'SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS' : Tuesday 12th October 2021

Finally, Greater Sydney has come out of three months+ of COVID-19 enforced lockdown on Monday 11th October, and with it movie theatres have reopened. As such, a whole slew of films released elsewhere in Australia and across the world are now available for the avid moviegoer to play catch-up on some of those more recent cinematic releases. The first film that I saw post-lockdown at my local multiplex earlier this week is 'SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS' - the 25th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as Directed and Co-Written for the screen by Destin Daniel Cretton, whose previous film making credits take in 'Short Term 12' with Brie Larson and Rami Malek in 2013, 'The Glass Castle' in 2017 with Brie Larson and Woody Harrelson and 'Just Mercy' in 2019 with Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx and Brie Larson. This film has so far grossed worldwide US$404M off the back of a circa US$180M production budget and has generated positive Critical acclaim. 

And so the film opens up setting the scene for how the ten rings came about. It seems that one thousand years ago (plus or minus a few years) Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung) discovers the mystical ten rings which grant the owner of said rings immortality and other worldly powers. He forms the Ten Rings organisation, over throwing kingdoms and toppling governments throughout history to accumulate wealth and power. Fast forward to 1996, and Wenwu searches for Ta Lo, a village that exists in a different dimension and reportedly harbours mythical creatures. He travels through a magical thick bamboo forest to the village entrance but is stopped by guardian Ying Li (Fala Chen). After an initial (sort of) fight between the pair, the two fall in love, and Wenwu foregoes the Ten Rings for a life of normalcy with his new wife and children Shang-Chi (Jayden Zhang) and Xialing (Elodie Fong). When Shang-Chi is seven years old, Li is murdered by Wenwu's enemies, the Iron Gang. Wenwu goes in search of the Iron Gang with the young Shang-Chi and massacres them all except for the leader who was not present at the time. Wenwu then resumes leadership of his organisation again. He makes Shang-Chi undergo brutal martial arts training, but does not allow Xialing to train so she teaches herself in secret, having observed Shang-Chi's training techniques and replicating them, only better! When Shang-Chi is fourteen (Arnold Sun), Wenwu sends him to assassinate the Iron Gang's leader. After fulfilling his mission, a disheartened Shang-Chi runs away to San Francisco and takes on the name of 'Shaun'.

And so we fast fast forward to the present day and Shaun (Simu Liu) is working as a hotel valet car parking attendant with his best friend Katy (Awkwafina), who knows nothing of his past life. Travelling on a bus together, the pair are attacked by members of the Ten Rings organisation, with Razor Fist (Florian Munteanu) who has a machete blade for his right hand, stealing a pendant that Li gave to Shang-Chi when he was a young boy that gives him access to Ta Lo. Wenwu anonymously provides Shang-Chi with the location of Xialing in Macau and, fearing that the Ten Rings will go after Xialing's matching pendant from Li, Shang-Chi decides to go in search of her. Katy, not wanting to be left out and having survived the vicious attack on the bus, imposes herself on Shang-Chi, who reveals his past to her on the flight over to Macau. They find Xialing (Meng'er Zhang) at an underground fight club in Macau, which she formed after escaping from Wenwu. The Ten Rings attack the fight club with Wenwu arriving to capture Shang-Chi, Xialing and Katy. Wenwu takes his daughters pendant.

The three are helicoptered into the Ten Rings compound, where Wenwu uses the pendants to reveal a magical water map leading to Ta Lo. Wenwu explains that he has heard his wife, Li, calling to him and believes she has been held captive in Ta Lo behind a vast sealed gate. He plans to destroy the village by burning it to the ground, unless they agree to release her. When Shang-Chi and Xialing object saying that he must accept that their mother and his wife is dead, he imprisons them with Katy. In an ante-room to the cell where they are locked up, the three meet former actor Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley) who previously took on the guise of the Mandarin and was abducted by the Ten Rings for impersonating Wenwu, now becoming a 'court jester' or Shakespearean fool for Wenwu. They also meet his hundun (a legendary faceless furry animal the size of a wombat with wings from Ta Lo) that Slattery has named Morris, who offers to guide them back to his village.

