I recently watched Shang Chi in movie theaters. It was pretty solid. I didn’t have too many expectations going into the movie. I did read good things about it beforehand, but I felt as though some of the comments were simply because it was an American movie with Asian representation. While watching the movie, I was surprised with the amount of Mandarin Chinese they were using. Like I definitely expected the movie to be completely in English. I was able to understand some of the Chinese which was cool and obviously the subtitles were there for assistance as well. There were a bunch of fight scenes in the movie so that was great. Some of them had a lot of CGI, and others had a lot of choreographed sequences. I enjoyed them all. I thought that the movie felt a bit rushed. Like it could have let the scenes breathe a bit more. I read some comments about the movie saying that there wasn’t a love interest, but I would say that there was a strong friendship. Also, in the first part of the movie, Sean was the one who told Katy’s grandmother that he was just friends with her, so if the character wanted to be a relationship, then he would’ve done something different there. There was definitely a strong sense of family and community with this movie. Those are definitely themes that are prevalent in Chinese culture so it makes sense why it appeared here as well. The little comedic moments were a nice addition to the movie. I don’t think these moments were necessary since the movie wasn’t that serious, but it seems to match the characters’ personalities.
I don’t have a great memory so I am not sure where this movie would rank in terms of Marvel movies, but I don’t think it was the best Marvel movie that I’ve seen. I would say it was in the middle. I definitely think Deadpool, Black Panther, Spiderverse, and some of the Avengers movies were better. But, I’m glad I watched the movie and I’m looking forward to seeing more of these characters in the future.
Jeffrey's Thoughts 