Is Shang Chi Good?

 

Quick disclaimer :

This is written to spark discussion and debate between viewers of the film. Several spoilers are included and I strongly suggest watching the movie.

Shang Chi : The Legends of The Ten Rings is the second of the four movies released in 2021 by Marvel. This follows Black Widow, which was a sad disappointment and precedes Eternals and Spiderman : No Way Home.

To be quite honest, I never had a strong interest in this film. I was quite excited by the prospect of the Black Widow and Spiderman films and Eternals excited me for the new phase of Marvel involving themes built in the Loki miniseries. The trailer did spark some interest, but Simi Liu’s charismatic social media presence really made me want to watch this movie. A few days later, it arrived on Disney Plus and I decided to watch it. And here’s what I thought.

Let’s start with the high points. The soundtrack was God-tier. There are some movies with excellent albums like Fate of The Furious or Deadpool 2 with songs from French Montana and Celine Dion, but this takes the cake. The music works so well with the movie and some of the scenes are pushed beyond good with the music. Rich Brian absolutely carries some of the music. “Act Up”, which is featured in the very introduction of adult Shaun, or Shang Chi really pushes a generic introduction scene to a really enjoyable part where I could feel myself actually enjoying the music. I feel like the movie peaks early, too early to be frank and that’s the bus fight scene. This, I would say is the single best fight scene in Marvel history. Marvel seems to have the fight scenes mastered. While they experimented a lot in the early days, circa 2008,  with rather jiggly camera work in the Captain America movies or wider shots like we see in Black Panther, they immaculately shot and choreographed the scene to perfection. The martial arts are really impressive to look at and the humorous bits add to the touch. But the music, oh the music! “Run it” by Rich Brian and Rick Ross absolutely pushes this scene to the limits by adding a perfect beat to the fight like no other movie. DJ Snake’s beat drops really build some good tension and Rick Ross’ voice plays really well when Shaun is swapping punches with machete man. Good music is a general theme in the movie. I feel like I have explained how it’s good, but never why. Most of the music is hip-hop and while it’s not generally prevalent to Asian culture and China in particular, the beats and melodies seem to have been built from Chinese instruments. “Act Up”, for example, starts with a simple Guqin set and morphs into a trap/drill beat. Black Panther did this too, but they used hip-hop as a genre more sparingly because I would assume there is more symbolism involved. “Killmonger’s Theme” and “King’s Dead” are the only two tracks that are fully hip-hop and the symbolism of Killmonger being an African-American with African roots played well with those tracks. But while the general symbolism is lacking in Shang Chi, the mix of Chinese and American music is very good to listen and fits the theme of the film. Another thing I loved in this film was the integration of Mandarin and English. I always felt uncomfortable how Hollywood movies make their international characters speak English with a very classy accent even though they might never use it in the real world. An example is Wanda Vision where we see Wanda speaking English in an Eastern European accent to her family even though they might choose to speak their own language. Shang Chi fixes that and English and Mandarin are used appropriately through out the film. Katie, Shaun’s best friend, being a second-generation immigrant can’t speak Mandarin, but understands it and it plays well in the film.

Another thing I loved about this movie was its humor. Like most Marvel movies, it was hilarious and it really keeps the pressure low at some points. Akwafina (Katie) was hilarious and carried most of the humor through out the film. Simi Liu (Shang Chi) holds up his own side but Katie mostly contributes to the comedy in the film. Let’s talk Katie’s role in the movie. Katie was and is Shaun’s best friend ever since he moved to America when he was 14 years old. She claims she has been his best friend for half his life so we can conclude Shang Chi is around 29 years old. Katie’s role in the film is basically a side kick to Shaun who joins and assists him in his journey and I feel like Marvel botched it up. Katie provides lacking philosophical value to Shaun and doesn’t excel in any special skill like most other movie sidekicks. I feel like Marvel realized this and shoved in a hasty sub plot of her being really good at archery and even making her save the day when the Soul Sucker almost sucks the guardian dragon’s soul. I am not against her being a prodigy, but explain it! Does her grandmother have Ta Lo heritage? Is it some long-lost trait? And I don’t think I’m overthinking this. These movies are made to be over thought. Countless easter eggs, franchise references and other titbits have been constantly added to these films and I prefer knowing the explanation for things this big. Giving forced roles to characters never work and developing Katie with a better sub-plot and longer run time would’ve definitely benefited the overall workings of this movie.

