My Review of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings · 4:55pm Jun 21st, 2022
Rating Scale:
12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made
Greetings, everyone! This is Mr. J back with another movie review for today! This afternoon, I will be reviewing Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings of 2021! Just like with Eternals, I had low expectations for this film as I wasn't particularly intrigued with the movie poster. However, the premise thereof seemed a bit interesting, so I thought I would give this one a shot. Now that I have seen it for the first time last night, I must say....it was actually pretty decent! To be frank, I think this is somewhat better than Eternals, but that's not saying much unfortunately. While there was a lot of things I enjoyed about it, there were some elemental factors that just bugged me.
This movie is about a young man who previously ran away from home at a younger age and wanted to live a life on his own with his best friend. However, his world-conquering father indirectly calls him back with little choice as he is determined to bring his wife back into the land of the living. Shang-Chi and company train themselves to fight back until they all face the ultimate evil that will consume them all.
First off, I actually loved the way they wrote some of the characters in the story. They were fairly well-written and well-portrayed in the film with eloquent lines of dialogue and great acting. My favorite character in the film is definitely Xu Wenwu; the way he was written in the movie was amazingly well-developed, and I cannot stress that enough. A tragic villain with a noble motivation but with a completely misguided way of thinking and wrong method. Not only do I love villains who are happily evil just because but also love villains who consider themselves to be justified in what they do, thinking it's for the best or for the sake of family. Great performance by Tony Leung Chiu-wai for sure.
Shang-Chi was also a pretty interesting character, but I honestly wasn't too fond of Katy. She just seemed a little too annoying but not overall terrible per say. Xialing, on the other hand, was a total badass and really awesome. I loved her fighting style and her personality. As an icing on the cake, Ben Kingsley was in this movie. You guys know how much I love Kingsley and his acting style, so his supporting role in the movie put a huge smile on my face. I liked his character's comedic nature and his meta jokes here and there. Oh, and Merris was such a cutie to look at. Thanks, Dee Bradley Baker!
As far as the negatives are concerned, there is way too many flashbacks and lore-building in one movie. It felt like the movie was grinding to a halt every single time there was a flashback scene or an exposition dump. Always remember that less is more, and in my opinion, the more each character's backstory is explained in excruciating detail, the more it gets boring and worn-out. Also, the typical MCU humor was just not funny and overall cringeworthy, and the CGI choreography fight scenes were ridiculously over-the-top. Some of them looked quite smooth and clean which reminded me of the fight scenes from the Kung Fu Panda trilogy, but the rest just looked exaggeratedly dumb.
So yeah, this is not the type of movie I would ever watch again, but again, it was good that I finally watched it for the first time. Like I said, it's fairly decent, not terrible, but it is not that great of a movie. Just my honest opinion. Therefore, I will give this a solid 6/10! I will also say this: the movie did well in giving the message about never allowing your anger or your past to control you. If only it wasn't bombarded with the negatives that I've already mentioned, it would been a much better movie.
Peace out.
Personally, I still consider this movie to be one of the stronger of the recent MCU films, although I understand where you’re coming from with what you believed to be the detractors.
I watched this movie in Christmas and I was super satisfied with it. Like you, I was reminded of Kung Fu Panda in some scenes. My favourite scene was the dragon one, since I love dragons. In fact, my mom bought me a figurine of that dragon!