Review: "Shang-Chi" soars through action and chemistry

by Nathaniel R

Father vs Son in Shang-Chi

Many years ago I was at the movies with my best high school girlfriend. I had convinced her to see The Piano, which was not her usual sort of film. At the exact moment that mute Holly Hunter lost her little finger to her husband’s axe, I let out a non-mute yelp. My bestie and I were both deep in the story onscreen and at the film’s most violent moment she had dug her fingers into my arm so tightly offscreen that I was in pain. What does that have to do with the latest Marvel Cinematic Blockbuster, you might, very sensibly, ask? It is only that this long-forgotten sense memory came rushing back to me in two winning ways, the first of which occurred as Shang-Chi’s action mettle was put to the test.

While the film takes its time getting there — blame the familiar slow pacing of flashback heavy origin stories— the story properly takes off as soon as Sean (Simu Liu) and his best girlfriend Katy (Awkwafina) are suddenly beset by assassins on a San Francisco city bus, One of them, Razor Fist (Florian Munteanu)  is so extra he has a blade where his arm should be. This particular action sequence is as shocking to us as it it is to Katy but for different reasons...

She can’t believe what her friend is capable of. He’s been her karaoke buddy and directionless fellow valet for years but suddenly she’s watching him flip, kick, and outmaneuver multiple deadly ninjas… on a moving bus at that! We saw that part coming since the film is called Shang-Chi and we’ve already deduced that that’s Sean real name and he’s the now grown-up son of the fearsome warrior Wenwu (China’s greatest male movie star Tony Leung Chiu Was) who we’ve spent some time with in the film’s lengthy prologue. What's shocking to us is hot great this fight is. Bless the director Daniel Destin Cretton, and presumably his action choreography and stunt team, because we’re right there with Katy, marveling not just as Sean’s ability, but at the scene itself. The bus sequence has more crazy twists and exciting turns than San Francisco’s famed streets which the bus is now careening dangerously through after losing its driver during the mayhem.

I was so engrossed by the alternately funny, scary, and popcorn-devouring thrills that my attention was broken just once, for a millisecond, as my boyfriend yanked his hand away from mine (a first in our relationship!). It was self-defense, he protested after the movie, as I was digging my fingers so tightly into his that he’d had enough of the pain. 

Instead of "meet cute" it's "meet fight" for Shang-Chi's parents

After the bus sequence, we come to understand more of Shang-Chi’s family history and how it will affect the family’s future… aka the rest of the plot of the movie. It’s a convoluted tangle so let it suffice to say that Shang Chi’s father is a supervillain who carries the mystical ten rings which give him enormous power. He’s only been bested in battle once, by Shang-Chi’s dead mother back when they first met! And that was more of a draw really as we see in the film’s second-best set piece, a ballet-like fight that recalls the lyrical quality of great wuxia movies much more than anything in the MCU oeuvre. Years later Wenwu is convinced that his dead wife is actually still alive and now held captive in the mystical city she once guarded. Cue our hero’s fantastical journey towards his destiny and a lot of father-son conflict, both emotionally and super-powered.

Before we get to the final act of the film, though, Shang-Chi repeats the elaborate multi-part thrills of the bus sequence, this time on the side of a skyscraper and with even more characters fighting it out.  By this point, the boyfriend was keeping his hands firmly in the popcorn and away from mine. *sniffle*. This is all a long way of saying that Shang-Chi excels most as an action picture. Those three set pieces are among the most thrilling in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, right up there with Captain America and the Winter Soldier’s elevator or freeway sequence, Black Widow versus Taskmaster on the bridge (weird that the movie was so instantly underrated), or Black Panther’s wig tossing casino brawl.

Which is not to say that Shang-Chi is one of Marvel’s best films. Those three remarkable setpieces are all in the film’s first half, making the latest superhero picture curiously front-loaded. Your mileage may vary but I’ve discovered that I’m usually invested in action sequences in directly inverse proportions to how much CGI is involved. So once Shang-Chi starts piling on magical beasts and superpowers and moves away from hand-to-hand sparring and intensely enjoyable fight choreography, the thrills become far less distinctive and more Marvel generic.  

Still, in all Shang-Chi is a strong early entry for Marvel’s just launched new phase. It’s not just the expertly executed action sequences but the humor (I shan’t spoil the film’s best non-trailer joke though I’m sure most reviews will), and the everyman charisma of its leading man (Simu Liu) who, like Peter Parker, is just a normal guy (not a billionaire, Norse God, sentient android, or King) who happens to have fantastical gifts. Above all else (save those early fight setpieces) Shang-Chi soars due to the chemistry of its central friendship. Platonic opposite sex friendships are common enough in real life that they really shouldn’t feel this revelatory onscreen. Awkwafina and Simu Liu, both funny actors on their own, really spark in unison, especially when it comes to the instantly recognizable joie de vivre of great hangs with best friends. I’m calling my high school girlfriend, to recommend this one. B/B+

SPOILER ALERT… Though the film has two end-credit stingers, both of which play as group-teamup-teasing (as is Marvel's M.O.) especially due to Captain Marvel's cameo, it slightly twists the “…will return” title card formula that’s normally a kind of exasperating but welcome long form promise about a hero you love. Though the text doesn’t read “Shang-Chi will return” Simu Liu has more than earned it. Shang-Chi 2 isn’t on any public list of Marvel’s always lengthy future release calendars but we hope it is soon.

Comments

[Ryan T.]

I loved it! I completely agree with those early fight sequences. Just brilliant. Unlike you though, I was still in awe for the back half fights (dragon!).

What I really loved about this film, other than the aforementioned "platonic" friendship b/w Liu and Awkwafina (she's so reliably pleasant in everything I watch now), was the family dynamics and heartfelt and real emotional baggage that Shang Chi had with his sister and father. Speaking of father... wow Tony Leung was MAGNETIC. I only wished his character had a slightly better denouement, but he was aces throughout.

And yeah, it was so funny! I know that's Marvel, but it felt genuine here. Was it because of Awkwafina or the unexpected appearance of [spoiler]?

[Lynn Lee]

Can't wait to see this! The trick for me will be to find a show that is less than half full this weekend (which I hope for the movie's sake is difficult, but for my own not TOO difficult). I'd be more comfortable if the movie theaters around me required masks, but of course they don't.

I hadn't realized that this was my alt-universe BF Tony Leung's first Hollywood movie. Sounds like it was worth the wait, for the most part.

[Lynn Lee]

Saw it! Lots of fun. I'm with you on the action sequences, although the dragons and beasties at least gave the requisite CGI climax a slightly different, more mystical flavor from the usual superhero and machinery and explosion-heavy battles.

Tony Leung is great and of course classes up the movie (as does Michelle Yeoh in a more limited role), though I think he's actually tied for MVP with Awkwafina, even if they seemed to be acting in different movies. Somehow their styles didn't clash, maybe because they didn't share that many scenes together.

As for Liu, he impressed me more with his physicality than his acting chops (which were solid, just not especially rangey), though on reflection I give him credit for being able to bounce back and forth between his more serious and comic scenes without missing a beat. Here's hoping we get to see more of him - and Awkwafina, too!