Shang-CHI And The Legend of The Ten Rings (2021): MOVIE REVIEW

I had the chance to assist to the premiere of Shang-Chi in Montreal and I was so excited to see how Marvel would portray the first Asian superhero on screen. Although I didn’t review Mulan on this blog, it was still a very disappointing portrayal of the Asian culture but I’m not going to get into more details than that.

Shang-Chi has managed to put together something that hasn’t been done before: a nod to the roots and traditional historical Asian movies with the superhero elements we so love from the Marvel franchise and an epic origins of the power source. The martial arts scene and choregraphy were pretty good for a Marvel movie like that and seeing big actors like Tony Leung and Michelle Yeoh on the big screen in UltraAVX with comics elements just make my life a lot better.

The beautiful cinematography of the fighting scenes still to this day compelled me. They introduce a modern way of martial arts that no one has ever done before. Frailing away from the traditional fighting scenes by incorporating, magical effects, neon signs and bad-ass weapons but still respecting the heritage : the nostalgia of the martial scenes flying in the trees with swords, the magnificent costumes and the important factor of keeping the original dialect.

Characters wise, I absolutely loved everyone from Awkafina portrayal of Katie to Xialing, the bad-ass female assassin turns out to be the coolest chick I’ve ever witnessed. My only critic would be that Shang-Chi, if you look deeply, was not memorable as the protagonist. Whether because he was pretty much overshadowed by everybody else or they did it on purpose to show that he was composed, modest and don’t really care about fame or showing off (which would go with his character portrayal). Acting wise, I have nothing but good things to say about Simu Liu, for his first big role on screen, that was one hell of a job!

Overall, it’s a real feast to the eyes and I would strongly recommend this movie to everybody, it’s funny, friendly family and most importantly we got a new Avenger!

RATING : 4.6/5

REVIEW BY TRANG TRAN