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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
It's been some time since I've written an entry just about an MCU property, hasn't it? Maybe since I posted weekly reaction shots to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Most of my MCU reviews are finding their way into Monday Media instead, which is fine, but I feel like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings wants to stand alone. Not necessarily because it was so amazing that I don't want to bury my thoughts in the Monday Media post -- although I did enjoy it, quite a lot -- but because this was probably my most anticipated Marvel movie of the year, and I want to give it a little extra room to breathe.
When SCL10R first came out, I was really irritated that this, of all Disney's big movies, is the first one they didn't make available right away on streaming to Disney+ subscribers. It was the first such movie I would have actually paid extra for, but I didn't have the opportunity. Although no one said this, I'm sure it was due to ScarJo's lawsuit, which, fair enough -- she had a legit complaint and I'm glad it seems like it was settled in her favor -- and I suspect they wanted to avoid any further potential breaches of contract with big-name actors. Still, I was bummed, and actually thought about seeing the movie in theaters, but it was early September, Delta was still peaking in the SF Bay area, and it just didn't feel like a good idea. (Depending on case counts, Spider-Man: No Way Home might be my first movie theater experience since I saw Little Women in January 2020 because 1. I'm pretty excited for it and 2. the contract situation with Disney and Sony suggests that it might be a long, long time before it comes to streaming.) Fortunately, it sounds like it did pretty well in theaters -- at least I haven't heard that it was a box office disappointment -- but imagine how much better it would have done in the before times?
Anyway. So we watched it on Friday, the first day it was available, and I'm very happy to have done so. Some things I liked about it: Awkwafina, and her excellent chemistry with Simu Liu. The fact that they kept that relationship pretty firmly a friendship, which is always nice to see. (Especially in the MCU, which tends to be a bit lackluster at romance storylines.) The push and pull between Shang-Chi and his sister -- are they enemies? Are they allies? A bit of both? Tony Leung as Xu Wenwu, one of the better MCU villains -- and I realize the bar is low, but he was well-developed character with an interesting backstory, motivations that make sense, and a genuine connection with the hero that provides genuine stakes to the final battle between them. Gorgeous production design and cinematography (until the end at least, when the big CGI battle gets a little muddy; as one review I saw put it, simultaneously colorful and gray, sometimes hard to follow the action. Maybe it would have been easier on the big screen). Michelle Yeoh, because Michelle Yeoh. The humor sprinkled throughout -- much of it courtesy of Awkwafina, but not all. The second post-credits scene. (The first one is fine, but mostly it feels like yet another step along the march to the multi-verse. Except for Wong joining Shang-Chi and Katy at karaoke. That was brilliant.) Finally, it was great to see a tentpole Marvel production with only one white character of note (Razor Fist, whose name we only learn because it's emblazoned on his car).
From the previews, I had hoped this might be a San Francisco movie. Most of the action takes place elsewhere, but the bus fight was everything I had hoped for. (Just in case you haven't seen it, this Twitter thread about the bus fight from the perspective of a professional MUNI bus driver is a must read.) The streets were recognizably San Francisco, and the 1-California is indeed a bus one might take from Chinatown to the Fairmont Hotel, but the route it takes bears no resemblance to either the typical route of the 1-California or, indeed, the geography of San Francisco. But it was so much fun that I forgive it. And the brief look we get at the streets of Chinatown feels reasonably accurate to me. Maybe if there are more Shang-Chi movies, they can take place here. That would be fun.
Okay, so obviously I have to talk about big picture MCU lore -- otherwise I wouldn't be me. The Ten Rings are a significant presence in the MCU, going all the way back to the beginning and the abduction of Tony Stark. Unless I missed something, Wenwu never outright states that this group was connected to him, but considering what he says about Aldritch Killian's appropriation of the name and imagery, I suspect that Stark's kidnappers might well have been part of the organization. Whether planned or a retcon, I enjoyed the new perspective on Trevor Slattery's role as "The Mandarin". I was really excited by that twist on the character when I first saw Iron Man 3, and I've only grown to love it more since. Apparently Wenwu's abduction of Slattery from prison was depicted in an MCU short that I've never seen, but I gather it's on Disney+, so I'll have to check it out.
I have less to say about the first post-credits scene. The signal sent by the rings could be anything, calling anyone, and I'd rather see it play out in the movies than speculate endlessly about it. Nice to see Carol, if briefly. Someday I'd like to get some more information about how all this post-Endgame content is connected together timewise.
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Isn't it? I love it when professionals compare movie reality vs actual reality, and this thread is a particularly entertaining example.
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I hope you enjoy it! Will be curious what you think.
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It's a great fight scene. There are some quite good martial arts in this movie, though I am not a connoisseur so I'm sure not everyone would agree with me.
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I saw the movie with a friend who speaks Mandarin, so I got a lot of extra tidbits about the movie (she said the subtitles were fairly accurate, and there was some interesting info about the writing systems used for various things.) It was really enjoyable, and especially for the lack of, as said friend put it, "romance plot tumors."