26 December 2021

Pay Per View Review

Director…………Destin Daniel Cretton

Writers…………Dave Callaham

Destin Daniel Cretton
Andrew Lanham

Cast
Simu Liu……Shaun / Shang-Chi
Tony Chiu-Wai Leung ……Xu Wenwu
Awkwafina ……………………Katy
Ben Kingsley ……Trevor Slattery
Meng'er Zhang ……………Xialing
Fala Chen ……………Li
Michelle Yeoh ……………Ying Nan
Wah Yuen Master Guang Bo
Florian Munteanu ……………Razor Fist
Andy Le ……………Death Dealer
Paul W. He Chancellor Hui
Jayden Zhang …………Young Shang-Chi
Elodie Fong …………Young Xialing
Arnold Sun ……Teen Shang-Chi
Yesterday, we ordered Chinese takeout and watched Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on pay per view.

As I noted on Friday, we have no interest in being another Covid statistic, so we did not eat in and did not go to a movie theater.

After some back and forth, we decided on the Marvel film, largely because it is largely detached from the whole Infinity War/Endgame story-line, because it's just f%$#ing exhausting.

Thankfully, this proved to be true.  It was about as tied into the whole Marvel story arc as the original Black Panther.

There are a few references, but nothing major.

My spoiler-free review of the movie is that it's pretty good for what it is, and definitely in the top half of the Marvel films that I have seen, which is pretty good considering that it is an origin film, which means that a significant part of the film is devoted to non-plot history.

The reason that this is a good film is because of the stand-out performance by Awkawfina, who plays Shang-Chi's best friend and side-kick. 

She is comic relief, straight-woman, and active participant in Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey that is at the center of all super hero origin stories.

It's better than run of the mill Marvel fair, but not as good as the original Captain America.

I'd give it a solid 8 out of 10 in the context of the genre, largely on the performance of Awkawfina.

Some pictures after the break: (click for bigger picture)


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