The group escapes in Razor Fist's souped up 4WD and drive through the bamboo forest with the trees rapidly closing in behind them en route to Ta Lo. They drive through a portal hidden within a water fall which sees them exit in a separate dimension and into Ta Lo, with a myriad of Chinese mythological creatures all around them. There they meet Ying Nan (Michelle Yeoh), Li's sister, and aunt to Shnag-Chi and Xialing. Nan explains the history of Ta Lo, saying that thousands of years ago, the village was attacked by the soul-eating Dweller-in-Darkness and its guardians, but was saved by a Chinese dragon called the Great Protector who helped seal the Dark Gate to the Dweller's world. Nan further states that the Dweller-in-Darkness has been influencing Wenwu to believe Li is still alive so that he will open the Dark Gate. Shang-Chi, Xialing, and Katy join the villagers in training and preparing for Wenwu's imminent arrival, using weapons they have fashioned from dragon scales. 

Wenwu and the Ten Rings heavies arrive and attack the villagers. Wenwu overpowers Shang-Chi and forces him into the nearby lake where he slowly sinks to the bottom unconscious. Wenwu then attacks the Gate with the rings. This gives some of the Dweller's guardians the chance to escape, and through the onslaught the Ten Rings heavies, now abandoned by Wenwu, join forces with the villagers to fight them off. Shang-Chi is revived by the Great Protector, which flies out of the lake to battle the marauding guardians. Wenwu and Shang-Chi come head to head once again and Shang-Chi gains the upper hand, but chooses to spare Wenwu. The Dweller-in-Darkness bursts out of the weakened Gate and attacks Shang-Chi. Wenwu saves Shang-Chi, bequeathing him the rings before being killed by the Dweller-in-Darkness. Shang-Chi, the Great Protector, Xialing, and Katy battle and kill the Dweller-in-Darkness. Afterwards, Shang-Chi and Katy return to San Francisco where they are summoned by the sorcerer Wong (Benedict Wong) to the Sanctum Sanctorum, with more divulged in the mid-credits scene. 

With nods to 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' in some of the fight sequences, the return of Trevor Slattery apologising for the misstep of the racial stereotypes of his impersonation of The Mandarin in 'Iron Man 3', and the reference to the Sanctum Sanctorum in the final mid-credits scene, together with the well crafted action set pieces, the usual dose of MCU humour, emotion and a smattering of pathos all make for an enjoyable Asian-centric addition to the MCU canon. The performances by Leung especially as the antagonist with heart is the stand out role for me, with Liu, Zhang and Awkwafina all giving solid enough performances but still clearly finding their way, which will undoubtedly come in subsequent Shang-Chi instalments, and cross-over films within the ever expanding MCU. And in the Director's chair, Cretton here makes effective use of flashbacks to move the story arc forward in a way that most other Marvel films have not, while keeping this origin story grounded and relatable. The ending when it comes however, feels protracted and over the top with too heavy a reliance on CGI dragons, mythical creatures, and a battle in which not a drop of blood is shed and everyone who dies does so off screen. The film does not reach the dizzy heights that 'Black Panther' did in 2018, but nonetheless, as your first visit to the cinema post-lockdown you could do a lot worse. 

'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 2nd September 2021.

The 55th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival was held from 20th through until 28th August this year. The first year of one of the world’s oldest film festivals was in 1946 in Marianske Lazne. The festival moved to Karlovy Vary in 1947, and the following year the festival became competitive, awarding its first Crystal Globe. In 1956, the International Federation of Film Producers Associations officially designated Karlovy Vary a category A festival. The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is the largest film festival in the Czech Republic and the most prestigious and important events in all of Central and Eastern Europe as seen by filmmakers, buyers, distributors, sales agents, and journalists. It is one of the oldest A-list film festivals, a category it shares with the festivals in Cannes, Berlin, Venice, San Sebastian, Moscow, Montreal, Shanghai, and Tokyo.

