Picturesque.
“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” is a CGI fantasy with highly skilled choreography and a formidable villain in 梁朝偉 Tony Chiu-Wai Leung’s “Xu Wenwu.” (I need that Wenwu Funko, like yesterday.)
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First and foremost, a deep, heavy, full-throated shout out to the film’s set artists, painters, decorators, the wardrobe department, and the stunt teams because goddamn—they killed it.
They deserve all the golden doubloons. 🏅🏅🏅 Their incredible work pushed the imagery up hella notches. On mommas. (Imma try to use Bay slang because part of the film is set in San Francisco.)
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刘思慕 Simu Liu is a cutie. 🥰 🥰 Loved him in the titular role, one he manifested years ago. So excited he was able to live a dream—like a fairytale come true. And what an awesome introduction to this character! He looked poised and his portrayal felt authentic, like an OG Avenger.
Liu made this origin story feel like home. I loved his chemistry with Awkwafina’s Katy, his sister Xialing played by 张梦儿 Meng’er Zhang, and with his father (Leung).
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Quick aside—my interest in this film piqued astronomically when I heard Leung was gonna be in it. If I could stan an actor, bih… ❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥 And he stole the show! Man be acting circles around everyone, and his stunt doubles were so good too! I could barely tell!! Shouts to the editing! Yee! 😁
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Similarly, 楊紫瓊 Michelle Yeoh Choo-kheng!!! Ma’am, do you age? Like, how do you look the exact same for 20 straight years?!?
What is in the water? What is the regime? What is it, Momma Yeoh?! The streets need it. Another legend who acts figure eights around e’erbody. ✊🏾 ✊🏾 ✊🏾 And she does her own stunts!!! Bih…
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I am happy, but cautiously optimistic in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s next few phases. I’m thrilled for Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel in “The Marvels.” I’m thrilled about “Eternals.” I’m excited for Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings to return. I want “representation,” “diversity,” and “inclusivity” to be an afterthought going into the next MCU sweep. It was clear that Phases I and II were almost entirely monochromatic, and it was time (been time) to showcase other characters.
Good on the writers for re-engaging with Ben Kingsley’s character from 2013’s “Iron Man 3.” It also added a bit of flair to the film’s history too, I guess, being that Kingsley is the first actor of Indian descent to win an Academy Award.
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I wanna know which films the cast and crew studied to prepare for the outstanding fight choreography.
Some of the best fighting occurred during Wenwu and Shang-Chi’s battle, but for some reason the introduction of the water dragon and the creature that was manifested from Wenwu’s hallucinations of his deceased wife Li (陳法拉 Fala Chen) felt hollow. The perceived consequences of the situation did not feel as dire as the hyperbolic acting from the ensemble suggested.
Was it too fantastical or something? 🤔💭 Not entirely sure. I think I missed something there.
There was something in the idea of Wenwu’s eternal life ending that felt anticlimactic.
(Eh, whatevz. I still enjoyed it though.)
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The technical composition of that bus confrontation between Florian Munteanu‘s Razor Fist and Shang-Chi needs to be studied. It was incredible and I almost wished smaller clips of the scene were used in the official trailer to keep a bit of surprise for the film. It’s probably top two if not the best scene of the film.
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Wenwu’s backstory and the Legend of the Ten Rings were lit. 🔥 🔥 🔥 I loved that we got to see the depths of the rings powers as the film progressed.
I appreciated the reflection of Li’s tragic death as a motivator for the siblings and the source of the final phase of Wenwu’s villainy. This film was a great exercise on showcasing grief and guilt. Wenwu blamed Shang-Chi for his Li’s death knowing that it was his damn fault she was approached and killed in the first place.
He was a villain for centuries and decided to put the rings away after building a family with her!
Oh, but when she was jumped!!
And died fighting a whole host of assassins.
All while his son was there to watch it all go down and did nothing.
Bruh.
F U L L R A M P A G E !!!
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Shang-Chi’s guilt aligned with his father’s when he reflected on his homicidal actions as a teen on Wenwu’s behalf. Wenwu trained him to be his predecessor, but Shang-Chi was not a natural killer. He was not interested in becoming Xu Wenwu Jr., hence the exile to San Francisco to live a mundane life.
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Conversely, Xialing was motivated by her exclusion. I loved her story out of everyone’s. She was basically orphaned by everyone. She was never able to gain the respect she was owed due to her gender. Her character profile seemed to align more with Wenwu than Shang-Chi. She wanted to get to the top by any means. I can’t wait to see what she does during Phase IV. Meng’er is dope. Extremely difficult to believe this is her first major film! She killed this!
I hope she flourishes outchea. 🖤🖤🖤
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With new characters comes opportunities for new directors, cinematographers, editors, musicians, and other artists to lend their talents to Marvel Studios.
It is needed.
Destin Daniel Cretton had already been buzzing as a talent to watch following his emotional films “Short Term 12” (2013) and “Just Mercy” (2019). He has an eye, perspective, and talent that should be appreciated in Marvel’s ever expanding world.
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Super excited to see more! 🤩🤩