Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

It's a surprisingly coherent extravaganza that, while it loses a bit of pace in places and relies on the element of coincidence (Ben Kingsley's talking ass-pet), holds together as a whole both with its connection to the overarching cinematic universe and its own family storyline with an interesting villain. It's not so much the likeable Shang-Chi, with whom today's younger generation in particular will readily relate to, as his conflicted father that drives the narrative, which is well consolidated especially in the action scenes, each of which moves the story somewhere, and moreover are themselves good and varied – and when the visual brouhaha kicks in, as in the dragon slayer ending, at least the carefully developed family line works. I didn't have high expectations and I'm not jumping with enthusiasm either, but Marvel still keeps the bar high and I find it admirable that they're not afraid to experiment with cultural formulas like this and send an almost purely Asian fantasy to the cinemas, which of course will earn them a cool profit. 75 (08/09/2021)

The more/longer is it just a fantasy kung fu fairy tale rather than a Marvel movie, the better it is. What works throughout is the dynamics and likeability of the Leung/Awkwafina duo, the solid action choreography by Marvel standards (a sort of "post-Western wu-sia"), and, wonder of wonders, even a charismatic villain with understandable motivations. In the second half, things get a bit sketchy, because the writers don't know what to do with Awkwafina's character, and so she's turned into "Mulan Sue" out of nowhere, and the sister, who would work as a supporting character, is unjustifiably shoved into the foreground, where the creators have nothing for her. Also, the humour that has worked up to that point is killed by the overuse of a joke with an unnamed (non)actor and his sidekick. All the Marvel moments (characters, references, events) are incorporated, but they are kind of broken over both knees (except for the successful first meeting scene). It is then crowned with a downward trend of CGI kaiju shenanigans during the final act, which is a great shame, because it takes away from the solid choreography. What keeps the final act afloat, on the other hand, is the likeability of the new characters and the passable personal/emotional level. Still one of the best Marvel movies to take on an original character and introduce them to the world. (19/10/2021)

Shang-Chi mixes in a mostly artful way the audience-appealing elements typical of the MCU (spectacular battles, action laced with humour, the importance of team/family, etc.) and as an added value offers (in the context of Marvel movies) an unfamiliar Asian setting. The Hollywood-style action is interspersed with fight scenes that are more typical of Asian films, all wrapped up in almost "magical" clashes (like in Doctor Strange), which I really enjoyed. Visiting Ta Lo and seeing all those creatures made me feel like I was watching an Asian version of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. My only major criticism would be the sometimes weaker visual effects (compared to other MCU-movies), like, for instance, the forest maze or the water scenes in general. Of the new characters, Ying Nan, Xu Wenwu and partly Katy won me over the most; the main character was rather bland. It was also nice to see a smaller role for Ben Kingsley (a.k.a. the Mandarin). I didn't even mind that a good part of the plot was a kind of family drama, as in this case the motivations and actions of the characters were understandable and this line didn't interfere with the film’s fantasy-action level. (10/09/2021)

An enjoyable Marvel origin story that turned out better than we all expected. I’m a lover of Asia and I was quite looking forward to Shang-Chi because who wouldn't be tempted to see the Marvel version of an Ip Man, right? In part, Marvel succeeded, even if the film is split into two halves, where the first one is significantly better. The protagonist is the unknown Simu Liu and he is surprisingly proficient and likeable enough for the viewer to root for him. the scene on the bus is the clear highlight of the film (greetings to Nobody), and the action scene with the Ninjas was awesome – that physical and high contact kung-Fu action was handled very well by Marvel and even though it's not completely realistic, it's spectacular and gripping enough for me to forgive it. The second half slows down the pace considerably (Shang-Chi runs out of breath for about half an hour). Fortunately, the finale is nicely spectacular, it's rendered in a fantasy style, China's second most popular genre after martial arts, so for me a perfectly logical explanation for why to split the film into two different genres, and the spectacular battle of the two dragons was absolutely killer (I can't remember a bigger fantasy barrage since GoT or Lord of the Rings). I also lie the awesome soundtrack, every single track is already on my playlist. The film has a few flaws, though, for example Awkwafina, who is quite unbearable for me, the humour, which downright missed me – I really don't know what was supposed to be funny here – and the villain, who although had a clear motive, didn't really show much in the end. Visually, it feels a bit like Marvel in the early days, but you can turn a blind eye to that. I'm glad Marvel stuck with Wu Xiu. Overall, decent, definitely better than Black Widow, but I'm not buying into a second screening. Story 3/5, Action 4/5, Humor 1/5, Violence 0/5, Fun 4/5 Music 4/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 3/5, Emotion 2/5, Actors 3/5. 7.5/10. (06/09/2021)

During the final battle, Shang-Chi lost most of the trump cards I had enjoyed so much for the previous hour and a half, and it's a shame. Amazing choreography of fights, which I have not seen since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, beautiful design including music, brand new characters, but at the same time characters so nicely and naturally fitting into the world of Marvel, interesting and impressive story - family drama, of course humor... All this together makes an absolutely excellent adventure and simply set the bar so high that the mentioned finale had nowhere to take it. But four stars would simply be too few, because it's a very honest film that the creators cared about, and it's so much better than last year's Black Widow. (04/09/2021)