MOVIE REVIEW: Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings!

Hey Everyone,

Paul here…


On this episode of The World’s Best Podcast, we give our straight out of the theater reaction, to latest MCU film, Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings! While not a FULL SPOILER review, a few MAJOR SPOILERS get dropped in our discussion, so listener beware! Instead of the studio, we recorded this in our car, immediately after seeing the film, which is why there’s a little background noise. However, I did want to include some Easter Eggs, interesting background info, and connections to the rest of The MCU, that just might enrich your experience when seeing Shang-Chi.


One of the cool things about Shang Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings, is that certain elements of the character’s history have been present in The MCU, all the way back to the first Iron Man film in 2008. None of this really counts as a spoiler, because it’s nothing that hasn’t been shown in the trailer. is nothing that you haven’t seen in the trailers. The Ten Rings is like a more mysterious, ninja HYDRA. I’m going to elaborate on how the organization was pulling the strings and making moves during some key moments in The MCU. The Ten Rings make their debut in the first MCU movie, Iron Man, in 2008. The Ten Rings were the terrorist organization that kidnapped Tony Stark at the beginning of the movie. They want him to make a weapons of mass destruction but instead Tony plans an escape by building his Mach 1 armor. With that Iron Man, and the MCU, was born. 


In Iron Man 2, it’s revealed that, in a deleted scene, agents of The Ten Rings, helped Mickey Rourke’s Whiplash get past security and onto the race track, where ha attacked Tony in his race car during the Monaco Grand Prix. 


Even in Ant-Man, towards the end of the film the current head of Pym Tech, Cross has finally been able to replicate his hands on Hank Pym’s shrinking technology. Cross, who’s a real sack if shit, intends to sell it to the highest bidders. Many shady buyers showed for the unveiling of the Yellowjacket, Cross’s version of the Ant-Man suit. Including Hydra, A.I.M., several agents of The Ten Rings. If you have Disney+ I’d also recommend checking out the short film All Hail The King, starring Ben Kingsley‘s character from Iron Man 3, Trevor Slattery. Not only is it a really fun little short, it also has a really cool connection to Shang Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings.

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-Paul

NEW TRAILER: Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings!

FIRST LOOK: Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings!

Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

We got out first look at the highly anticipated MCU movie, Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings, when Marvel dropped the first trailer this week. Not to mention the cool new poster (above) and some photos courtesy of EW.com. Now, I’m sure some of you out there might be asking: Who the hell is Shang-Chi? Before I answer, don’t forget that just a few years ago, audiences asked the same question about Iron Man and Thor, Captain America and Black Panther. Hell, before Marvel Studios announced the film, even I had no idea who the Guardians of The Galaxy were! Now these characters are household names! Marvel Studios has proven time and again that they can take the most obscure Marvel characters and make magic.

Who Is Shang-Chi?

Simu Liu as Shang-Chi

Shang-Chi is widely regarded to be the deadliest and most skilled martial artist on Earth. He’s better than Iron Fist, Black Widow, even Daredevil. I always like to describe Shang- Chi as: Imagine Bruce Lee, if he was an Avenger? Bruce Lee and his films were a huge influence on comic books featuring Shang-Chi. Stan The Man Lee wanted Bruce Lee’s son, Brandon Lee, to Star in the role whei a film was being developed in the early 80’s. Some comic book artists like to model their character on real people, so quite a few artists based their version of Shang-Chi on Bruce Lee (in one instance, complete with nunchucks straight out of Enter The Dragon).

It’s sort of like the now classic story of artist Bryan Hitch drew Nick Fury, to look exactly like Samuel L. Jackson in The Ultimates. An iconic Avengers comic that Hitch worked on with writer Mark Millar. Of course, Jackson eventually saw this, being an avid comic book reader himself. He and Marvel Studios contacted each other and the rest is history!

But I digress! Sorry about that, I tend to ramble sometimes. Anyway, back to Shang-Chi! Without any enhancements, like the super soldier serum Captain America and Bucky were exposed to call, I think Shang-Chi is so skilled that he would even be able to hold his own, if not out right beat, “enhanced” individuals like Steve Rogers or Bucky Barnes. I’m sure we’ll see his skill as a martial artist on full display in the movie.

Shang-Chi with Black Widow and Steve Rogers, during one of his stints in The Avengers

Shang-Chi became such a force of nature because of the brutal and cruel father spent Shang’s entire life forging him into a human weapon. To say that Shang-Chi has a complicated relationship with his father is an understatement. Shang is a hero, one of Earth’s champions, an Avenger. His father Wewun on the other hand, happens to be one the most dangerous supervillains on the planet and he wants he son to join the family business (whether Shang-Chi likes it or not). Wewun has gone by many names over the years, including one Marvel fans have heard before, but to say anymore would get into SPOILER territory. Just trust me when I say Wewun is a very cool, badass villain and I can’t wait to see what they do with him in this film. Wenwu wields Ten Rings (5 on each forearm) as you can see in the photo below. The Ten Rings bestow unimaginable power up their bearer, each with it’s own unique power. Fire and water manipulation, lightning blasts, some low level psychic abilities, just to name a few. Basically, Wenwu is a guy you do not want to fuck with. With the heart of this film being about a father and son who are diametrically opposed to one another, some powerful emotional (and liter) fireworks are going to fly.

Wenwu, Shang-Chi’s father, played by the great Tony Leung. Hmmm, those are some interesting bracelets he’s wearing…
Wenwu is a man who has walked the Earth of a very time and has gone by many names…

The exciting thing about Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings, is how it parallels the first Iron Man movie when it came out in 2008. No one who knew who the fuck Iron Man was and this great film, with this great characters, exploded onto screens and started this incredible journey. One of the greatest film franchises of all time both creatively and commercially. Like Iron Man, even among comic book fans Shang-Chi is a fairly blank slate. Beyond appearances as a key member of the team in some Avengers comics, as well as Daredevil and Iron Fist, I haven’t read one of the characters solo titles. Something I will be rectifying shortly with the new mini series that just became available in trade paperback/graphic novel. My point is this has the potential to blow up and be huge in the same way Iron Man has. Like Black Panther before it, this is the first major superhero, blockbuster featuring an Asian lead, with an almost entirely Asian cast, and an Asian crew. Shang-Chi can do for Asian children, what Black Panther did for young black kids all around! Not just children, but all Asians who want to see themselves represented in the biggest and coolest franchise in the world. If the people making this film play their cards right, this could be fucking amazing. Without further ado, take a look at the first trailer for Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings, here:

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings opens 9/3/21

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @PJWrightWBM or type Worlds Best Media into the search bar, you can also like and follow us on our Facebook page; World’s Best Media. We’re on Instagram @worldsbestmedia2017. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again! Stay healthy and stay safe!

-Paul

VIDEO: Awesome Avengers Tribute!

Check out this cool tribute video honoring Earth’s Mightiest Hero