I had been looking forward to Shang Chi for quite a while going by the trailers it definitely looked like something new yet it harkened back to the old MCU intro movies. Shang Chi is the first MCU solo introduction film we have gotten in quite a long time, 2019's Captain Marvel was the last one we got and while we did get Black Widow earlier this year we have known that character since Iron man 2. Notably Shang Chi is the first time we have seen a majority Asian cast in the MCU and while I don’t think it's as ground breaking a moment as Black Panther was its still really nice to see and It does for young Asian kids what Black Panther did for young black kids or what having Rey be the main character of the Star Wars sequel trilogy did for young girls. Though it is important to acknowledge that while it's great to see a majority Asian cast, Asians are not a monolith, Shang Chi is mostly influenced by Chinese culture which in itself is not a monolith and that Asian cast is mostly a Chinese though Awkwafina is half Korean and another major Character is of Indian decent. Anyway aside from that I was really looking forward to seeing the movie and boom a lockdown here in Auckland a few weeks before release, so it's been a long time coming. Luckily the movie has come to Disney+ early and we are able to watch it in IMAX format which is pretty cool and the wait was worth it cause I found Shang Chi to a be a pretty good movie.
As mentioned previously Shang Chi harkens back to earlier MCU movies especially phase 1 where we are seeing the origin story of a new hero. Enter Shang Chi AKA Shaun played by Simu Liu, trained to be an assassin from an early age this guy escaped from his farther to San Francisco to live normal life and currently works as a Valet with his best friend Katy played by Awkafina. Shang Chi's father is Xu Wenwu aka the original Mandarin though those original story and even the title have been changed. This new redefined character is probably one of the strongest points of the movie, definitely a villain but a much more sympathetic and complex one. Not the usual dark mirror villain's of the MCU. Tony Leung definitely makes his mark on the MCU in this role and will probably be remembered as one of the MCU's best villains. Shang Chi's sister Xu Xialing played by Meng'er Zhang is a pretty cool character who kind of has a more interesting fighting style than Shang Chi initially, unfortunately does not have as much time to shine amongst the Father/Son conflict. There are quite a few other characters one of which is big spoiler so won't be mentioned here but other notable faces are Michelle Yeoh and Benedict Wong as Wong from Dr Strange. While not a character I should also mentioned the titular Ten Rings aside from their place in the story they really add to Wenwu and eventually Shang Chi's fighting style as a pretty and unique weapon.
Story wise Shang Chi is pretty decent, our characters get their arcs though the general plot I think fall off a bit at the end. Eventually we get to a place and there is an objective and big bad which end up a bit underwhelming. Again the characters and character arcs are really strong for the most part and play out really well aside from Xialing taking a bit of a back seat but yeah the plot does fall off a bit. The plot does facilitate some pretty fantastic visuals especially of some Chinese mythological creatures that show up. From an action/set piece stand point Shang Chi is pretty good. The Bus fight is pretty cool and creative though there were times where I was thinking shouldn’t Ant Man or the Wasp have shown up at some point. The second big set pieces is in an under construction Macau sky scrapper and that again is pretty cool, takes place at night so the lighting is cool. Both of these set pieces work well with the main martial arts/ hand to hand fighting style of our heroes and villains. The final set pieces is a spoiler and probably the least interesting but the fights that do happen are pretty cool. The big confrontation between Shang Chi and Wenwu is especially reminiscent of something one might see out of the Dragon Ball franchise so if you like that I think you will really like that third act fight.
Shang Chi is still very much an MCU movie so there are threads and references here and there to other characters, events etc. though it still does what marvel does best and that is focusing on that main story. As one might imagine looking at the trailers yep this movie definitely has its quips and characters making jokes though I don’t think it's too overboard and balances its levity well.
Anyway I thoroughly enjoyed Shang Chi in a way it felt like a better theatrical start to phase 5 then Black Widow which again should have some out years ago. It being a self-contained introduction to a new hero villain harkens back to those phase 1 days yet it still has those MCU threads and its learned some lessons of the past MCU introduction films especially with regards to making a better villain. Overall looking forward to seeing more Shang Chi, highly recommended for any MCU fans with Disney+ definitely watch the IMAX version.
8.5/10
Other notes
IMAX Version on Disney
It Is super cool to have this especially with IMAX ratio being much better for 16:9 TVs though it is still a bit wider. I do hope that this comes to 4k Blu Rays cause while 4k Streaming is fine a 4k Blu Ray is still a more pristine way to watch a movie.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: The Album
This got a similar treatment to Black Panther in that 88riing a record label known for signing Asian artists helped produce the soundtrack for the film. Not every song is from an Asian artist but it's still cool to see and some of the songs are pretty good. Def missing Hotel California though