Movie Review: Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

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Mandarin and the ten rings organization were some of the oldest villains that came to the Marvel universe. The Mandarin was introduced through the Iron Man movies but by the end of the third film of the franchise, the talk related to Mandarin had ended.


According to the Legend, thousands of years ago, Xu Wenwu, who later became theMandarin, finds 10 magical rings which bestow mystical powers to him, including immortality. He used these powers to attack other empires and build his kingdom, later creating the 10 Rings crime organization.


Years later, Shang Chi, son of Xu Wenwu, is a valet in a grand hotel. He enjoys his carefree life with his friend Katy until one day, while they are travelling in a bus together, they are attacked by members of the 10 Rings intending to steal magical pendants from Shang Chi and his sister. Shang Chi easily defeats them, showing his unknown martial arts side to his friend.

During the fight, Shang Chi loses his magical pendant which his mother gave him to go back to the village she came from, and so he goes to find his sister who has a charm like his. The following part of the film is about their journey back to their mother’s village and the adventures that await them there.


Shang Chi is the latest Marvel franchise installment, making it the 25th Marvel Studios movie.


Apart from projecting this cliché image of Chinese culture into it, Shang Chi is a good, fun-packed action movie, where the visual experience one hundred percent meets the audience’s expectations. The 3-D experience particularly mesmerizes viewers, especially the final action scenes.


Canada’s very own Simu Lui has done a fantastic job depicting Shang Chi; his ability to perform multiple martial arts without a stunt double and his versatile transformation to an ordinary yet funny guy is well done. Meng’er Zhang, who plays the role of Shang Chi’s sister, also has done a fantastic job with her action-packed sequence.


Shang Chi is a great piece that fits perfectly into the Marvel Universe’s Phase Four, especially as the MCU recently announced that the universe is expanding and branching into the multiverse, where there will be multiple character crossovers. Shang Chi and his mystical weapon would be a great asset to future Avengers.

Emily is in her fourth year of Political Science. She loves studying and academics which follows into her research work. She's a stern black coffee drinker and is a proud Acadienne. When she's not working or doing school work, you can find Emily listening to 70s music on vinyl and watching Parks and Recreation. If you ask her about parliamentary institutions, she won't stop talking.