"Shang-Chi and the legend of The Ten Rings" is a superhero origin story which seems more like a Chinese martial arts film than the next entrant in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Many years ago I saw "Crouching tiger, hidden dragon" and found the fight scenes in that literally unbelievable a lot of the time. "Shang-Chi" often seems subtle in its fight scenes by comparison but then does have action sequences which are more like MCU superhero films. As an origin story, it assumes no familiarity with the MCU and in fact plays mostly as a non-MCU film, which is what I liked about it.
Simu Liu plays Shang-Chi/Shaun, the son of a mobster, Xu Wenwu (played by Tony Leung) who could quite easily have been the subject of a film or franchise himself, due to his legendary characteristics. Shang-Chi's mother Ying Li (played by Fala Chen) is also a legendary kind of character. This contrast of 'Eastern' legendary figures and 'Western' MCU legendary figures worked to the former's advantage, as the latter often come across as plastic toy figurines being used in a sandpit by small boys to play with.
The plot concerns how Shang-Chi/Shaun sought to move from under the shadow of his father to become his own man but just when he thought he was out, he is pulled back into Wenwu's orbit. The film mixes the seriousness, perhaps, of Chinese martial arts films with the jokey style of American Hollywood films. As should be expected from a MCU film, eventually the fate of the world will come into play and someone will have to play the hero to save it.
The martial arts in this film juxtaposes frenetic fight sequences with elegant and fluid fight scenes which have their own particular charm. Other times the action sequences seem lifted from a Disney live action family film and that was enjoyable too, if you just suspended disbelief.
Speaking of comedy, I found the earliest instance of this to be aiming very low for laughs, which isn't uncommon in MCU films but I warmed to later instances of it. For instance, I was amused by the character of a thespian who sounded like he was from Liverpool, when he reminisced about what he took from a film that he saw as a teenager and how that inspired him to get into acting. That actor playing the thespian did seem familiar, perhaps for his voice but I did recognise his name in the closing credits and remembered the role that he is perhaps best known for.
An interesting aspect to this film is its subject matter, i.e. An Asian superhero and a mostly Asian cast. Is this another attempt by Hollywood to crack the now important Chinese market? If it is, then the cooling relations between the US and China is an unwelcome fly in the ointment for Hollywood studios trying to make a lot of money from Chinese cinemagoers.
Another question that came into my mind was whether "The Ten Rings" is based on Chinese legend or is a Marvel appropriation of Chinese culture, tailored for 'Western' audiences that don't care about cultural authenticity. If it isn't the former, then I think that there could be a niche for films which mine authentic 'Eastern' legends and myths. That could be something which might interest me (Sinophiles would no doubt reel out a long list of films which have done just that!).
As you might have guessed, I wasn't the first in line to see this film. In fact, I wasn't even sure that I wanted to see it, as I haven't watched every line of superhero films in the MCU (maybe I should watch "The Black Panther"?). As it stands, I think it was worth the punt in seeing it. I'd go so far as to say that seeing a sequel to this would be more appealing if it wasn't tied to The Avengers franchise! Furthermore, I would have liked this film not to remind that it was part of the MCU, which it managed to do, at least until the closing credits, which I didn't welcome when it made its first appearance. With that being said, this is the kind of film that you could watch again, after a suitable break. Although I didn't watch this film in 3D, it might be worth it to do so (as sometimes the extra cost of the ticket gives added value to the experience and...sometimes it doesn't).
Notes to self:
* The narrative did have some logical gaps in it, for example why Shang-Chi was attacked on the bus. What was that all about?
* The film was dedicated to the memory of Brad Allan, I think. Not sure who that was...searching now, a few websites list him as the supervising stunt coordinator.
* Reading the closing credits, I was reminded that this film was shot in Australia, which isn't obvious watching it, so, good job studio (I think I saw or heard something on ABC in Australia about how Asian Australians got to be in this film, perhaps a kung fu exponent or exponents)!
* My score for this film was tracking from 75% (7 out of 10 stars) to 75+% (8 out 10 stars) to just a flat 80% final score.
Simu Liu plays Shang-Chi/Shaun, the son of a mobster, Xu Wenwu (played by Tony Leung) who could quite easily have been the subject of a film or franchise himself, due to his legendary characteristics. Shang-Chi's mother Ying Li (played by Fala Chen) is also a legendary kind of character. This contrast of 'Eastern' legendary figures and 'Western' MCU legendary figures worked to the former's advantage, as the latter often come across as plastic toy figurines being used in a sandpit by small boys to play with.
The plot concerns how Shang-Chi/Shaun sought to move from under the shadow of his father to become his own man but just when he thought he was out, he is pulled back into Wenwu's orbit. The film mixes the seriousness, perhaps, of Chinese martial arts films with the jokey style of American Hollywood films. As should be expected from a MCU film, eventually the fate of the world will come into play and someone will have to play the hero to save it.
The martial arts in this film juxtaposes frenetic fight sequences with elegant and fluid fight scenes which have their own particular charm. Other times the action sequences seem lifted from a Disney live action family film and that was enjoyable too, if you just suspended disbelief.
Speaking of comedy, I found the earliest instance of this to be aiming very low for laughs, which isn't uncommon in MCU films but I warmed to later instances of it. For instance, I was amused by the character of a thespian who sounded like he was from Liverpool, when he reminisced about what he took from a film that he saw as a teenager and how that inspired him to get into acting. That actor playing the thespian did seem familiar, perhaps for his voice but I did recognise his name in the closing credits and remembered the role that he is perhaps best known for.
An interesting aspect to this film is its subject matter, i.e. An Asian superhero and a mostly Asian cast. Is this another attempt by Hollywood to crack the now important Chinese market? If it is, then the cooling relations between the US and China is an unwelcome fly in the ointment for Hollywood studios trying to make a lot of money from Chinese cinemagoers.
Another question that came into my mind was whether "The Ten Rings" is based on Chinese legend or is a Marvel appropriation of Chinese culture, tailored for 'Western' audiences that don't care about cultural authenticity. If it isn't the former, then I think that there could be a niche for films which mine authentic 'Eastern' legends and myths. That could be something which might interest me (Sinophiles would no doubt reel out a long list of films which have done just that!).
As you might have guessed, I wasn't the first in line to see this film. In fact, I wasn't even sure that I wanted to see it, as I haven't watched every line of superhero films in the MCU (maybe I should watch "The Black Panther"?). As it stands, I think it was worth the punt in seeing it. I'd go so far as to say that seeing a sequel to this would be more appealing if it wasn't tied to The Avengers franchise! Furthermore, I would have liked this film not to remind that it was part of the MCU, which it managed to do, at least until the closing credits, which I didn't welcome when it made its first appearance. With that being said, this is the kind of film that you could watch again, after a suitable break. Although I didn't watch this film in 3D, it might be worth it to do so (as sometimes the extra cost of the ticket gives added value to the experience and...sometimes it doesn't).
Notes to self:
* The narrative did have some logical gaps in it, for example why Shang-Chi was attacked on the bus. What was that all about?
* The film was dedicated to the memory of Brad Allan, I think. Not sure who that was...searching now, a few websites list him as the supervising stunt coordinator.
* Reading the closing credits, I was reminded that this film was shot in Australia, which isn't obvious watching it, so, good job studio (I think I saw or heard something on ABC in Australia about how Asian Australians got to be in this film, perhaps a kung fu exponent or exponents)!
* My score for this film was tracking from 75% (7 out of 10 stars) to 75+% (8 out 10 stars) to just a flat 80% final score.