Movie Review – Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

TL;DR

Shang Chi was enjoyable, but not great. Visually appealing, whimsical, and has plenty of humor without being forced.

For me, the most sensible way to grade an MCU movie is against the other MCU movies. Generally speaking, Shang Chi falls in the middle third for me. Not the cream of the MCU crop, but still better than most movies in the superhero genre.

I think it’s also fair to compare it with other origin stories. Was it as good as Black Panther? Nope, not close, because Black Panther was great. And not as good as the first Iron Man. But Shang Chi was much better than the first Thor movie—not a high bar.

The World’s Most Indispensable Movie App

The RunPee app tells you the best times to
run & pee during a movie
so you don't miss the best scenes.

As seen on

Download the RunPee app.
100% free (donation supported)

     

Read more about the RunPee app.

Ta-Lo Style

The action sequences didn’t stand out for me, with the exception of the scenes employing the Ta-Lo fighting style. (Ta-Lo, after Shang Chi’s mother’s village.) There were only a few fight scenes that employed the Ta-Lo style, but they were all beautifully choreographed. Many movies employ slow-motion fight scenes to great effect, but the slow-motion is usually there to build dramatic anticipation and show a character’s power. The slow-motion fight scenes used during the Ta-Lo fights give the actors a chance to emote admiration, surprise, and sympathy through facial expressions. Besides that, it was like watching partners dance together as much as fight each other.

There was a better movie in the backstory

The writers deserve kudos for creating a compelling villain. First, they were fortunate to get an actor of Tony Chiu-Wai Leung’s caliber to portray Shang Chi’s father—Xu Wenwu. The character’s arc was believable. Given his power and circumstances, I’d expect most people to do the same. What wouldn’t we do to regain the love of our lives? If there’s any criticism here it’s that Xu Wenwu’s arc could very easily have been its own movie instead of just a brief backstory. His backstory might have made for a better movie than Shang Chi, but it would certainly have given Shang Chi more of a Star Wars/Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker sort of arc. Oh well; opportunity lost.

Acting

The acting by the two leads, Simu Liu as Shang Chi and Awkwafina as Katy, was adequate. Simu seemed a little stiff, like he was trying too hard, and Awkwafina was just Awkwafina. No surprise there.

Conclusion

As happens often, the more I think about it the less I like the movie. I’m just trying to remind myself that I left the theater last night thinking it was enjoyable. Don’t set your expectations too high and you’ll likely have a good experience.

Grade: B-

About The Peetimes: The 2nd Peetime is by far the best. There’s some humor, but nothing else. And it’s all one long scene that is easy to summarize. The last Peetime is for emergencies only. It’s short and dramatic, but your last chance before the climax of the movie begins.

There are extra scenes during, or after, the end credits of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. (What we mean by Anything Extra.)

What people are saying
about the RunPee app.

dd33803, 07/05/2023

This is a great app. I wish more people would support it

This app provides info about movies, reviews, ratings from people who have seen it before and after viewing. It has links to info about the movies. It let’s you know when there will be a lull in the action and how long it will last. If you want to know what happens during that time, you can check the brief synopsis (you have to click a link, so no accidental spoilers). It has a timer you can set (silent) to alert you to a break. It also tells you whether there is anything extra during or after the credits. It’s really a wonderful app. I’ve subscribed for a couple of years to support the developers, but I noticed some of the links to provide feedback didn’t seem to work today. They also made it free, with voluntary donations to see the pee-times. If you haven’t tried it, I encourage you to do so, and subscribe if you like it. I really hope the app is supported so it can continue to be maintained!

Developers note: RunPee doesn’t make much money but it supports itself nicely. Donations are appreciated, but not required. We’ll add as many movies to the database as we can until there are no more movie theaters.

View all reviews: Apple App Store | Google Play Store

     

Dan Gardner

Creator and developer of the RunPee app. When something doesn’t work right in the app it’s pretty much his fault. 🙂

Aspiring author. Would like to finish his “Zombie Revelations” trilogy if he could break away for working on RunPee and the cottage he’s building for RunPee Mom.