The Opening Night film was 'Zatopek' from the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic and Directed, Co-Written and Co-Produced by David Ondricek in its World Premier screening. The Closing Night's film was 'The Nest' from the UK and Canada and Directed and Written by Sean Durkin and starring Jude Law and Carrie Coon. 

This year there were twelve feature films in competition for the Crystal Globe, that awards US$25K for the Grand Prix-Crystal Globe, and US$15K for the Special Jury Prize. Within this section there are also awards for Best Director, Best Actress and Best Actor. 

Those films in this competitive section are :-

* 'As Far as I Can Walk' - from Serbia, France, Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Lithuania and Directed and Co-Written by Stefan Arsenijevic. World Premier screening. This film took out Crystal Globe and in addition it also nabbed the Best Actor Award for Ibrahim Koma, and a Special Mention also for Director of Photography Jelena Stankovic.

* 'At Full Throttle' - from the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic and Directed, Co-Written and Co-Filmed by Miro Remo. World Premier screening.

* 'Bird Atlas' - from the Czech Republic, Slovenia and the Slovak Republic and Directed and Co-Written by Olmo Omerzu. World Premier screening.

* 'Boiling Point' - from the UK and Directed and Co-Written by Philip Barantini. World Premier screening. Actress Vinette Robinson earned a Special Mention for her work on the film.

* 'Every Single Minute' - from the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic and Directed and Written for the screen by Erika Hnikova. World Premier screening. This film was awarded the Special Jury Prize. 

* 'The Exam' - from Germany, Iraqi Kurdistan and Qatar and Directed and Co-Written by Shawkat Amin Korki. World Premier screening.

* 'The Land of the Sons' - from Italy and Directed and Co-Written by Claudio Cupellini. International Premier screening.

* 'No' - from Germany and Directed and Co-Written by Dietrich Bruggemann. International Premier screening. Dietrich Bruggemann was declared the Best Director.

* 'Prince' - from Germany and Directed and Co-Written by Lisa Bierwirth. World Premier screening.

* 'Saving One Who Was Dead' - from the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and France, and Directed, Co-Written and Co-Produced by Vaclav Kadrnka. World Premier screening.

* 'The Staffroom' - from Croatia and Directed and Co-Written by Sonja Tarokic. World Premier screening. This film received a Special Mention.

* 'Wars' - from Canada and Directed and Edited by Nicolas Roy. World Premier screening. Eleonore Loiselle was awarded Best Actress for her work on this film. 

In addition, the East of the West Competition awards US$15K for the East of the West Grand Prix and US$10K for the East of the West Special Jury Prize. This is an international competition of first and second feature-length fiction and documentary films from Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the countries of the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and North Africa presented as World, International or European Premier screenings. This second competition section was won by the Russian film 'Nuuccha', Directed and Written for the screen by Vladimir Munkuev. The jury awarded its Special Prize to the film 'Sisterhood' from North Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro and Directed and Co-Written by Dina Duma, and a Special Mention to the Czech documentary 'Intensive Life Unit', Written and Directed by Adela Komrzy.

The festival also paid tribute on its opening night, to honour the Oscar-winning British actor Michael Caine for his outstanding contribution to world cinema. He also presented 'Best Sellers', a comedy in which he stars, and which is yet to be released, at the festival. Organisers also honoured the US Actor, Director and Writer Ethan Hawke, and the Czech Writer, Director and Producer Jan Sverak with the Festival President's Award; and the US Actor, Producer, Director and musician Johnny Depp, who also presented two films he Produced being showcased at the festival - 'Crock of Gold : A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan' and 'Minamata' in which he also stars.

For all the news, views and reviews from the 55th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, you can go to the official website at : https://www.kviff.com

With Greater Sydney, where I live, still in COVID lockdown for another month ending (at this stage) at the end of September, this means all of our cinema's are closed until this date, which further means that the release of the movies as given below, slated for release this week, will be delayed somewhat across certain parts of Australia at least. That said, these movies will either have been released or are set for an imminent release somewhere in the world, and as Odeon Online has an international audience, I thought it best to carry on regardless.  

