Shang-ChI Review

Credit to: Disney and Marvel Entertainment

Props To Marvel For Asian representation

Welcome back, y’all! As you all have probably noticed, things have been a lot more busy on my end, and so it has affected my article releases and their release times. Don’t worry, The Wolf Den isn’t going anywhere. I’m just trying to implement my actual job with the article writing that I do for you guys, while trying to spare time for my personal friends and family, and of course, being able to get enough rest. I did have enough time to watch Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings yesterday, so here I am now on this fine Tuesday evening, writing up this review! As usual, I’ll be doing a fairly quick review, which is going to be in sections. There’s the pros section, the cons section, and then my final thoughts. Without further ado, let’s just jump straight into this.

Pros

I’ve gotta say that pro number one, is definitely the inclusion of all of these wonderful Asian actors and actresses. They were all given some solid screen time, and were given delightful roles. I couldn’t be happier for Simu Liu, the actor who plays the titular character, because with this role, he’s finally given the Asian community a superhero to look up to, and boy does he play his part SUPER well. I can’t praise him without giving props to the supporting actors and actresses, such as Nora Lum-Awkwafina professionally- as Katy, Benedict Wong as… well, Wong (not a spoiler if you’ve been paying attention to the marketing), Tony Leung Chiu-wai as The Mandarin, and all of the other amazing actors and actresses involved in this badass film. I did of course have my gripes with it, but they’re heavily outmatched by my overall enjoyment of this film, and I really do believe that part of my enjoyment was seeing so many amazing Asian people playing such interesting characters. Really gives the Asian community some heroes to look up to, and some villains to love. I love that so so much. Now, since I mentioned Shang-Chi himself, my second pro is the fact that they took this Marvel Comics character, and made him into something so much more. Of course, his powers and abilities are a bit different just to be a bit more realistic, even though we see mythological creatures and beasts, but still, for this film, the character of Shang-Chi was written VERY well. His fight scenes are ALL fantastic, and his character development truly is a fascinating thing to see. In the comics, I personally didn’t identify with him much, because to me, he was just a martial artist. I wanted something more than fights, I wanted a story, I wanted emotion, I wanted something to connect to, which is why Daredevil almost immediately became my favorite Marvel character of all time. But here, we see a much more different Shang-Chi. We see Shang-Chi as the fighter that we’re used to, but we also see Shang-Chi the human. Shang-Chi the son. Shang-Chi the selfless. This movie perfectly captures the idea of being a hero, and gives it to the newest member of the MCU, an Asian badass. I love to see it.

The third pro would definitely be the story. It is a little bit corny, which might turn some of you off, I do admit that, but for me, this film actually reminds me of the old 70s and 80s kung fu action films that I would watch on Netflix or YouTube when I was younger. and that’s because of the way the story is told. We get a cheesy (in a good way) film that has Shang-Chi face his destiny and become something so much more, which is a common trope in those types of films. Also, you can really tell that the director wanted us as the audience to make the connection between this film and those older martial arts films by the way that the fights are often coordinated, whether it be by making a certain few characters super floaty when they jump or lunge, or by the use of some classic and traditional Chinese martial arts weapons. This story perfectly blends that 70s and 80s nostalgia with a fresh new look to the character of Shang-Chi, and I really couldn’t be happier with the way this movie turned out. Also, there are two end credits scenes, and maaaan these were awesome. Of course, I don’t want to reveal anything too spoilery, but we get a little tease that a certain someone(s) may or may not be coming into the MCU. The second one also directly lets us know that a specific group will be returning. Won’t say more than that, go check it out!

Cons

Okay, I have two specific cons for this film. Number one, is the fact that this movie was so corny. This movie was SOOOO corny. The jokes almost never worked for me, and I was just sitting there waiting for them to stop the stupid humor. It was like Thor: Ragnarok, accept even more of these jokes were bad. I actually found myself unintentionally facepalming repeatedly, like these jokes were really that bland. There was humor in inappropriate places, and it just left a bad taste in my mouth more often than not. Now, the second and final con, is that this movie was preeetty slow. It wasn’t unbearable or anything like that, like it really wasn’t super bad, but yeah, I did notice in certain areas of this film that there were some slow parts. I would say that the slowest part for me was the whole cage fighting part. It was full of bad jokes and some bad pacing, so I really can’t say I was a fan of that part whatsoever.

Final Thoughts

Like I said before, I do love this movie. It was pretty fun, it had some touching moments, had some incredible fight scenes, had a pretty good story, and it had a wonderful cast of characters. It was a little slow and terribly corny, but other than that, I really had a great time with this film. Now that I think about it, this is the first movie I’ve watched inside a movie theater since the pandemic started. Wow. Well now I’m really glad this movie didn’t suck, cause imagine if I went out of my comfort zone by risking my health just to watch a bad movie? That’s pretty funny. Anyways! That’s the review! If you all got the chance to watch this movie, what did you think of it? Let me know on my Instagram and Twitter, and make sure you follow for all the news and reviews on your favorite entertainment topics! This has been The Wolf Den!

4 out of 5.