Mortal Kombat meets Guardians of the Galaxy

Initial Thoughts

I recently rewatched Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings with my family and can say with full confidence that it was even better the second time around. The last times I watched an Asian-themed Disney movie were "Raya and the Last Dragon" and "Mulan." While "Raya and the Last Dragon" wasn't a complete garbage-fest of a film, I was almost impressed by the lack of charm and captivating characters and story that Disney managed to achieve with "Mulan." Now on the other hand, Shang-Chi was a much better movie. It is a modern kung-fu fantasy about a man who runs away from his past but must return to face the repercussions of both recent personal family drama and a mythical struggle that predates him by thousands of years.

Comedy & Drama

While not exactly award-winning, the drama int his movie is more than adequate and is impressive when viewed within the arena of recent Hollywood movies. Shang-Chi The movie shows how in a lot of cultures, children face immense pressure to behave or become versions of themselves desired by their family members and their native local societies as a whole. Shang-Chi does a good job of showing the anti-thesis of this through the movie's main character Shawn and his best friend Katy's desire to live a fun and carefree life. While not professionally ambitious, they enjoy their simple lives of as valet-service workers by day and bottle-popping karaoke enjoyers by night. Both characters do not indulge this lifestyle on a whim but are both fleeing pressures in their family life -- Shawn's father is the immortal leader of a terrorist organization armed with the titular and immensely powerful magical ten rings, while Katy appears to be afraid to assume the much more serious professional career her mother desires for her. It's not too clear what Katy's exact obstacles are but I do have a theory that I will cover in the SPOILER WARNING section below. As far as comedy goes, Awkwafina does a rather effortless job carrying most of the movie's laughable moments, alongside a few other characters when you eventually meet them. I think where Disney's recent live-action failed by taking itself too seriously, Shang-Chi excelled by carefully injecting repeated instances of quick humor to downplay the innate danger of a kung-fu story that usually involves lots of violent, but beautifully choreographed, fighting and sometimes even death.

Acting & Characters

I did enjoy the movie but often wondered if the main actor playing Shawn/Shang-Chi possessed the acting chops, or "star power," to carry the film without his supporting cast. By star power, I do not necessarily mean popularity but am referring to the ability to capture, lure, hold, and sway a movie audience on their own. Awkwafina, equipped with her effortless humor and recent popularity, sometimes came off as a crutch for Shawn -- and then there is the matter of his father, the immortal terrorist leader armed with the titular magical rings. Without spoiling his motives and developments, Shawn's father is by far the most captivating character in the entire film. We immediately grasp his grandiosity, his power, his motivations, and the emotional depth of his personality and struggle.

Action & Dialogue

This is truly another area where Shang-Chi was impressive. Fight scenes were fast, acrobatic, but beautiful. It reminded me of a Jackie Chan or Jet Li movie where they used not just their fists or weapons but also the environment around them during action scenes. Toward the end, the intensity of battles did increase quite a great deal but there was never an instance where their extreme nature took away from the action or the emotional undertones of the story. I was very impressed with the main character's stunts, alongside his sister, and his father. Dialogue-wise, I can't think of much that stood out in a good way but also don't remember a single line that made cringe in annoyance. In fact, one of my favorite lines in the film is when Shang-Chi's immortal terrorist leader father rebukes an old man for threatening him, saying along the lines of -- "Watch your tongue, young man. I've lived ten of your life times." It was a nice reminder of his immortal nature due to the titular magical rings he wears and uses.

Final Thoughts

Disney's MCU films are usually of pretty good quality, considering they have the backing of a $300+ billion dollar company. My favorite films of theirs are "Captain America: Civil War," "Black Panther," and "Avengers: Infinity War." To me, Shang-Chi comes close to "Black Panther" in successful story-telling but does not reach the heights of "Civil War" or "Infinity War" which may be an unfair comparison since those movies focus on groups instead of singular heroes. This film also did a great job of truly revealing the scope of extra-terrestrial/inter-dimensional threats that may be faced in the future by MCU heroes. At its heart, it was a movie about family and inherited sins which I enjoyed.

Final Grade

B+

(SPOILER WARNING - SPOILERS BELOW) .

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• Maybe this has already been confirmed or disproved but while watching this film again, I was left wondering a question that I later saw discussed online about the movie: Did Shawn/Shang-Chi abandon his life as an assassin after murdering the old man responsible for his mother's death -- Katy's grandfather?