Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings

[Cap]

Discuss Wenwu Here.

[lilmac]

B-/C+
 

This is what Black Panther could have been without the sure direction of Coogler. 

Pros

-Awkwafina

-creature and world design
-Mandarin’s scenes (although I didn’t like that he felt he needed to apologize for IM3)

-Lucy Liu 

 

Cons

 

-tired female trope (coed fights are so predictable in that the female always wins, their characters are also invariably nobler, man=bad)
- confusing fight scenes at times and for me martial arts scenes can be repetitive 

-disjointed and confusing climactic scene of him fighting the Final dragon Boss 
-villain was not that evil. He was motivated by love of his wife. 

Edited September 4, 2021 by lilmac

[FilmFincher]

I enjoyed this, solid MCU outing. 

Has all the usual things that stop it from being truly exceptional. But hey, they know how to do a fun blockbuster.

 

I loved all the characters, thought the connection between Shang and Katy was especially poignant, definitely worked the strongest for me. Needed more Tony Leung, outside of a couple of scenes he didn't really get to stretch his legs (motivation was interesting though) and his big 3rd act moment gets lost in the green-screen, CGI, smashy/crashy stuff. Lacking in the emotional catharsis I wanted. The sister aspect was fine, her connection with Katy was fun but the Shang side was a little perfunctory.

 

The character arcs and plot are pretty simple origin movie stuff, nothing crazy, hits all the marks, ticks all the boxes. Moves at a fairly good pace, the flashbacks might feel intrusive to some but they fit perfectly for me. 

 

Much more magical than I was expecting, which I also really liked. Fun creatures (especially Morris, what an adorable little fella), again doesn't quite capture that classic sense of wonder that the MCU struggles so much with. It was also consistently funny throughout (Karaoke payoff had me howling). 

Spoiler

Even more so when Trevor and Morris appear. I was overjoyed with just how much Kingsley was in the film, I thought it was going to be a one scene thing. But no, the man is a supporting character and i loved every second of it.

 

Where this film has a leg up is the hand to hand combat, the wonderful Bill Pope (credited here as William Pope) brings his experience to give the MCU a bit of pep in it's step when it comes to fight scenes (Albeit not as good as his previous works). There are a couple of things that bring the fights down, namely the misuse of slow-mo, occasional CGI doubles (yes during hand to hand combat) and the MCU homogenous colour grade that prevents the image from truly popping and lacks clarity at the times. But he still works his magic, there's some incredible one take sequences in this film where you're just in awe of the way Shang is weaving through the set-peice combined with swift camera moves. Overall they're really fun to watch whereas in previous MCU I end up tuning out.

 

The film struggles with the larger action set-pieces (car chases, big battles etc), feeling less inspired and fails to capture any sense of awe, scale or threat. Lacking in tangible direction compared to the hand-to-hand stuff and ultimately forgettable. Music and sound design also fall into the 'serviceable' category. 

 

7.5/10

 

[TigerPaw]

Didn't like the 3rd act at all.. Really brought the entire film down.

 

I speak Mandarin and English so some actor's mandarin accent really turned me off...

 

Good 1st and 2nd act though; Trevor stole the show.

[baumer]

I'll go a step further than lilmac.  I found this to be hot garbage.  I loved Wong, both times he was in it.  I loved everything up until the end of the bus scene.  After that it just completely falls off the rails imo.  It's soulless and generic and we've seen it all before.  Yes, super hero movies have their tropes they have to follow, but after Black Panther and then IW and EG, seeing two massive groups of people fight each other isn't really all that thrilling anymore.  And the final act with the dragons and the octopi looking things and Shang being worthy enough to get the rings, it just seemed way too cgi heavy and too much like a theme park ride.  

 

I didn't care for the Mandarin stuff at all.

 

If this isn't the worst MCU movie, it's pretty close imo.

 

3/10

[lorddemaxus]

3 hours ago, baumer said:

I'll go a step further than lilmac.  I found this to be hot garbage.  I loved Wong, both times he was in it.  I loved everything up until the end of the bus scene.  After that it just completely falls off the rails imo.  It's soulless and generic and we've seen it all before.  Yes, super hero movies have their tropes they have to follow, but after Black Panther and then IW and EG, seeing two massive groups of people fight each other isn't really all that thrilling anymore.  And the final act with the dragons and the octopi looking things and Shang being worthy enough to get the rings, it just seemed way too cgi heavy and too much like a theme park ride.  

 

I didn't care for the Mandarin stuff at all.

 

If this isn't the worst MCU movie, it's pretty close imo.

 

3/10

Finally a movie we seem to have similar opinions on (I was a tad bit higher than you though merely because of Tony Leung and a scene involving him at the start). You could already see hints of the movie falling of the rails in the bus scene. The moment the breaks of the bus stop working, the entire scene becomes poorly composited CGI mush with some nice choreography hidden under.

