Movie Review: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings (2021) on Disney+
Let me say from the outset that Sheng-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings is a great film with sweeping vistas, strong characters, great martial arts scenes magnified by magnificent artistry, and punctuated by that typical Marvel-universe humor that makes superhero movies so fun to watch. The cast is great! My only beef with it is how it was rolled out on Disney+.
I believe the challenge is, if you watch the film in their IMAX version on Disney+ you may not see subtitles. They don't prepare you for this, and it is the recommended viewing. My nephew Rob watched it on the theatrical release widescreen and subtitles were included in the film. I went with the recommended IMAX version and it didn't. It took us three attempts to figure out how to select English subtitles on our own. Without subtitles, you don't get the backstory on the Legend of the 10 Rings, which is told in the film in Mandarin, and lots of the dialogue is in Mandarin. Many minutes into the story, when the setting switches to New York City, the dialogue switches to English. Later again it will switch back and forth between Mandarin and English. If you don't speak or read Mandarin (or English, for that matter), it's a challenge to understand the story. So be prepared, just in case.
That caution being expressed, I want to switch gears and say what a great film this is. It makes generous use of CGI and special effects to create an imaginative world with vivid characters in an incredible alternative world.
Sang-Chi (played by Simu Liu) and his sister Xialing (played by Meng'er Zhang) unite to try to save their mother's legendary home world from attack by their villainous father Xu Wenwu (played by Tony Chiu-Wai Leung), who has been the master of the 10 Rings for hundreds of years, wielding them as tools to gain power. Shang-Chi has been living in New York City hiding in cheap urban centers with his best friend Katy (played by Awkwafina) until he is egged into battle by Xu Wenwu's minions, who force them into exposing themselves. Once brought to his father, Sheng-Chi is invited to join in his father's quest, which is to save his murdered wife who he believes is locked in a fortress in her home world. To do that, they need to get the aid of Shang-Chi's sister, who has come out of her shell and started a gang-fighting command center in Macau. But talking her into joining forces isn't easy and the father's story about where their dead mother is isn't so convincing, and Xu Wenwu's plans go awry.
Veteran martial arts film star Michelle Yeoh adds authenticity to the legend and battle scenes, not to mention the artistry of the fighting shots. Filling out the top-quality cast is Ben Kingsley, who plays a Shakespearean actor who...I don't understand the role of his character, really, but his roles in past films give him weight in any casting list, so he forms a bookend to solidify the bone fides of everyone else? Anyway, this is a great ensemble cast, who get into several major battles throughout the film, the greatest near the end, which is a battle between two mega-giant dragons. Pretty cool!
Shang-Chi becomes a solid addition to the Marvel Superheroes universe and I'd watch it again in a New York (or Macau) minute. I'd rate Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings a solid A for Awesome!
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