(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings)
Doug (vo): It's Bus Boy...I mean, Shang-Chi. I'm sorry, that was the funniest joke in the movie. Marvel's first martial arts movie, and it's gonna sound weird, but I'm gonna review this in two ways. I'm gonna say what I think the majority of people going to see this movie will think of it, and then I'm gonna say what I think of it. I know that sounds weird, but there is a reason. And don't worry, I don't hate anything in this movie, just...you'll see why in a minute. I think if you're a Marvel fan and you saw this trailer and you thought it looked really good, you're gonna think it's really good.
Story and review[]
Doug (vo): This movie pretty much delivers on everything it promises. It's charming, it's funny, it's got some decent action, there's some decent moments of character building, particularly with the villain. I'm really impressed how Marvel movies are doing their villains a lot better. The guy is really sympathetic and charming to the point where you're almost wondering why he is the villain, and then as it keeps going, you figure out why. The leads all have makings of great action stars...eh, for the most part.
(Several clips of Katy, Shaun/Shang-Chi's best friend, are shown)
Doug (vo): Awkwafina's in this movie, and I'll be honest, the only other thing I've seen her in is Raya, and I thought she was kind of hit-or-miss there, and, yeah, it's about the same here. I can see her getting on some people's nerves, but she did get enough laughs for me, and the movie did know well enough when she needed to say something funny and when she needed to just shut the fuck up...unlike some other comic relief. (An image of Darcy Lewis from WandaVision is shown)
(Footage focusing on the action sequences is shown)
Doug (vo): This movie made me realize how much I kind of missed these special effects martial arts movies, like The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Hero. It's nice to see not only decent effects in a Marvel movie, but decent action. More than decent action, decent martial arts, like this guy doing all the fighting. He's really, really good.
(Various clips resume showing)
Doug (vo): So, yes, you see the trailer, you say, "That's look like fun", you're gonna have fun. Okay, now onto my personal thoughts. When I saw the trailer, I thought this just looked like another Marvel movie, and, yeah, I feel like I just got another Marvel movie, which is still competent and well done, it's just not holding my attention that much anymore. (Posters of Joker, Aquaman, The Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey, Shazam!, and The Batman are all shown) Maybe that's because DC has really been on a roll lately, whether doing something that's both light and also dark and funny and complex and unique, but also kind of standard, they kind of mix up everything, they're taking more risks. I didn't feel any risks in this movie. Honestly, I felt more risks in Black Widow. That's also a very middle-of-the-road movie, but it had a little bit more of a mean-spirited grip to it. When you think about how many people or even animals die or even tortured just because of this mean-spirited dysfunctional family, that's just personally a little bit more up my alley. And to the film's credit, I don't think it's supposed to be really dark or gritty. It is supposed to be lighter, and that's fine. I just thought a lot of the new elements they added weren't really that interesting to me.
(Clips focusing on several fight sequences in various Jackie Chan films are shown)
Doug (vo): Let me also make it clear, I'm a big martial arts fan. I can't even count how many times I've watched so many Jackie Chan fight scenes. I was obsessed with him, I love not only the way they were planned out and the way he moved and the creativity of the stunts, but also the way the camera was. He knew how to plant a shot where you could fully appreciate the movement and the planning behind a great fight scene. You saw all the hard work.
(We go back to this movie, where we are shown various more footage focusing on the film's action sequences, as well as a clip from Hero at one point)
Doug (vo): The fight scenes are good here, too, but I really think this should've been a martial arts movie before it was a Marvel movie. The special effects and green screen and laser beams and dragons and everything else, for me, distract from the flow of the fight. There's one shot where Shang-Chi does, like, five moves and ends up in this bus driver's seat. That was amazing, I wanted more of that. But the editing either cuts too fast, the background has too much going on, there's too many effects that are distracting you, so I surprisingly wasn't as amazed by it, and it's a shame, because you can tell they put a lot of hard work into these fights. I think of something like Hero. That had a lot of effects going on, but the martial arts knew how to be shot, they knew when to do it in slow-mo, they knew when to slow the camera down, they knew when to do it fast, they knew where to have the effects, so you could fully appreciate the fight. But again, I'm talking as a 40-year-old who grew up with Jackie Chan movies and is getting kind of sick of Marvel. I'm clearly gonna have a bias.
(Clips focusing on the film's climax are shown)
Doug (vo): Even the climax felt really underwhelming to me. I'm not sure if the idea is everyone reached, like, their center calm or something, I don't know, but everyone looks disinterested in this climax, whether someone's fighting his father or fighting his son or being pulled in by a tentacle monster or riding a dragon. Even the music seems bizarrely calm, and, yeah, I know you want to mix it up, like you have some heart-pounding scenes and then some emotional slower scenes in your big climax, but almost all of it's done in this soft, underwhelming sound. I just couldn't get that into it.
Final thought[]
Doug (vo): But, okay, I really don't want to give the impression I thought this was a bad movie. I don't. When I saw the trailer, I had an idea of what this film was going to be, and that's exactly what it delivered. How can I be angry at that? It wanted to give a light, crowd-pleasing Marvel movie with some good action, and that's what I got. Good for you, movie. You made a lot of money and everybody loved you. And for me, personally, there was enough to hold my attention. I did want to know what was gonna happen by the end. I just don't think I got into it the same way everyone else got into it. And that's why I really wanted to review this in two ways, because it isn't just my opinion, I think it's about trying to find what you at home will like. My thoughts aren't your thoughts, I want you to be able to listen to it and say, "Yeah, you might like this or, yeah, maybe you should skip it." I think the trailer really is a good indicator if you're gonna like it or not. If you say, "Yeah, this looks like fun and Awkwafina looks kind of goofy, and the effects are a little cartoonish, but that's what I like about comic book movies", then I think you're gonna like it fine. But if you're someone that's kind of getting sick of the Marvel formula and you want to see a martial arts movie where they really only focus on the martial arts, even then, I don't think you're gonna hate this movie. It just might not be the mind-blowing experience that some people are building it up to be. So, if anything, I think I am more recommending it than not recommending it, because people really seem to get into it. Just by the law of averages, I think it's worth checking out for that. I don't know. Maybe I'm over-thinking it. What were your thoughts? Did you think it was fantastic, think it was just OK? Or maybe there's some people out there that really hate it. I haven't come across them yet, but I'm sure they're out there. I just thought it was fine, no more, no less. Check it out and see if you get a kick out of it as well.
(A scene showing Shang-Chi unleashing his inner huge power is shown)