This week then we have just three new films coming to your local Odeon, and we kick start with the 25th offering in the MCU that sees a martial-arts master having to confront the past he thought he left behind when he's drawn into the web of a mysterious organisation. This is followed up by an Aussie drama of a teenage swimming prodigy whose life implodes after the release of his father from jail. And we wrap up the week with a documentary fifty years in the making that over the course of six weeks during the summer of 1969, thousands of people attend the Harlem Cultural Festival to celebrate Black history, culture, music and fashion.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the three latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead. 

'SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS' (Rated M) - is an American superhero film based on the Marvel comics character of Shang-Chi and is the 25th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and is the second film in Phase 4 of the MCU following 'Black Widow' released in July. The film is Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton from a Screenplay and story he Co-Wrote. Destin Daniel Cretton's previous feature film making efforts take in his debut in 2012 with 'I Am Not a Hipster', then 'Short Term 12', 'The Glass Castle' and 'Just Mercy' with the latter three all being with Brie Larson. Originally scheduled to be released on 12th February this year, it was then moved to 7th May and then to 9th July due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film shifted once more to this week in Australia and the US, having garnered generally positive critical reviews. 

Following on from the events of 'Avengers: Endgame' Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) - a skilled martial artist who was trained at a young age to be an assassin by his father Wenwu (Tony Leung) is drawn into the clandestine Ten Rings organisation, and is forced to confront the past he thought he left behind for a normal life in San Francisco. Also starring Awkwafina, Michelle Yeoh, Benedict Wong, Florian Munteanu and Fala Chen with Tim Roth, Ben Kingsley and Jade Xu reprising their roles from 2008's 'The Incredible Hulk', 2013's 'Iron Man 3' and 2021's 'Black Widow' respectively. 

'STREAMLINE' (Rated MA15+) - is an Australian drama film Executive Produced, Written and Directed by Tyson Wade Johnston in his feature film making debut having previously made the short films 'Exist', 'Seed' and 'Lunar'. The film saw its Premier showcasing at the Melbourne International Film Festival on 19th August before its Australian release this week having generated largely positive critical response thus far. Here, a prodigious fifteen-year-old swimmer - Benjamin Lane (Levi Miller) with the world at his feet with the Olympics beckoning self-destructs after his father Rob Bush (Jason Isaacs) is released from prison. Inside the pool he lives a life of diligent perfectionism, yet outside of it, his existence couldn't be more opposite. Also starring Jake Ryan, Laura Gordon, Steve Bastoni and Robert Morgan. According to our friends at Wikipedia 'Streamline form is a swimming technique that is used underwater in every stroke. At the start of a race or on a turn, streamline form is used, usually along with a dolphin kick or flutter kick, to create the least amount of resistance to help the swimmer propel as far as they can. Many factors contribute to the perfect streamline form and mastering this method increases a swimmer’s speed. Streamline is one of the key fundamentals to mastering any stroke'

'SUMMER OF SOUL' ( . . . Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Rated PG) - is an American documentary film directed by Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival (aka 'Black Woodstock'). It had its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival at the end of January this year, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the US Documentary Competition. The film examines the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which was held at Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park) in Harlem, lasted for six weeks and celebrated African American music and culture and promoted the continued politics of black pride. Despite having a large attendance and performers such as Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, The 5th Dimension, The Staple Singers, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Sly and the Family Stone and the Chambers Brothers, the festival was seen as obscure in pop culture, something that the documentarians investigate. Forty hours of footage of that 1969 festival was recorded on videotape and later placed in a basement, where it sat for about fifty years unpublished, until Producer Robert Fyvolent became aware of the footage, and eventually acquired film and television rights to it from its original producer, Hal Tulchin. The film has generated universal Critical acclaim and has so far grossed US$2.7M following its release Stateside in late June. 

With three new release films this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the coming week, at your local Odeon, or perhaps not!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-