Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: Movie Review

Shang Chi was hyped up long before I watched it and it certainly didn’t disappoint. It has some great characters, but even better choreography and special effects. The movie’s plot is very interesting and intertwines well with the rest of the Marvel Universe. It’s not perfect, but it’s still great. 

The film follows Shaun (Shang Chi is his actual name) and his best friend Katy as they uncover Shaun’s father’s plot to free Shaun’s mother from a secret prison. They discover that the mom had died a long time ago and the calls from the “prison” were a monster waiting to be uncovered and break out of its own prison. It all culminates into a great finale where they defeat the demon as it escapes. There’s some of the plot I left out because I don’t want to reveal a lot. I wanted to highlight a few things in particular. 

The first fight scene with Shang Chi on the bus is easily the best part of the movie in my opinion. Some men sent by his father ambush him on a bus and he has to fight them on a moving bus. Up until this point, he seemed like a normal guy just trying to live his life, but this scene reveals that he is indeed not normal. He faces off against them, and the fight has amazing choreography. It flows so well and it seems powerful. The comedy in the fight provided by other passengers is definitely well done, even though it’s not exactly my favorite style of humor. The problems are not common, but this movie doesn’t feel super unique. It has a similar style to lots of other adventure movies and feels targeted towards kids more than anything else. As good as it is, it lacks the intensity of other Marvel movies. I wish they had kept the intensity on par with this scene.

The color and lighting also play a huge part in the film in my opinion. Throughout the film, they hint at what’s going to happen and who’s good or evil. For the bad guys, the film crew consistently used cool tones and for the good guys, they used warm tones. A good example of this is the battle scene on the scaffolding. In this scene, the billboards and night sky bathe the characters in blues and cool colors. Every time these colors are used, they make you feel cold inside, while the warm colors of the good guys make you feel warm – an effect I have to give props to the director for. I also applaud the director for this choice because a lot of the time in American media red is portrayed as evil and blue as good. For people who are used to this dynamic, it helps further solidify that this is a unique story, not just another generic hero story. 

This was one of the better Marvel movies. 84/100 raisins.