Edited September 5, 2021 by lorddemaxus

[filmlover]

Highly enjoyed this. It doesn't do much to alter the now-established Marvel Origin Movie template, but Destin Daniel Cretton proves himself more than capable of putting together a stellar and exciting action set piece. An appealing cast adds a lot too: I haven't seen enough of Simu Liu to know if he's an especially great actor, but he does what the part requires and becomes an engaging hero, and he's supported well by yet another delightful performance from Awkwafina, the always-dignified Michelle Yeoh, an amusing surprise return appearance from Ben Kingsley, and a rare Hollywood role for the great Tony Leung. It may lack the strong storytelling of something like Black Panther that would elevate it to Top-Tier Marvel, but it does its job of getting the audience prepared for the next round of superheroes as the MCU begins to navigate its post-Tony/Steve/Natasha future. B+

[The Panda]

6 hours ago, baumer said:

I'll go a step further than lilmac.  I found this to be hot garbage.  I loved Wong, both times he was in it.  I loved everything up until the end of the bus scene.  After that it just completely falls off the rails imo.  It's soulless and generic and we've seen it all before.  Yes, super hero movies have their tropes they have to follow, but after Black Panther and then IW and EG, seeing two massive groups of people fight each other isn't really all that thrilling anymore.  And the final act with the dragons and the octopi looking things and Shang being worthy enough to get the rings, it just seemed way too cgi heavy and too much like a theme park ride.  

 

I didn't care for the Mandarin stuff at all.

 

If this isn't the worst MCU movie, it's pretty close imo.

 

3/10

My review is this, except the exact opposite of almost everything Baumer said

[Menor the Destroyer]

This movie was awesome other than Trevor Slattery who felt unnecessary and slowed down the pace of the movie at the wrong moment. I wish there had been more scenes between Shang and Wenwu and Shang and Xialing, felt like there was a bit more to unpack there. But other than that a really strong movie, great action, flashbacks were inserted well and flowed well, nice emotional hook, and the third act was suitably grand. I loved the dragon fight, it was exactly the sort of large-scale action that blockbusters should do. A. 

[MOVIEGUY]

On 9/3/2021 at 7:12 PM, lilmac said:

Pros

-Lucy Liu 

 

 

uhhhh

[Michael Gary Scott]

On 9/3/2021 at 10:12 PM, lilmac said:

B-/C+
 

This is what Black Panther could have been without the sure direction of Coogler. 

Pros

-Awkwafina

-creature and world design
-Mandarin’s scenes (although I didn’t like that he felt he needed to apologize for IM3)

-Lucy Liu 

 

Cons

 

-tired female trope (coed fights are so predictable in that the female always wins, their characters are also invariably nobler, man=bad)
- confusing fight scenes at times and for me martial arts scenes can be repetitive 

-disjointed and confusing climactic scene of him fighting the Final dragon Boss 
-villain was not that evil. He was motivated by love of his wife. 

Give me a complex villain over a generic evil guy trying to take over the world anyway. One of Marvels best villains. This was amazing best origin film since Ironman.

[Cap]

The Best part of this movie is I have spent the past week thinking about Wenwu/Ying Li live happily ever after/no fridging AUs. They are so good. Their love is so strong. 

[Liiviig 1998]

Well this is behind black panther for the most overrated movies in the MCU.

 

Well enjoyed the start of the film, things started to go sideways in the bus scene .

 

Pros

 

-tony leung and the flashbacks

- fascinating world and creatures

-Akwafina was alot better than I expected.

- 1st post credit scene.

- michelle yoeh

 

Mixed

 

-Simi lui fell flat for me. Having Akwafina by his side really helped. He just wasn't charismatic or compelling even with the rich backstory he is given .

-Third act . Though I loved it for it's  Zany nature . CGI was wonky AF. The way shangchi earns and masters the rings was rushed .

 

-Well trevor slattery felt kind of forced into the movie.

 

Cons

 

Side characters were all one dimensional and boring. Blue ninja with a mask whatever his name was wasted .trailers made it seem like he was going to affect shangchi more.

Worst character goes to the sister

Who was just so bland and unlikable for me. No chemistry btn her and shangchi, the way she treats him in the cage fight. yeah the  she trained herself trope I guess 🤷🏿‍♂️ . 

 

GCi and compositing was really bad in parts and took me out of the movie at times and it really messed up some of the well chereographed sequences in the film.

 

Overall fascinating world betrayed by a weak script and mediocre and bland characters with exception of leung and Akwafina and we'll bad CGI .

 

B

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2021 by Liiviig 1998

[lilmac]

9 hours ago, Liiviig 1998 said:

Well this is behind black panther for the most overrated movies in the MCU.

