Shang Chi Review

 

My Shang Chi Review.

So I saw Shang Chi yesterday and here's my review of it...It was okay. Like this film I mean I will say the fighting and the effects were really good and entertaining to watch but the story had problems and it could have been better.

Now the cast did a good job like Simu Liu was good and everyone else was good too, but one of my problems with his character was I felt he got pushed to the side in this film. This film didn't feel like it was focusing on Shang Chi but instead, it focused more on his co-leads. Like I just feel like this is Shang's film we should focus more on him instead of his co-lead Katey and his sister. 

Let me explain, Katey in the film I didn't like this character nothing against the actresses or any of the actors in this film. I just felt their characters were not written well. Like Katey is an original character I do like the idea of creating original characters but she wasn't a well-written character. I don't think the character of Shang Chi needed a co-lead it should have just been about him and you could have Katey as a strong supporting character like Pepper Potts and Peggy Carter was in my opinion. Now if you like Katey that's fine nothing wrong with that I just didn't feel like she was needed in the film.  

They did the same thing with Black Widow, where both of the film's main characters are pushed to the side in favor of the supporting characters or co-leads. 

Katey just felt forced into this film and they couldn't have gone with the character of Leiko Wu. 

Leiko was Shang's love interest in the comics.

She's a secret agent of MI6. That would have been cool to have this character.

Maybe Shang Chi 2 will have Leiko and MI6. 

I noticed this trend now in films of pushing the protagonist to the side in favor of the supporting characters or giving them a co-lead that doesn't work with the story. However, everyone did a good job with what they were given in this film again, the cast did a good job. Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Leung Chiu, Fala Chen, and Michelle Yeoh. Of course, Wong was awesome in the film too because who doesn't love Wong can't wait for Dr. Strange 2. 

I can't deny the martial arts were pretty epic. 

There was some really cool stuff in the film. The action and fight scenes are well-made and very cool to watch. The bus scene to me was one of the best scenes in the film as well the CGI scenes were epic and really well done. Full credit to the visual artists for making amazing visuals. There were also some funny jokes here and there, but I will tell you, there are some disappointing moments. 

Now the film's villain, the long-overdue, this time the real Mandarin. I thought Mandarin was pretty cool in the film, and he was badass. Tony Leung did a good job playing this long-awaited Marvel villain. I do wish they made more evil instead of sympathetic like they do with all their other villains. That's another thread I notice too was getting too many sympathetic villains these days. I like sympathetic villains but we should have villains we love to hate and not always feel sorry for them and if we do feel sorry for them, we still believe they should be punished for their actions. However, I do understand why he's a villain and it does work for the film. Like Mandarin's origin was done pretty good in the film it was fateful like he's over thousands of years old.

It's a shame we will never see the Mandarin fight Iron Man. 

That's something so many fans wanted to see on screen Iron Man facing off against his arch enemy the Mandarin, but you all know the reason why that didn't happen.

Kevin Feige once said they couldn't do Mandarin justice in an Iron Man film.

But he's wrong. He could have done Mandarin justice in Iron Man if he had just read the comics.

But in truth, Mandarin is a hard villain to adapt on screen because they don't want to offend Asian viewers if the character comes off as offensive or a stereotype which I totally understand. However, if they just focus on writing a good character, not making him a stereotype, you could have a really good adaption of Mandarin in an Iron Man movie.

This film did just that with Mandarin they wrote him as a good character, but again it's a shame he won't fight Iron Man anytime soon.

Hell, they could have had Shang Chi in Iron Man 3 and Iron Man and Shang Chi team up to fight Mandarin that would have been really cool, and Iron Man 3 would have been a better film if they did that. 

Overall I enjoyed the action and CGI in this film, but I felt the story wasn't well written. If they do a sequel, it needs a better story; it needs to be Shang Chi, and you got to make him stand out more and not get sidelined, and most of all make him one of the greatest fighters in the Marvel Universe. As well I think it is awesome to have a team-up with Spiderman like Simu suggested. As well, maybe look at Winter Soldier or Ragnarok for inspiration for the next film. 

Just make sure the next film Shang does not get sidelined and make him the star of the film that's what fans of Shang Chi want to see Shang Chi, not Shang Chi and Katey. Again this is how I felt about Black Widow too for both characters got pushed to the side in their own movie.

If you've seen the movie and like it that's fine but I just didn't like how it was done and maybe the sequel will be better. I give this film a 6 out of 10 I will say it was better than Black Widow but they both had the same issues. The main characters, whose names are in the movies get pushed to the side in favor of co-leads and supporting characters. As well, again, we have more villains being sympathetic. Let me know what you think to leave a comment, and if you are seeing it I hope you enjoy it. 

Fun Fact. 

Shang Chi's design was inspired by Bruce Lee.

Bruce Lee is the reason we have Shang Chi.