What We Liked About ‘Shang-Chi’

Critics have been raving about Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings since it came out and for good reason. *Spoilers ahead*

Here’s a list of things we liked about the new superhero origin movie:

1. The Movie Score

Starting with the opening sequence in the movie, the score was a perfect companion to what was playing out on screen. The music had such a beautiful melody that truly made the best scenes in the movie that much better, or maybe they were the best because of how good the score is.

2. The Fight Scenes

I’m not one to usually comment on fight sequences just because of how little I know about what constitutes as good and bad but I think it’s a general consensus that Shang-Chi has some of the best fighting in the MCU. Starting off with Shang-Chi learning his mother’s fighting style from his aunt, Jiang Nan. The scene felt like a symbolic tie between Shang-Chi and his mother with Jiang Nan even asking,” Your mother knew who she was, do you know who you are?” My favorite is the beautiful symmetry of Shang-Chi’s, or Shawn’s, inclusion of both his mother’s style of fighting and his father’s in the third act against the Dweller-in-Darkness. The movie overall treats martial arts like visual poetry that contrasts every other Marvel movie.

3. Leiko Wu and Wenwu’s meet-cute

Marvel very rarely gets romance right in its movies but for once I felt like this was it. The fighting sequence felt romantic and flirtatious and was visually refreshing. You could feel the chemistry between the two and it was enough to break Wenwu out of his stoic villain mode and become more of a real person with feelings and desires. Wenwu in Shang-Chi feels grounded because of how much time was taken to develop his relationship with his wife and children. The family drama in this movie made it that much better and more personable.

4. The use of subtitles

I was pleasantly surprised to see not one but multiple scenes where the actors are speaking Chinese and the audience has to read subtitles. My biggest nitpick with movies based in countries that don’t speak English is how unrealistic it is for the family to be speaking English to each other. Shang-Chi had a perfect blend of both Chinese and English where it felt like a real bi-lingual family. With the inclusion of more foreign movies in the mainstream, I think it’s about time we see Marvel show inclusivity with a little bit more effort than hiring a diverse cast.

5. Shang-Chi/Shawn

Shang-Chi was the quintessential superhero with a beautiful blend of relatability and charm. He wasn’t the usual cheesy main character and he didn’t feel like an overt dork. Shang-Chi had a personality outside of being a hero, in fact we don’t really see him be this superhero until it comes to him facing his past and I like that aspect. Shang-Chi has flaws and this shows in his interpersonal relationships with Katy, his father, and especially his sister, Xialing.

This movie felt more like the start of phase four in the Marvel movies than Black Widow did. All the major critics are right, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings feels like a much needed Marvel movie that incites excitement for this new phase.

Muska Olumi is a columnist for Boardwalk Times