Posted by Martial artist trains to defeat his grieving father
I was feeling the hype walking into this showing. As much as I enjoyed Black Widow, it just didn’t feel MCU Phase 4 to me. This, however, I felt really kicked off the MCU’s fourth phase of movies. I thought I would be done with the MCU after Phase 3, but just when I thought I was out…
Shang-Chi follows a story of a skilled martial artist running away from his past, until he is forced to confront it by facing his father whilst protecting his mother’s magical hidden village, Ta Lo. Shang-Chi is joined by his best friend Katy, providing comic relief and her own story of finding herself, and his sister Xialing, holding onto resentment towards Shang-Chi for abandoning her as children.
Tony Leung as Shang-Chi’s father, Wenwu is the standout performance for me here. His acting is terrific, showcasing a man losing his mind grieving for his wife. Marvel has been criticised for their villains in the past, but here they absolutely hit the nail on the head. Despite being the movie’s primary villain, I can totally feel and understand why Wenwu is so desperate to infiltrate Ta Lo in order to be reunited with his wife. You can really feel his pain and in many ways I would say this is his story more than it is Shang-Chi’s. Definitely in the top 3 MCU villains behind Thanos and Loki. Oh, I forgot Killmonger, ok maybe joint third with Killmonger then.
I find martial arts movies quite therapeutic to watch. There’s something so elegant about the set pieces and it does not fail here. Combined with the colourful surroundings and the slow-motion shots, you really feel like you’re part of this fantasy world. I’ve since found out the person behind the fight sequences in the Matrix was also behind the choreography here – and it makes sense now I think back to it – there’s definite comparisons. I was also reminded of some of the sequences from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that movie, may be time to blow off the dust from my dvd collection.
…Or maybe I’ll just stream it on Netflix.
Despite the beautiful fight sequences, I have mixed feelings regarding the big climactic battle. After crafting these wonderful intimate fights, it seemed the use of CGI for the final battle went a little too far. I preferred the fights between characters with CGI added to enhance, rather than the other way round.
And while I’m talking about negatives, I found the returning MCU character that features in this movie a little too shoehorned in. Don’t get me wrong, it provided some genuine laughs – but was this character needed for more than a quick cameo? Plus, we already had Katy doing a stellar job as the comic relief, so I felt this character tagging along for the ride was a little unnecessary. A bit like Martin Freeman’s character in Black Panther – the movie would have worked without them. Also, while Xialing is definitely badass in the movie, I feel her arch of being left behind was somewhat sidelined. Though that’s something that may change in future instalments.
Ultimately the theme I took away from this movie was around family expectations. This is something that can play a large part in Asian culture – it’s certainly something I’ve had in my family in the past! Whether we’re talking about Shang-Chi fulfilling his father’s wishes, or Katy adhering to her family’s expectations, it’s all the same. I quite like the fact Shang-Chi and Katy were friends and nothing more. So often in movies there can be a need to stick two characters of the opposite sex together just to make everything “neat” – but I don’t see why that should be the case. I have many close female friends – male/female platonic relationships do exist – welcome to 2021!
Verdict
Shang-Chi is another winner from Marvel. As origin stories go, this is one of the MCU’s finest, with a worthy villain and a hugely entertaining introduction for the titular character. The climactic battle probably gets a little heavy on CGI for my liking but take nothing away from the beautiful fight sequences in this movie.