, "Shang-Chi wasn't a very good Marvel movie' instead.

Yeah. I think that one's got legs.  Let's let it run for a page or two.

THE LONGER VERSION:

There is SO MUCH going on with this film.  A bunch of it is gorgeous and fresh and new...but a lot of it is neither of those things. Many of the things happening in this movie are almost jarringly out of left field, even for a Marvel film.  Worse, when you really stop and think about what you just saw, you can't help but think that another film in the MCU did it much better.  Let's start with the story.

Shang-Chi's overall story and story beats are equal parts new and interesting mixed with some of the most heavy-handed cliches that I've ever seen in a Marvel film.  At least I think so.  It's hard to tell because there were So. Many. Goddamned. Disjointed. Flashbacks.  Much of the film is an origin story for Shang-Chi himself so it's natural to expect that some of the film's runtime would be taken up telling that portion of the story.  The problem with this is that instead of telling a cohesive story about Shang-Chi's childhood, they picked a few very specific moments out of it without bothering to connect the dots.  You're left wondering how, exactly, you add those moments up and arrive at the present-day incarnation of our hero.  This is also where some of the largest plot holes exist, particularly around Shang-Chi's mother.

It's a shame that the story is so bad because the presentation of the film is absolutely some of the most gorgeous work that Marvel has ever done.  Some of this is due to the HEAVY use of CGI and some of it is due to the fact that this whole movie is clearly done in the jaw-droppingly beautiful style of Chinese cinema  That's...also where I think one of the movie's biggest weak points as a Marvel film comes in. The fight choreography, the cinematography, the imagery, the music, the themes, it's all very well done but all also highly stylized and insanely unrealistic, even for a Marvel movie.  The fights in particular look incredible but lack some of the visceral feel that western fight scenes do so well with.  There's wirework everywhere and nothing that happens has any weight to it whatsoever.  It all just feels SO DIFFERENT from every other Marvel movie.

That's...before we even start talking about the dragons or the water bending or the air bending or the wood-bending or...yeah.  There is some legitimately bat-shit crazy stuff happening in this movie. I get that  Marvel is really struggling to make sure the stakes remain believable in the face of some of the other crap that's happened in the MCU over the last five years but it's always at least pretended to have one foot in reality.  Even it's most bonkers films like Doctor Strange had roots in stuff that could be explained.  Noooot so much here.

"But Steve," you cry, "Why can't this be both a love letter to Asian culture and Chinese cinema -AND- a Marvel movie?" This is where I start to struggle with how to come down on this movie.  I don't have an issue with Asian culture or Chinese cinema in general. I do have a certain expectation when it comes to Marvel movies though.

That would be enough to give me pause where the review of this movie is concerned but there's other stuff happening in this film that keeps me from simply letting it seep into my brain.  This movie keeps going out of its way again and again AND AGAIN AND AGAIN to make statements about things.  Many of those statements revolve around the treatment of women in China. This movie goes out of its way over and over again to fly the middle finger and shout the message that anything a boy can do, a girl can do better!  Do I have an issue with the message? No.  Do I want to watch a movie that feels like so obvious a political statement?  Also no.  That's not what I'm here for, especially because I know you -can- make such statements and still have a wholly entertaining film. (I am once again looking at you, 'Black Panther'.) You don't have to beat people over the head over and over again so goddamned always.  This issue would be bad enough on its own but there are a few beats in the story that are so cliche'd that it takes all of the weight away from them.

I think I'm going to stick with my second sentence: "Shang-Chi wasn't a very good Marvel movie." It would have been perfectly acceptable on its own, in its own universe.  It just doesn't fit very well in this one.

HERE THERE BE SPOILERS:

This is... pretty much where I'm going to bitch about the various aspects of the movie that I didn't care for.

- First, and I mean this sincerely, Awkwafina -- or however the hell you spell her name -- can take her bow and go home.  Seriously, get that shit out of here.  That's not a female empowerment moment, it's exactly the opposite.  Marvel films are full of strong, capable women who have trained their asses off to become such. This takes away from that completely.

- There is so much, "I spent a few hours practicing this as a child and now I am a master of it as an adult" bullshit going on in this movie.

- "A hostile outsider with a 1,000 year legacy of war, atrocity, and death came to my doorstep but his muscles were so big that I could not help but want to have his babies." This is seriously one of the story beats in this film. (Slow Clap)

- Can we please talk about how Shang-Chi's dad spent a thousand years building up the Ten Rings and then it just...dissolved over the course of 6 years while he decided to play house?  You're telling me that no underling took over?  That all of those trained assassins just went back to working day jobs?  You're also telling me that while you were playing house, you gave up EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR OLD LIFE including the money and property and, I dunno, SECURITY TEAMS, all in the name of love?  But it's okay because your underlings were only working PART TIME jobs and were all ready to come back to you once you were done.  All of this can fuck off.

- There is literally nothing bad about Wong.  He brings me joy and is responsible for the only positive comment in this section of my review.

- CAN WE TALK ABOUT BRUCE BANNER?! 

- Carol Danvers looked much better with short hair.  Sorry, I said it.  She's also still not a team player because, "Give him my number?"  Come on, Marvel.

- I've talked in previous reviews about how Marvel only has so much A-Game that it can bring to bear and I think it spent all of it on Loki.  The dialogue in this movie was poor and the story, even for a Marvel movie, was terrible.

- "Hey guys, this is supposed to be a Chinese village but we're all out of traditional Chinese mythical creatures.  Can we go borrow some from the Japanese real quick?  We can?  Awesome!"

- Are we ever going to talk about who the uber-special assassin in the painted mask was??

- Listen, I care way less about what happened to The Abomination after the events of The Hulk but you force me to care when you tap both him -and- Wong in manner that you did.  Why are they fighting in Macau when they could both clearly leave whenever.  Why are they sort of friends?  Why is Wong FIGHTING FOR MONEY?!  What was the point of this?!? AUGH!

- Assassins use guns, not just crossbows or kamas or whatever the hell thing they borrowed from Kabal from Mortal Kombat was.  "These villagers only have bows, arrows, and sticks!  I know, let's CLOSE TO MELEE RANGE WITH THEM!"  This can also just go fuck right off.

- Busses DO NOT STEER LIKE THAT.

- What is the point of trying to steal the jade necklaces?? Just CAPTURE YOUR CHILDREN, you ass hat!

Okay, you know what? I was wrong.  This -is- just a bad movie.