It’s great to see the MCU experiment itself with other sub genres within it’s own genre. This has been a creative decision that they’ve been doing long before Avengers: Endgame was released, but it’s been much more prominent with each passing phase. Avengers: Endgame and especially the first Ant-Man would be classified as heist flicks. Captain America: The Winter Solider was an amalgamation of everything that comes within a 70s political thriller. Even films like Captain Marvel and Thor: Ragnarok were stylized as an 80s retro Saturday morning cartoon (Thor: Ragnarok) or a movie that was pulled out of the 90s (Captain Marvel). The MCU has been, and will potentially continue to be, the biggest, popular and thriving franchise of the last 10+ years and it’s always important for ever franchise to innovative itself, in hopes people will continue to rush out to see them. With the being the case, the MCU has had a cultural milestone by opening the doors of cultural representation with Black Panther. Clearly, there had been black superheroes in other comic book movies with black characters, but nothing until Black Panther came out and shattered box-office records and brought millions of smiles to a much needed demographic. But it’s always fair for other cultures to get their time to shine and it’s clear that the MCU is striving towards that line as we progress further and and deeper in this world. With this process, it’s created iconic figurines, beautiful and imaginative worlds within the MCU and more exciting material. With Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, a new hero has been born and his name is Shang-Chi. Shang-Chi a beautiful, emotionally powerful and stunning martial arts escapade that serves as maybe the best standalone origin story for the entire MCU. Despite it being the second movie for phase four, it’s the first MCU movie that feels self contained, yet still have the stakes feel incredibly consequential for the entire universe. It captures a unique and intricate aspect of Asian culture with its spectacular marital arts, visuals and its glorious costuming and colors. It opens up a wonderful new branch of the MCU in a way that feels freshens and ahh-inducing.
Trained as an assassin as a child, Shang-Chi lives remotely in the city of San Francisco working as valet driver with his best friend Katy (Awkwafina). Things take a turn for the worse when Shang and Katy get attacked by a group of assassins on a bus, which then leads Shang-Chi on a journey to confront his past that he thought he had left behind. It’s then up him to find his sister, who’s life is at stake, due to their own father, the leader of the Ten Rings organization.
Of all the origin stories that come to mind, Shang-Chi might the most insightful and most personal one to date, especially as far as the MCU is concerned. The thing about Shang-Chi is that it’s pretty much your standard MCU movie. It gives us the origin of Shang-Chi and how became a master of Kung Fu, but it gives us a fish out of water type of aspect with the character. It’s got it’s famous humor that the MCU is famous for and its structured almost like another standalone MCU movie. However, the movie executes it’s structure so damn perfectly and graciously that its steps and bounds better than how it was marketed. Shang-Chi is a much more deeper and profound comic-book adventure that not only transcends the the genre, but as long as you execute something we’ve seen before well, then all is forgiven. Aside from the impeccable direction, jaw-dropping and heart pounding action sequences, Shang-Chi is a personal story that features a level of authenticity that Shakespeare had with his plays. The film dives into the tragic and severe repercussions with fathers and sons and the dismantling of families when a tragedy has occurred, but all through the lens of Asian culture. The level of thought and heart that went to the narrative structure for this movie pays respect to classical and Shakespearean storytelling, but also to Asian customs and traditions.
The performances from the entire cast is exceptional. Simu Liu, famously known from award-winning CBC Television sitcom Kim’s Convenience, brings such a great level of likability and charm to what should now be a popular and arousing MCU character. Having Awkwafina play his best friend, Katy, is by far one of the best parts of the whole movie and what’s so unique about their relationship is that it’s unbelievably convincing. Within the first 20 minutes or so, the movie wonderfully develops the strong and powerful friendship they have. It’s genuine, sterling and it feels real. Legendary and international actor Toney Leung plays one of the most confined and tragic villains that’s ever been brought into the MCU. Not to say his villain on a Thanos or Joker level, but for the entirety of comic book movie villains, Toney Leung deserves to be in that discussion. The motivations and development of his character paint a commiserating and disastrous picture to him that makes for such a compelling villain. Michelle Yeoh, another esteemed Chinese actress, is absolutely breathtaking and soul stirring in this movie. Each actor elevates the material and gives the work justice.
By bringing in martial arts into the most successful and biggest franchise is a perfect way to bridge the MCU to other territories of filmmaking techniques and more a ferocious style of action. The action in Shang-Chi is unlike anything that the MCU has had to offer of the course of 20+ movies. It’s artsy, it provides substance and it’s absolutely glorious to gaze at with the human eye. Fans of marital arts, whether it’s films like The Raid or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon will be immensely satisfied but newcomers will be wowed and inspired.
For the last 6 months or so, Kevin Feige has been gushing about how good Eternals is. It then led us to assume that Black Widow and Shang-Chi were just okay. As much as a lot of us are dying to see Eternals, Shang-Chi might give the rest of phase four a run for it’s money. A new legend has been born and his name is Shang-Chi.
My grade for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: A+
Zane's take at the Cinema's 