(film review) - Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

What did I need from an MCU Disney Martial Arts movie? Well Martial Arts first and foremost.  I definitely wanted the sound of flapping clothes in the wind when someone is jumping in the air and I also wanted a great story, but something just as good/great as Black Panther (in the MCU), but for the Asian audience because, quality representation matters.  If the film looked just as stunning and as beautiful as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Hero, I'd say, Disney has done a great job with this film.  So, I guess the question then becomes, has Disney done a great job with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings? Yes, Yes they have.

Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) was raised to be a warrior by his father "The Mandarin" who is known to be a dangerous and powerful warlord and the leader of the Ten Rings organisation.  However, these Ten Rings are a physical instrument and weapons Shang-Chi will eventually inherit when they are eventually passed down.  Whilst trying to stay away from his father, assassins attack Shang-Chi and his friend Katy (Awkwafina) leading him to discover his father is looking for him which ends in a battle with his father's army and a struggle to save the world.

This film was great! What makes it worse, it was extremely difficult to try and explain this film without giving away spoilers because the trailers undersell the movie and the story although the trailers do look great, if martial arts is your thing, of course.  There are many layers to this movie while it moves at a steady pace introducing various genres whilst being comical in places with fight scenes that rival the movie The Raid (obviously not as gritty and gory - Disney and all).  The fight on the bus you see in the trailer, great. The fight on the scaffolding, great. The third act is both funny, informative and well, with a fight/battle of course, also great and takes the viewer on a fantastical journey that is both captivating and awe-inspiring.

This is the first acting I've seen from Simu and not only did he do his own fighting and stunts, he is just great as Shang-Chi and I would love to see more of him as this character. The filming of the fight scenes are not jumpy or subjected to shaky cam, so you see every detail of the fighting allowing you to follow it with the wide angles used.  Whilst Awkwafina is a person I'm slowly gravitating to as a actor I like, I haven't seen her in much, but what I have seen her in, she is quite good.  I think she was superb in Raya, but I would like to see more from her.  Shang-Chi's dad (Tony Leung) is excellent and the subtlety and power in his performance is almost Oscar worthy as there are moments where I was almost brought to tears from not only his performance, but the story itself.

The director did an amazing job with this film and whilst the trailers don't really give you the full story, the story goes beyond a boy with daddy issues.  As I stated earlier, there are levels to this movie not even hinted in this film where Love, Tragedy, Honour and Heroism is infused in the Chinese culture that makes a re-watchable movie and one of the MCU's best movies since Iron Man and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  Definitely what we need from the MCU after the year with have had. 

(trailer review) - Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

(Rise Up Trailer)

(Need Trailer)

(Official Trailer)

(Official Teaser)

Here is something you can laugh at me about.  So I've been ill for the past couple of days (it got me!), so I've not been online as much as I would normally.  I'm constantly tired, not much energy, but there is something that I did notice, a Rick Ross song poster with 3 "rings" next to it.  Considering Idris Elba was recently cast to play Knuckles in the Sonic 2 movie, it is possible, my mind was on Sonic and not the fact that the new Song "Run It" has nothing to do with Sonic, a though I had when I saw the poster and more to do with Shang-Chi, also confirmed by the end of this trailer. Haha...

This is a great trailer.  It shows a bit more of the action and different characters such as Abomination a bit clearer, the shear size of him, fighting what seems to be Wong from Doctor Strange. A few fight scenes we have already scene but closing out with a gag which actually works for the audience because since this movie had been announced, everyone and their mother's cat had been trying to figure out, how do we say Shang-Chi?  This looks like it's going to be a great and fun movie.  I just hope they lean heavily into the "wire-work" martial arts like the old martial arts movies I used to watch growing up or more recent ones like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.  If nothing else, the sound of clothing blowing through the wind on a mid-air jump will be enough.

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Leung, Fala Chen, Meng'er Zhang, Florian Munteanu, Ronny Chieng, Michelle Yeoh.

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(trailer review) - Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

(Official Trailer)

(Official Teaser)

And just like that, Marvel wants to keep the momentum going and drop yet another trailer for Shang-Chi that shows not only a few scenes we have seen before, but different parts of those same scenes/fights and could there possibly be a reason to not be involved or interested in this movie? I mean they must have thought we have forgotten about this movie or something, like the buzz has died down.

The more I see of Awkwafina, brings me warmth and some much needed comedic value this movie will need to help balance out the tone.  A ruthless father trying to give his son his empire but his son is required to fight for it?  The legend of the Ten Rings?  What is done with the 10 rings and how they are being used in combat also looks great too.  Unless I'm mistaken, like a whip?  Oh and Shang-Ghi's Superhero landing is unrivalled!

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Leung, Fala Chen, Meng'er Zhang, Florian Munteanu, Ronny Chieng, Michelle Yeoh.

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(trailer review) - Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

 

(Official Teaser )

And just like that, we have another trailer!
Right now Marvel are on a role and  whilst Loki is currently airring as a weekly show, soon Black Widow will come out and then this...and this looks great.

We see soo much more in this trailer.  We see the rings, how they work and what they do.  We see the training Shang-Shi had to endure and we see a lot more fighting,  A LOT more fighting and a Dragon!  Whilst a lot of publications/reviewers are saying this ISN'T Fin Fang Foom, I'm hoping it is.  I think what is wild, is the Abomination from 'The Incredible Hulk' and Wong from 'Doctor Strange'.  The levels has just gone up a notch.  Let me see a Fin Fang Foom though...

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Leung, Fala Chen, Meng'er Zhang, Florian Munteanu, Ronny Chieng, Michelle Yeoh.

