Film Review - Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

 Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is the newest Marvel Studios (the 25^th film to be precise) and stars Simu Liu as Shang Chi who lives in America as Shaun and works with Katy (Awkafina) as a valet but one day while taking the Bus to work some black clad guys pick a fight and Shang Chi’s martial arts prowess awakens and it sparks a heated reunion with his father (Tony Leunig) who not only heads to ancient clan The Ten Rings but also seeks the power to revive his dead wife.

 

Shang Chi was a movie that I was looking forward to as it was promising some big scale martial arts action in the MCU and when Marvel Studios did their big dog and pony show in 2019 outlining the next group of films and Disney Plus TV Shows to come this film was the one that stood out to me the most because of that promise of martial arts action as I’m a massive Dragon Ball fan but could this movie deliver on that or would it be like many films in the MCU that were fun but nothing special.

 

Well it’s case of Have Some of Column A and Try Some of Column B as this film was a bit of a mixed bag for me on the whole, don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the film and I had fun watching it on the big screen but I don’t think it ranks with the very best of the MCU franchise.

 

One huge positive and my favorite part of the film was Simu Liu himself as Shang Chi, every time he was on screen I really enjoyed watching him as this character, he infuses Shang Chi with an inherent nobility and desire to do good with his life and his newfound power and skill and given the state of the MCU right now losing so many of its heroes the franchise desperately needed a new breakout character to help anchor it going forward and I hope we get to see more of Shang Chi in future films.

 

Also the films Martial Arts action sequences for the most part are a lot of fun, there’s a really good one in an underground fight club that is glimpsed in the previews for the film not to mention the fight on the Bus plus a fight on the side of a building under construction and director Destin Daniel Cretton and the Marvel team surrounding him have done a good job with these scenes for the most part.

 

But those fight scenes sadly and here is where I will start to go into my negatives about the film have at times way too fast camera movements and quick editing, it isn’t anywhere near as bad as in Snake Eyes the GI Joe film but having recently rewatched the Matrix movies and the first film in particular having fantastic Martial Arts fight scenes that the Wachowski’s knew how to frame with their camera work and then edit in a way that let you enjoy those moments and witness how brutal they could be (see the fight between Smith and Morpheus in the first Matrix film) these ones while well done fall short in comparison.

 

And also I am really REALLY sick to death of Marvel Studios flooding their films with needless comedy and humour beats it is REALLY FUCKING ANNOYING ME (sorry to lose my temper) I mean at a couple of points in this movie you get a cool action moment or a great dramatic moment and it gets interrupted by a poor attempt at a joke that I not only didn’t think was very funny but ruined the flow of the scene and the drama and stakes of those moments.

 

And lastly I have to talk about Tony Leunig as the leader of the Ten Rings, he is good in the film but I wish he had been much more like the iconic Mandarin villain from the Marvel Comics updated for today’s more diverse audience rather than the grieving father, the MCU has really struggled to craft great compelling villains for their films and its why I’ve marked them down more than most have but these films need them I mean where would the Matrix be without Agent Smith, it wouldn’t be anywhere near as good as it was or the last 2 Avengers films not delivering on their promise to make Thanos a compelling villain.

 

And so that was Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and its one of the better MCU films but I don’t think it ranks with the best of that franchise, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Free Guy (2021)

 Free Guy is the new film starring Ryan Reynolds as Guy, a person inside an online computer game called Free City who works at the local bank which is frequently robbed as one of the games many missions but one day he sees a beautiful dark haired woman (Jodie Comer) and it opens his eyes to being potentially more than just a background character something that begins to upset the head of the gaming company that runs Free City (Taika Waititi.)

 

Free Guy was not only delayed 13 months due to the pandemic but it was also one of the final 20^th Century Fox films that Disney inherited when they bought that company so it’s had a long road to be installed in cinemas all around the world (I saw posters for it at the beginning of 2020 before the Darkness came) but I was still keen for it as I like Ryan Reynolds (good Canadian kid by the way) and the previews looked fun even if I thought there were too many of them that seemed to spell out the whole film before anyone got to see it.

