In this film, Shang-Chi (played by Simiu Lu from the Canadian sitcom Kim's Convenience) is an unambitious fellow working as a valet with his best friend Katy (Awkwafina). However, Shang-Chi's past comes to haunt him as he is pursued by the criminal organization The Ten Rings to which he has ties.
This film proves once again that the MCU is going to do just fine after the shakeup of Endgame. This is even a stronger entry than Black Widow. It's not one of those Marvel films that tries to switch up the tone a little. It is just a good ol' fashioned action-packed audience-pleaser. If you're a little tired of the Marvel formula, I'd like to say in defense of this movie that it is really well executed.
Some of the fight choreography is really impressive, especially the bus scene. And yeah we have the traditional big budget battle at the end that the MCU is also known for, but it's a very impressive final battle.
There are a lot of Chinese mythical creatures in this. I really appreciate the amount of detail and color that went toward them. However, it's clear the creatures are computer animated as the amount of detail is a little at the expense of realistic quality.
The story in this has a different feel about it. It really is based around the main character's personal life and how it relates to his journey even more than the likes of Black Widow or Thor. The whole general backstory is really well thought out (especially when it comes to using the Mandarin/Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung) without wandering into the general area of the Yellow Peril/Fu Manchu stereotype that the comics character originally was.)
The script is one of the more humorous Marvel films and has two jokes that are just laugh-out-loud funny.
Though this movie makes good use of comprehensive flashbacks spread throughout to build the story, there are a lot of them and some could find them exhausting. I felt that the character of Xialing (Meng'er Zhang) wasn't always properly utilized in the last act. She needed more interaction between characters and it felt like her backstory didn't get a resolution in a way that would've felt natural. If you saw the character Death Dealer (Andy Le) in the trailers and thought he looked neat, be forewarned that he's basically Boba Fett, cool design but sadly underutilized. Plus, comics fans might be disappointed that they've significantly limited the abilities of the Mandarin's rings, which originally each had their own unique power.
Simiu makes for a likable lead. Think of Shang-Chi as kind of a goofy average Joe like Ant Man, except he's more sensible and a chill dude. However, it's Awkwafina who really steals the show. She's funny and entertaining, but she never feels like she's forced in and works well with the more serious moments of the film. Leung makes a good antagonist, one of the most sympathetic and sorta fleshed out villains in the MCU.
Highly recommended, just an all-around entertaining movie.
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