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(trailer review) - Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Disney are simply killing it.  Quality after quality after quality.  And in this case diversity.  Just like Black Panther was with an all Black cast bar a couple non-black, this seems to be the same and right in my wheel house! Are you mad?!!! Martial Arts movies!!!

Martial arts movies and 'House of Flying Daggers' jumping/flying through the air and the wind blowing through the clothes sound, I'm soo on board.  I had no clue what this film was going to be like as we were told, some kind of tournament and like an authentic martial arts movie...and they don't seem to be lying.  This is just the teaser, so I can't wait to see the official trailer as that is going to be bonkers, I can feel it.

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Leung, Fala Chen, Meng'er Zhang, Florian Munteanu, Ronny Chieng, Michelle Yeoh.

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(film review) [STREAMING] - Raya and the Last Dragon

Pronounced "Rye-ah".  I had been calling it Ray-Ah because, well I'm English and I say things the wrong way all the time because, English...lol.  Anyway, when I saw this trailer, I thought to myself, "I haven't seen a decent cartoon movie from Disney in a little while".  It would have been Toy Story 4 but the last Disney cartoon movie I watched was Soul... and before that, The Lion King then Toy Story 4.  But although I really enjoyed Soul, I feel I had a slightly better time with Toy Story 4 because I knew the characters, the story was great and it has stuck with me since seeing it, as in, it is more memorable and funny.  It was just a great cartoon.  Considering Toy Story has been going on for years, it really hasn't lost it's step.  With Soul, although I enjoyed the story and the meaning, it was really good, but seeing a black guy as a cat through majority of the film couldn't let me resonate with it as much as I would have liked to looking back at it now, since I have watched it a few times, but still a really good movie, just hasn't stuck with me as much as it perhaps, should have.  The Lion King, well...it was the Lion King.  Raya, when it was finished, although the story was great but the meaning was a little wishy-washy for me, I understood ultimately the message and this movie was really good.

Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) belongs to one of five tribes that live in a land called Kumandra.  These tribes have been at war for centuries after an event that left them in a power struggle.  Raya believes a magical orb is the solution to peace, so she goes on a quest to seek out Sisu (Awkwafina) The Last Dragon in an bid to try and bring the tribes together and restore peace.

If I say anything more, I would spoil moments of the movie, however, I really enjoyed this movie, a lot.  Maybe I'm forcing myself to like it more because I got it under Disney Premier Access, but no, I really did enjoy it.  I felt the animation was amazing, but at this rate, from when they have made animated Lions, Tigers and Bears, oh my, look amazingly real, then this was nothing in the grand scheme of things.  The characters looked great and I remember noting from the trailers, the skin on these characters were soo smooth and somewhat "plastic-like" but also real?  I can't really put my finger on it but the colours for the skin tones and the lighting were just great.  I also adored the depth of view, like what our camera's do now, you know, portrait mode when the background is blurry.  Soo effective.  Talking about depth, I felt the story was serviceable but it lacked just a little bit of depth, like the quest felt short.  I felt like it didn't feel epic enough or that it took years to get to where we are, although it is heavily implied.  I also felt that we could have had more epic fight scenes.  Maybe because I am a huge fan of Eastern Culture such as Samurai's and warriors of that sort, I believe it would have went a long way if we had just more epic fights like the kinds you see in 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' or 'Hero', you know? Mulan is not on this list because I keep falling asleep.  I must get back to it though.

The characters and the voice acting was great.  I feel Kelly Marie Tran did a great job, although I hear she wasn't the original person for the role.  For some reason, I don't believe I have actually heard Awkwafina speak, or at least I know her name than her voice, I actually though she sounded more like Natasha Lyonne, but she did really good in her role as Sisu The Last Dragon.  Some other characters such as the con-baby (as stated in the trailers) and essentially Raya's nemesis were great characters and I loved the battle of two people desperately wanting to be friends, but because they are of opposing tribes, they can't and don't trust each other due to generations and generations of civil unrest, a little like Romeo and Juliet.  You know, create your own path, don't let your parents or the generations before dictate your future.  That could have actually have been the message here as I think about it.

What I will definitely say is, this film would have been great to watch in the cinema and get that cinema experience.  It deserved a big screen, it deserves them booming speakers and a nice comfortable sitting arrangement and snacks, but I guess two out of four isn't terrible at all, plus you don't have to travel home...

Pay that premier price, it's definitely worth it.

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(trailer review) - Raya and the Last Dragon

These guys seems to be making more quality animation that looks so so sooo good! Granted they have years to perfect animation and technology is changing daily, but not only is this looking soo good, the story looks great too.

From what I can tell, it seems to be some kind of in-fighting between families and/or tribes and the Village Raya comes from gets taken over by the person with the short hair and Raya needs to fight to get it back.  Maybe she loses the village when she is off on her quest to find the last Dragon in wich she will use in hopes to reunite the families/clans.  Also, there is a shapeshifting dragon. Maybe I should have led with the shapeshifting part first.  But having not being the only person looking for the Dragon, I'm sure this will just make the quest more difficult.
The fighting scenes look well animated and I liked the extending whip-like sword and the con-baby is cute and adorable.  Raya has a fruit ninja moment which was cool, however, I hope it isn't too cheesy. Oh, what an amazing cast as well!

Directed by Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada and starring Kelly Marie Tran, Awkwafina, Gemma Chan, Daniel Dae Kim, Sandra Oh, Benedict Wong, Izaac Wang, Thalia Tran, Alan Tudyk