Okay, so here’s the plot piece that confused me the most. What exactly are the motivations for Shang Chi’s father? Let me make this clear. Shang Chi’s dad, The Mandarin, was an immortal dictator who ran his own little army for monetary and power gains. While he never took the public stage, he worked for contract and personally to get events to work  in his favor. It was stated in the first scene that while he could’ve used his Ten Rings to do good to the world, he didn’t and used it for personal gain. Okay, so he’s a selfish maniac who didn’t care about anyone except him and his army. When he met Shaun’s mother, he chose to retire from his gang and chose to be with her and raise children. Shaun’s mom was killed when he was seven by the Iron Gang who were wronged by The Mandarin when he was in business. The Mandarin wasn’t there, so Shaun’s mom took the fall and died while trying to fight off a sea of gang members. Shang Chi stood to see all this and was found crying by his mom’s body when his dad returned from the grocery store. This scene was very Avatar-esque and seemed to pull the same concept from Kaya’s death to save Katara.

The Mandarin soon tracks down the gangsters and kills them all using his Ten Rings. He fails to find the leader and heads back home, making the seven-year-old Shang Chi promise he’ll avenge his mom. This intrigued me. Was The Mandarin psychotically obsessed with his wife? Because training a young child to be an assassin and sending him to commit murder would suggest so right? In the later part of the movie, he blames Shaun for the death of his mom because he just watched as she was beaten to death by a bunch of gangsters. He neglected his daughter because “she reminded him of her mom”. But this is what that confuses me. He didn’t hate Shaun for standing when his wife first died, he trained him, he even intended to hand down the Ten Rings to Shaun when he was old enough. Why would he say such a thing so far into the movie? Let’s say he loved his wife. Not psychotically obsessed. Then why would he train his son to be an assassin? Killing the gangsters who killed his wife seems typical of someone who sees violence as a solution. I’m not going to hold that over him. Why did he neglect his daughter? Why did he threaten to burn his wife’s village down? . His motives and action confused me a lot and made it very hard for me to understand him as a person and a character. I honestly didn’t know how to feel when he died because I didn’t know who he was. Another thing that confused me was the whole idea behind the Ten Rings as a weapon. in the scene in front of the gate Shang Chi uses his newly acquired marital art skills and takes the rings from his father. He soon creates an effortless fireball, but chooses not to kill him. So, does that mean the Rings serve the greatest fighter? Because no one else, including his mom couldn’t take the Rings. But The Mandarin takes it back and before he dies, he gives it to Shang Chi. So, can the Rings be passed down? This is so confusing. I loved the idea of the Rings have their own collective consciousness and acting to serve the greatest eligible master. And this adds to what we learn in the first post credits scene. The Ten Rings is made out of nothing we know yet in the MCU and the fact that it’s a beacon to something means something. Building it as a conscious object that chooses to serve amplifies its specialty so much. Either this is a decision made by Marvel to build towards future stories or it’s just lazy. And if it’s the latter, it’s just sad. Marvel has a reputation for building vast worlds through decades of stories to finalize and amalgamate into a big finale and with a disappointment like Black Widow, I really hope Marvel addresses the short comings of this movie in the sequel. I really hope they have a solid arc to work towards in the future.

Quick fire round. Does this Mandarin have a connection to the Iron Man 3 villain? I wonder what happened to Shang Chi’s sister considering she runs the Ten Rings gang now. I wonder if it will replace the Wakandan or sorcerer army in the later films. 

I genuinely enjoyed this movie and never did I feel bored or disappointed. I try to share all my thoughts while writing reviews so I wanted to address all my thoughts and feelings towards this movie while writing it. This was a great movie and topped with the amazing fight scenes, great cultural representation and a god tier theme. I loved this movie and I would put it alongside Dr. Strange and Thor : Dark World. This was a great film and shows a new direction for the MCU and I’m loving it! It’s very exciting and I can’t wait to hear what comes next.