Mystical and magical feel but ultimately unsatisfying. *spoilers*

So I must preface this with the fact that I knew nothing about Shang-chi or even other superheroes like Hawkeye or Black Widow or Black Panther and even IronMan before Marvel movies made them household names.

After nearly 13 years of simply amazing movies we come to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

The movie started off with a bang with interesting narrative piece about some old Chinese emperor who obtains the 10 rings somehow and wrecks havoc and inexplicably also starts living longer. While no mention is made of how exactly these rings transform him from regular man to uber skilled dude who can pierce through enemy hordes and also lengthens his life span, it was a cool entry for the villain (who from his mere face appears like one of those whose char arc will undergo transformation. The casting here was great - he can look evil and benevolent and someone who can transform. He just has that balanced face of neutral).

However things change when somehow after a 1000 years it is 1996 and he's in some Chinese area looking for something magical and enters a village.

Now, here is where the biggest movie gripe starts for me - time span handling. You see, the movie does things in time spans that make you pause and wonder and calculate how exactly this will work out.

So he's been alive for 1000 years - how? does he have to be wearing the rings? All 10 of them? If he takes it off, does he age normally? What happens if he gets hit while wearing them? Does he get injured? Can he die? These are things people naturally would ask.

Also, big thing is - people would notice he's not aging and be spooked/freaked by him and run away. Or eventually people would want to experiment on him. Not to mention he doesn't affect course of history outside of his tiny Chinese village for 1000+ years? I mean, he doesn't travel? No one's heard of him nor seen him outside his area.

And then the woman who battles him becomes his wife and then they have a kid. Who at 7 watches her die at the hands of maybe 20 men (did she get beaten up badly and die or sexually assaulted or gunned? No idea but it would've definitely traumatized the kid badly. Then he somehow, say in 2004, starts learning Kung-Fu and by 2011 is now master at it and then suddenly makes to America somehow and speaks perfect American English with an American accent. A 14 year old who was already learning English inexplicably from age 7 from a Chinese guy's goons maybe and who lives a 1000 years in his own area mostly (else we'd have heard of him) and would be speaking with a heavy Chinese accent. But no, coming to SFO and living there from 2011 to 2021, as a 24-year old, he's like perfect in American accent English + Kung Fu + SFO lingo etc. I know many who immigrated to America at 14 and no, 99% of have their own accent and it is tough at that age to switch. Maybe if he came at 7 it is certainly possible but not at age 14-15.

Now, another puzzling this is his sister is not taught the arts for sexist reasons presumably but is now an expert by watching them and somehow practicing with no one knowing. I mean, c'mon. I watch kung-fu movies but I'm zero at it. That's not how it works. Plus she's great at English as well AND runs off at age 16 (she waited 6 years for him after he ran off at 14, so he was 20 then) and then she makes a fight club where Wong (?!) is fighting some alien (!?) and no one bats an eye and people are betting on them AND they say this new bus fighter is the star of the show?

Then they go back via their dad capturing them (by stealing their pendant? Could he not have asked which he does when he shows up to the fight club after a lovely choreographed fight scene) and putting them with Trevor Slattery, the IronMan 3 Mandarin (!?) which was odd and perplexing... and some mystical creature bs and pendant eyes for a dragon and water path and what not bs. Magical and mystical done well but just pure bs. I had to check my brain was switched off and it was so it was nice.

Then they enter the village driving a BMW i3, lol wut going left and right at high speeds with a forest closing around them and enter some waterfall portal and get to the village and everyone in the village is .... not shocked seeing a BMW i3 drive over. And neither are they at the magic creatures instead of freaking out. Nor at the dragon later. Not to mention these guys sleeping right beside a giant forcefield holding a soul-sucking dragon (!?) that is gonna do what exactly? And how is is talking to the dad pretending to be the wife? And how come no one else in the village ever had that experience ever? No one ever been in love and lost anyone?

BUT THEN... the bad guys show up next morning - how exactly? I know he mentioned he knows the path but he has like 10 jeeps and like maybe 50-60 people tops with some glowing umbrella sticks and some tazing lassoes (!?!?) and they all start fighting and he goes to forcefield blah blah blah and then the main guy gets all 10 ring