Hi Guys Chung Dha here, I’ve seen Shang Chi and the legends of the 10 rings and here is a spoiler free review. I have to say that this movie is very very well written, it’s a proper tribute to Chinese movies of the past and handles Chinese art and mythologies in a very interesting way.
There are also tons of tributes and easter eggs to many Asian Media, from Kung Fu Hustle to Dragon Ball Z, Kaiju Battle and more. If you love watching Asian action movies, this is something you don’t want to miss.
The Mandarin language is well used in a realistic sense as the movie opens with a Voice over in Mandarin for a good reason and not made the entire movie in English. For me it wasn’t much of an issue as I can understand Mandarin a bit and could watch it without reading the subtitles
Simu Liu playing Shang Chi really brought the action, there are tons of stunts and actions that will remind me of Jacky Chan movies of the past, but amps up to 11. A lot of the stunts and choreography of them are so well done, you
The Mandarin aka Trevor Slattery played by Ben Kingsley is back and will play a funny but crucial role in the story. And it’s interesting how Wen Wu played by Tony Leung addresses the name the Mandarin, giving a very interesting look on what happened in Ironman 3. But also the story scripted around Wen Wu is very interesting as he is not just another villain trying to conquer the world, but someone with a proper reason and chains of events that lead to who he has become, which also affected the life of Shang Chi and his sister.
The choice of making the 10 rings into Hung Gar rings works really well for this movie as it also tells a story of different Kung Fu styles. Hung Gar Kuen is a strong hard style of fighting used by Wen Wu vs the flowing movement of Tai Chi.
The Rings can be connected with the Chinese Deity Ne Zha, as Ne Zha is often depicted riding on fiery wheels, his statues often used in cars for safe driving, hence there is a connection to Shang Chi and Katy being Valet driving cars, the bus fight scene and more are related to it.
However it is not a direct copy of the Ne Zha story, but you can see how they took elements of the Ne Zha stories and incorporated them in Shang Chi.
There is also the hostility between Shang Chi and his father Wen Wu. In the Ne zha Story his Father Li Jing burned down the Temple of Ne zha, causing hostility between them. And in Shang Chi’s story his family would be the Temple Wen Wu wants to burn down. And there are a lot more elements, but those would spoil the movie.
Comparing the origin story to the comics, there are a lot of things changed for the better. As I don’t mind that it has been changed, especially Shang Chi mother in the movie actually loves Wen Wu, but in the comics she only loves Vu Man Chu for his powers. Also it brings a whole different take on why Shang Chi was trained to be an assassin, then compared to the comics where he was just another weapon in his large army.
