Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

***

The Ten Rings are stronger than anything in your universe.

Firstly, the name of this movie is far too short. The name of a movie should tell you the main character, the power/weapon, if there is a story/legend associated with it, if there is a love interest or if they are just friends, the comic book universe in which this is set (especially if it’s in the middle of the “snap” from Thanos), and every guest character, with what movie we would know them from. A better title would be – Marvel’s Shang-Chi, with his friend Katy, Trevor Slattery from Iron Man 3, Abomination from The Hulk and Wong from Doctor Strange and the Post-Snap Story about the Legend of the Ten Rings. It probably would have made more money with my title.

Secondly, I thought that had I reviewed this movie months ago. Here is a peak behind the curtain. Once I review a movie I know that I have memorialized my thoughts, and even if I only include a portion of those thoughts, going back to my review triggers the memory, therefore I keep far less information about movies, including my own opinions, in my head. Except for Thomas the Tank Engine movies. I have those mostly memorized now. Stay tuned for my eight review series on the Thomas movies…I am just joking. I hope I am just joking. This means that I do not remember as much about this movie as I usually do for my reviews.

As for the movie itself, I thought that it was fine. The cast was great. The story was so-so. The scale of the action is stuck in the feedback loop of ever escalating stakes. Simu Liu plays Shang-Chi, whose best friend is Katy, played by Awkwafina. He has been hiding from his father, the holder of the Ten Rings power and the leader of the organization of the same name. That father is played by Tony Leung. He is the Mandarin? Ben Kingsley played Trevor Slattery playing the Mandarin in Iron Man 3, which was a really good movie and he was really good in it. He was good in this too. He is Ben Kingsley, an actor on par with Tony Leung and Michelle Yeoh. Michelle Yeoh is also in this movie and we get to see her fight Tony. Is it as great as her fight scenes in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? No, obviously not. That movie came out 20 years earlier and this had a fight scene that seemed to reference Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Many aspects of this film were done competently, like the special effects, the music, and the costumes. This was an origin story for Shang-Chi, master of kung fu, and those are hard movies to make well. This one made the discovery aspect of the story go along with Katy’s and even Shang-Chi’s path, so it felt less arbitrary. On the other hand, I felt that the stakes got too high to be credible and the story hadn’t earned my disbelief sufficiently to just go along for the ride. Some stuff in the story was just a bit too convenient, which movies get away with when I’m more sucked into the story.

The Count of Monte Cristo

***½

Why not just kill them? I’ll do it! I’ll run up to Paris – bam, bam, bam, bam. I’m back before week’s end. We spend the treasure. How is this a bad plan?

Luis Guzman’s Jacopo asks that question and the answer to it is what propels the movie. In the morality of the film, death is not enough. Jim Caviezel’s Edmond Dantes wants sweet, sweet vengeance. I will not negatively compare the film to the book; it’s just not a fair comparison at all. Two hours to deliver one of the greatest, most detailed stories ever told? A fool’s errand, but a profitable one that has been tried time and time again.

Focusing on the positive, there are two distinct ways that I found the film more enjoyable. Firstly, it has Luis Guzman. More than that, the charming Guzman survives the film, which felt like a rarity for an actor with many memorable deaths. Secondly, the locations for filming. I meant to choose a beautiful shot of Isla Monte Cristo or the carriage racing before the tall walls of the port, but then I used a Luis Guzman quotation and forgot. Richard Harris’ Abbe Faria was a classic wizened Harris performance. Guy Pierce’s duplicitous Fernand was as loathsomely enjoyable as he was unambiguously detestable.

There is ample room for criticism here, but I think that expectations are everything with this movie. Focus on what the film has, and not on what’s missing, if you want to enjoy it. If you want to focus on the weaknesses, there’s the fact that nobody even tries to use a French accent. Guy Pierce is Australian! He’s using an English accent while playing a Frenchman! It is a well paced 2:11 movie, and I think that if you like it for what’s good, or enjoy it for what’s bad, that it’s enjoyable either way. Personally, I enjoyed it more watching it this time, compared to having watched it in theaters 20 years ago, with the book fresh in my mind.