*SPOILER WARNING* for “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”
To start off, I want to make it clear to all the other Marvel fans who came sprinting over to read this review that I am a qualified and dedicated Marvel fan. I have no way of proving this to you right now, but I promise that it’s true. You’ll just have to take my word for it. I wanted to point this out because I personally find it irritating when a non-Marvel fan reviews a Marvel movie. In order to effectively write a Marvel review, it’s extremely necessary to watch everything that has predated the new movie. If this hasn’t been done, the reviewer will not be able to fully understand what the movie is trying to accomplish, thus causing the quality of the review to be affected. So, I just wanted to calm any nerves by saying that this is not the case for me. Alright, now that we got that out of the way, let’s begin.
“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” wow, what a movie. Personally, I did not have any major expectations for this movie. What I mean by this is that I’ve had to work extremely hard to prevent myself from having expectations for Marvel movies and television shows. The experience of WandaVision and the theories that circulated on the internet made it clear to me that if you have expectations, you will be disappointed (I watched the series again recently and enjoyed it much more, so if anyone had a similar experience I would recommend doing this). I was genuinely interested in simply having some fun with this movie, and I definitely did. Simu Liu made his iconic entrance into the MCU and I loved it every step of the way. Introductions to new characters can be risky. Honestly, most of us are still pretty sensitive about having to say goodbye to some of the OG 6, at least I am. However, I truly believe that the introduction to his character was well-paced and extremely captivating, and it really made me excited to see what his character will do in the future of the MCU. I mean, how awesome would it have been to have seen him at the final battle in “Avengers Endgame?!” He’s going to be able to do some serious damage to whoever he faces next.
Another thing that I loved about this movie was the humor. The chemistry between Simu Liu and Awkwafina was amazing and really helped to give the movie life. I will say that there were some moments where the writing became a bit cheesy, causing the acting to slip a little bit, but overall they did a great job. Additionally, the music in many of the scenes highlighted the beauty of Chinese culture, which was incredibly important to the storytelling. Combining that with the special effects truly made you feel like you were in the movie with them as they navigated through both our world and the magical birthplace of his mother.
I really enjoyed Shang-Chi. I believe that it was extremely well-made and generated excitement for the future of the MCU. However, I have two complaints: a small one and a big one. The smaller one is that I was a bit bothered that this movie directly aligned with the structure that organizes most superhero movies. I feel like as the movie went on, I could predict what would happen. There weren’t any surprises that I didn’t see coming. This has happened with Marvel movies in the past, so it’s not unexpected. I just wish that they would change it up once in a while.
My bigger issue is with the end credit scene. My first question: why did they choose to bring in Captain Marvel and Bruce Banner? From what I remember, we have never seen these two characters have a personal interaction. Bringing the two of them into this movie felt incredibly forced. This isn’t “Captain Marvel” where the end-credit scene understandably brought characters together to respond to “Infinity War.” This felt like Kevin Feige said, “Alright, let’s just throw these guys in at the end to connect this movie to the rest of it and call it a night.” Like, no, just no. I need more information. Also, what happened to Captain Marvel’s short hair? What happened to Smart Hulk? How long after Endgame did this movie really take place? I mean, they didn’t seem to be too affected by the blip (which was also a little weird) so I guess this was maybe around a year later? Her hair was cut pretty short in Endgame though, so I suppose it had to have been a decent amount of time. I don’t know, the whole interaction was just strange. I know other people were pretty excited about it, but for me, I think Marvel could have done better. It simply wasn’t an end-credit scene that made sense. I mean, if they really needed to connect the movie to the rest of the MCU, they should’ve brought in someone like Doctor Strange. That would have been more consistent considering that Wong is in the movie, but maybe that’s just me. My last question: why did Wong feel that it was necessary for Awkwafina’s character to come with him and Shang-Chi? She shot an arrow in the final battle and that’s it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m super proud of her for that, her character is awesome. But I still don’t see why she was important enough to be included in that little meeting. Maybe we’ll find out in the future, but it was still a bit weird.
I do want to emphasize that this movie was really good, so if you haven’t seen it, go! My complaints are more about technicalities rather than major issues. I do wish that they had addressed some of my questions, but that’s a Marvel movie for you: always leaving us with more questions than answers. That’s really their trademark, it’s how they get us watching more. This movie proves that. Overall, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” was a movie that incorporated a beautiful representation of culture and successfully introduced characters that I’m extremely excited to see in the future of the MCU. Once again, Kevin Feige understood the assignment.