 

Well my anticipation paid off as this was a good fun time at the cinema and like Suicide Squad I feel like I enjoyed this movie more seeing it on the big screen and the action sequences for the most part really benefit from that big screen and sound experience that simply cannot be replicated in the home try as we might and those action moments are really cool with some great visuals that really made them stand out for me.

 

The performances also work well for the most part, Reynolds has been on a bit of a winning streak for me recently with the first Deadpool and Detective Pikachu (didn’t care for Deadpool 2 one bit) and he continues that streak here as he is charming and loveable and fun to watch here and that really comes across as your watching him on here, he has been very hit and miss over the years but he’s been more hit than miss recently, Jodie Comer is pretty good as well while there are also some very fun cameos and references.

 

But the person who generates the best laughs is Taika Waititi, most of his lines as the over the top head of the gaming company made me laugh out loud quite a bit in the cinema and like Reynolds continues to be a fun watch on screen in front of the camera as well as behind it even though I didn’t love Jojo Rabbit as much as others did.

 

And so that was Free Guy and it’s a nice, fun, likeable movie that delivers on that promise handsomely, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - The Suicide Squad (2021)

 The Suicide Squad is the new DC film written and directed by James Gunn who made the Guardians of the Galaxy films for Marvel Studios among other films and stars Idris Elba as Bloodsport who along with others like Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), King Shark (Sylvester Stallone), the Peacemaker (John Cena) among others to go to the Corto Maltese to find and destroy a top secret project called Project Starfish by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) but this will not be an easy mission.

 

I went into this new Suicide Squad not really expecting a lot, I hated the 2016 film directed by David Ayer plus the DCU films have been very very hit and miss plus I always felt that this movie would be more in line with James Gunn’s pre Guardians movies such as his Troma films work and his 2011 film Super with Rainn Wilson which I also hated.

 

But to my delightful surprise this is a very fun movie that is very hard to dislike and while it does get very weird (I could see why it was originally rated R18+ in Australia before it was downgraded to an MA15+ on an appeal) you go along with it because Gunn clearly knows what he’s doing and creates a fun and well made ride that wins you over especially in the last act which really begs to be seen on a big cinema screen as it looks great.

 

Also this movie is very violent but it straddles that MA15+ line enough that it feels like a very high MA there is lots of delicious gooey bloody violence that is shocking at first but it won me over very quickly but this will not work for some and I can see that but it worked for me.

 

What also worked very well for the most part was the cast, Idris Elba like Richard E Grant is something of an underrated actor who has his fans but when you watch him on screen you think he deserves to be a bigger star but that chance never came and Elba is terrific here, utterly charismatic and holds his own effortlessly, John Cena is far far better here than he ever was in Fast and Furious 9 while Peter Capaldi was the other main highlight for me as the mad scientist behind Project Starfish.

 

The cast members that didn’t work as well for me and here is where I will start to dive into some of my negatives on the film were Margot Robbie, Stallone and Taika Waititi, the latter 2 both terrific multi talents in front of and behind the camera feel wasted in their roles it’s not that their bad it’s more that they get very little to do apart from a one not gag or a glorified cameo.

 

As for Robbie she’s okay but she was best in this role in last year’s Birds of Prey which she also was a producer on and I feel that needs to be the case when she’s playing this character she needs to be in the drivers seat helping to guide it as it can go very wrong in the wrong hands and here there is a fair bit of that.

 

Another element that didn’t work as well for me was the humour, there is a lot of very obnoxious humour in this movie and a lot of it didn’t work for me at all, I just didn’t laugh nor did I think it was very funny what was being laughed at and far too many modern movies have humour in it more than I personally like and it can feel like a lot of the time that it’s being used as much as it is because those in charge don’t really want to take this seriously and I wish they would as humour is a subjective thing and there is nothing worse than comedy without laughs and here and in most movies nowadays that is the case more often than not at least for me.

 

And so that was the Suicide Squad and it’s a lot of fun and I am very keen to see it again on a big cinema screen when the chance arises, 3 and a half out of 5.