By Rachell Carbajal
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings came out in theaters on September 3rd, 2021, gaining over 71.4 million dollars made in the box office (and counting) over Labor Day. Many marvel fans were super excited and loved the movie even more when debuting in theaters. Shang-Chi, having 92% Rotten Tomatoes, is one of the highest-selling movies of 2021. fans were also happy that they could see Asian representation throughout the movie, allowing many to feel more connected to the characters and storyline. Shang-Chi not only displays cultural representation during the movie, but also in the Soundtrack, having Asian artists like; Niki, Rich Brian, DPR Live, DPR Ian, Mark Tuan and Bibi, and many more!
Why exactly did Shang-Chi achieve such great reviews on its plot and soundtrack? Well, I’m here to review why exactly Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is such a great movie and soundtrack, and why (if you haven’t already) you should watch/listen to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Movie/Soundtrack!
Setting/Time Period: This movie takes place in the modern-day (to be exact, circa 2023) in San Francisco, CA. Although, this movie does take place in the “modern-day,” I really like how they mixed both the old and more modern times into this film, in the beginning having a modern film look, but in the middle showing much more of a traditional look to the film, and finally at the end showing the both of the two mixed very well.
Plot/Pacing of the Movie: I really enjoyed the plot of this whole movie, in the beginning, it definitely kept me hooked, because it felt like I could relate to Shang-Chi in a sense. In the movie, Martial-arts master Shang-Chi “confronts the past he thought he left behind when he’s drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization” (Wikipedia). At first, I was a big fan of the pacing of this movie, but unfortunately, toward the end, it was quite abrupt, it felt like they quickly wrapped the ending of the movie.
Visual/CGI: I really, really enjoyed this movie’s visuals, especially all the water scenes, all the frames of the movie were all so enjoyable.
I would say the same thing for this movie’s CGI, although there wasn’t really much CGI like in other Marvel movies, I still enjoyed both the visuals and the CGI of Shang-Chi. Here is the trailer for the movie. The Great Protector Dragon! – MARVEL’S SHANG-CHI: 4 Minutes Trailers (2021)
Dialogue/Language: The original language for this movie is English of course, but a good portion of the dialogue is spoken in Mandarin, Chinese. I was a little disappointed to hear that some of the dialogue spoken in Mandarin was not translated correctly. I would’ve really liked to understand the true translation of the Mandarin dialogue.
Ending: As I said previously on the pacing of the movie, in my opinion, I would’ve liked a slower ending because to me it felt pretty rushed to get to the end. But everything else in this movie is absolutely great!
Total Score: In all, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has great pacing, something you could relate to, a good portion of Asian representation, great characters, great visuals/CGI, a glimpse of Asian culture, and tradition, and many more things that make this movie wonderful!
Soundtrack: As much as I loved the movie, I am such a big fan of the Shang-Chi Soundtrack, first off, it shows so many Asian artists, with such great talent that showed out their talent to the world, I hope you check out both the movie and the soundtrack of Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings!
Soundtrack Ranking: Here is my ranking for Shang-Chi’s Soundtrack;
- “Fire In The Sky”: Anderson .Paak
- “In The Dark”: Swae Lee and Jhené Aiko
- “Every Summertime”: Niki
- “Hot Soup”: 88rising and Simu Liu
- “Always Rising”: Niki, Rich Brian, and Warren Hue
- “Never Gonna Come Down”: Mark Tuan and Bibi
- “Diamonds + And Pearls”: DPR Live, DPR Ian and peace
- “Baba Says”: Adawa and Shayiting EL
- “Lazy Susan”: 21 Savage, Rich Brian, Warren Hue, and MaSiWe
- “Run It”: DJ Snake, Rick Ross, and Rich Brian
- “Lose Control”: JJ Lin
- “Act Up”: Rich Brian and EarthGang
- “Foolish”: Rich Brian, Warren Hue, and Guapdad 4000
- “War With Heaven”: Keshi
- “Warriors”: Warren Hue and Seori
- “Swan Song”: Saweetie and Niki
- “Nomad”: Zion.T and Gen Hoshino
- “Clocked Out!”: Audrey Nuna and Niki
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: The Album; https://open.spotify.com/album/2kAqjStKcwlDD59H0llhGC
I hope you enjoyed my review for Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, if you haven’t already seen the movie, I hope this changed your mind and you buy a ticket to the next screening of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings!