Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings

Marvel have made a name for themselves by playing things pretty close to the vest. They have done this by creating a formula and sticking to that formula. Don’t get me wrong, there hasn’t been a film they have made that I have disliked, so the formula works! But to keep things interesting, Marvel have decided to play with that formula and create something unique and different with Shang Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings. This film feels wholly unique and is vastly different from any of the other films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is fun, well-directed and incredibly entertaining. Today I will be telling you the 5 reasons, why ‘Shang Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings’ is awesome. This is of course my opinion, but If you are a Marvel fan, I would highly recommend checking it out!

The action – Marvel films all have a very specific style of action, however, the team have played with the action set pieces in this film and its just fantastic. There are great close-up action scenes, with a fantastic fight sequence on a moving bus. Each of the scenes are enhanced by CGI, but it never takes away from the overall action. It is incredibly well constructed and choregraphed. Fans of action films will find great pleasure in the way these scenes are executed.

The chemistry between the leads – All the actors in this film do a wonderful job, but our two leads Simu Lui as Shaun/Shang Chi and Awkwafina as Katy are both excellent! I loved their chemistry as you really believe their friendship. I love as well that these two characters remain friends throughout the course of the film. Marvel resisted the urge to make them an item and I think it pays off as both characters feel more natural as friends.  I loved the interactions between both characters as well, they are thrust into this spiritual and fantastical world and they act just like any person would, seeing all of this for the first time. I can’t wait to see the two of them again in future Marvel projects and hopefully a Shang Chi sequel.

The Story – The films story is very rich in culture. The film adopts martial arts sensibilities to the central plot of the film, with a villain that is sympathetic and well realised. I love the direction in which this story goes, as it is filled with heart and unlike any other Marvel film to date. Without giving away spoilers, essentially Shaun’s father Xu Wenu/the real mandarin (played excellently by the way, by Tony Ciu-Wai Leung), is grieving over the death of his wife and after the dark spirits manipulate him, he believes he has found a way to bring her back, but does not know what is about to unfold and his son Shaun, bust stop him. Its really quite tragic and I really felt for each of the characters here as they did not want to be put into this situation, but as the events of the film proceed, that’s exactly what happens. I hope that future Marvel films adopt this mature and sentimental approach to their storytelling in upcoming projects.

The third-act set-piece – The final showdown between these characters is simply gorgeous to look at and a lot of fun. We have Ying Nan’s (played by Michelle Yeoh) clan defending the earth against this evil threat with gorgeous action and CGI to compliment the film. The visual effects are simply stunning and tis action set-piece looks absolutely incredible. The stakes are huge, yet the film does not rely on collateral damage. We aren’t use to this setting in a Marvel film for a third act action set-piece, and it feels refreshing and different. There’s no cities being destroyed, rather we have this small community defending their homes against a supernatural threat.  It really felt quaint in comparison, which feels like an odd thing to say considering there is a giant dragon flying about, but its true! This would be one of my favourite conclusions to any MCU film to date!

The world-building – Shang Chi & the Ten Rings, does a great job of world building. Considering the MCU has over 30 entries in it, at this stage, this type of world building felt near impossible, but here we are. The film does such a great job of establishing this world, showing audiences the seedy underbelly of the Marvel world. This is great news for Marvel fans, as this opens the door for Marvel to explore some of the darker storylines and darker characters in the MCU. I had a really good time exploring this world with these characters, as the characters act as a vessel into the darker side of the MCU as it is all new to them as well.

Shang Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings was an absolute blast. Filled with fantastic performances, amazing visuals and just an all round great time. I can’t wait to see more of Shang Chi’s story and see more of this darker side to the MCU in future projects. Be sure to pick Shang Chi up on DVD, Blu-Ray and 4K UHD, available at Sanity in store or online today! 

Buy Shang-Chi & The Legend of the Ten Rings on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD Here

Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here