 

Well enjoyed the start of the film, things started to go sideways in the bus scene .

 

Pros

 

-tony leung and the flashbacks

- fascinating world and creatures

-Akwafina was alot better than I expected.

- 1st post credit scene.

- michelle yoeh

 

Mixed

 

-Simi lui fell flat for me. Having Akwafina by his side really helped. He just wasn't charismatic or compelling even with the rich backstory he is given .

-Third act . Though I loved it for it's  Zany nature . CGI was wonky AF. The way shangchi earns and masters the rings was rushed .

 

-Well trevor slattery felt kind of forced into the movie.

 

Cons

 

Side characters were all one dimensional and boring. Blue ninja with a mask whatever his name was wasted .trailers made it seem like he was going to affect shangchi more.

Worst character goes to the sister

Who was just so bland and unlikable for me. No chemistry btn her and shangchi, the way she treats him in the cage fight. yeah the  she trained herself trope I guess 🤷🏿‍♂️ . 

 

GCi and compositing was really bad in parts and took me out of the movie at times and it really messed up some of the well chereographed sequences in the film.

 

Overall fascinating world betrayed by a weak script and mediocre and bland characters with exception of leung and Akwafina and we'll bad CGI .

 

B

 

 

 

 

 

^ This

[lilmac]

On 9/4/2021 at 7:34 PM, baumer said:

I'll go a step further than lilmac.  I found this to be hot garbage.  I loved Wong, both times he was in it.  I loved everything up until the end of the bus scene.  After that it just completely falls off the rails imo.  It's soulless and generic and we've seen it all before.  Yes, super hero movies have their tropes they have to follow, but after Black Panther and then IW and EG, seeing two massive groups of people fight each other isn't really all that thrilling anymore.  And the final act with the dragons and the octopi looking things and Shang being worthy enough to get the rings, it just seemed way too cgi heavy and too much like a theme park ride.  

 

I didn't care for the Mandarin stuff at all.

 

If this isn't the worst MCU movie, it's pretty close imo.

 

3/10

It’s so good to see your posts buddy. Not sure if you remember but we go back almost 20 years (BOM forums). We had a contest, closely watched by all, for first to 1000 posts. Lol. This was June-August 2002 timeframe. 

[baumer]

On 9/10/2021 at 3:26 PM, lilmac said:

It’s so good to see your posts buddy. Not sure if you remember but we go back almost 20 years (BOM forums). We had a contest, closely watched by all, for first to 1000 posts. Lol. This was June-August 2002 timeframe. 

 

Of course i remember all of that. Its great seeing you here as well.

[Noctis]

I found this to be one of the most enjoyable MCU films. I think the second half was where the movie soared. The action here was on par with some of the best in the franchise - and portions of it being the best. Beautiful choreography and it just felt like a breath of fresh air in the series. 

 

A 

[titanic2187]

Another well-executed formulaic MCU entry with some impressive set deign but the last CGI fight really turn me off. Tony is definitely the highlight of the film and almost every great scene has he in it. 

[clockwork]

Thought it was really really good but not great. The action scenes are as great as everybody has been saying, good use of long takes and wider shots than the usual marvel action scenes which helped them flow better. I thought the way they used the ten rings was really creative and loved all the tricks that Wenwu and Shang Chi were pulling off, please Disney/Marvel continue doing creative things with the magic/superpowers/tech in the MCU and not the same old stuff we've seen before.

 

Tony Leung/Wenwu is also just a great as everybody has been saying, being one of the better marvel villains in recent years with a real emotional core to him. The complaints/nitpicks I have are nothing people haven't said before about these movies; same old big CGI climax in addition to a bunch of henchmen/warriors fighting each other over not so compelling plot stakes. The 2nd act started drag at points and I thought they could've tightened things up a bit to improve the pacing. This movie still adheres to the marvel formula which I expected in addition to the similar hit and miss humor that permeates these movies (I did get a few chuckles though)

 

This is certainly not in the same league as Black Panther but on it's own merits its a pretty well made, colorful, good to well acted, and very entertaining movie and addition to the MCU. I'll definitely looking forward to the sequel to see where they take things from here. B+

 

Edited November 13, 2021 by clockwork

[Jamiem]

Might be my 2nd favourite MCU film after Ragnarok, but at least top 5 with Infinity War, Winter Soldier and Guardians 2. 

 

Characters where well fleshed out, loved just about everyone and Went as a villain had a very clear understandle motivation which is a nice bonus for an MCU film. Humour was decent, action was incredible* and I thought the CG in the third act was actually reasonably good especially for a daylight scene. 

 

*was likely enhanced (sorry I had to) by being IMAX on Disney+ which is a great feature. 

 

Also one last thing, shout out to Kung Fu Hustle being canon in the MCU!