Shaun seems to be living a very normal life working as a valet with his best friend Katy, no ambition from either of them until his past is about to catch up with him. On the bus one day he is attacked and much to Katy's amazement he could more than handle himself.
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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a truly fantastic film packed with so much enjoyment, amusement and brilliant fight scenes. Quite frankly everything we have grown to love and expect from Marvel, the biggest difference with this one though is that Shang-Chi is a brand new character. I personally did not really know anything about this film before going to watch it and not much is given away in the trailer, this quite frankly improved the viewing experience as I didn't know what to expect. Making it even more pleasing that each scene was just a true joy to watch.
We as the viewer are given some backstory into the way Shang-Chi's parents met and pretty much gave up everything for love, I mean that's a nice story right? Of course though that was never ever going to be a happily ever after! Considering Xu Wenwu had the ten rigngs for thousands of years and in 1996 meeting Ying Li would give him more to life, but her village rejects him and they end up only having one another until Shang-Chi and then Xialing are born. Wenwu gives up the ten rings for his family but when Shang-Chi is 7 years old his mother is murdered. This then sees Wenwu go off the rails and will not take off the ten rings training his son into an assassin. But he manages to escape and gets to San Francisco changing his name to Shaun.
With his best friend Katy he lives a quiet life trying his best to forget his training, he knows nothing about this and just sees him as her friend. Enter a gang on the bus sent by his father who attack them and we see a truly awesome fight scene that was just breathtaking to watch. Katy cannot believe that he has kept so many secrets as she attempts to help by driving the bus, she then will not leave him as they now see themselves on a mission to find his sister before it is too late as they took his pendant and she also has one.
Everything rather quickly moves forward as they end up being taken back to their father, along with the hilarious and loveable Katy. We get a few lovely surprises along the way that really links Shang-Chi straight into the Marvel Universe and that was actually essential to have this world all being part of that bigger universe. I had no idea about this happening so obviously not going to spoil who it could possibly be, but will say it was just amazing and added to the breath of fresh air style of this film.
I actually forgot just how good it is to watch a film that you just find yourself lost in and full of enjoyment. It had the perfect balance with the comedy moments and one liners something Marvel have developed into their very own unique style and that works brilliantly throughout this film. I seriously cannot wait to see more from Shang-Chi and the rest of the gang around the Ten Rings and how they are truly going to develop and become a big part of the universe.
Simu Liu was great in the leading role a reluctant hero who will become just that we can all sense it right? He so deserves to be a big part of the next phase and such an inspirational addition. Awkwafina is just fantastic, I feel like I truly say that for whichever film I watch her in and that is because she just does comedy so effortlessly and is likeable at the same time. Meng'er Zhang was also impressive although she did not receive as much screen time as other characters but plenty of development will come for her.
