Shang-Chi review

It had been a long time since I had gone in to an MCU movie with lower expectations, or knowing less about the movie, than Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings. It's a new character. The trailers had been pretty uninspiring. Could the MCU have its first real dud? 

No. Shang-Chi is pretty good. I'd put it pretty far down on my MCU rankings list, but that's more of a reflection on how good this franchise has been. Even undeniably great movies can't crack the top 10. 

Simu Liu is awesome in the title role. Marvel really is so underappreciated at casting. Here's an actor with few credits and nothing big and yet he can handle all the drama and comedy and do his own fight scene stunts and he has tons of charisma.

Tony Leung is terrific as his father, the best kind of villain who isn't all bad. You get why he is doing what he does. 

I was wary of Awkwafina, cause she can sometimes be too much. But this movie uses her very well. Not all of her comic relief works, but most of it does. She's basically this movie's Kat Dennings. 

I also liked the actress who plays Shang-Chi's sister. Looks like that character will be figuring in to future MCU stuff. 

I'm not sure how I feel about the return of Ben Kingsley. Do we really want to remind people of Iron Man 3 that much? That character was an odd creation in that movie, and feels pretty out of place here. There are a couple laughs to be had, but I would have just let this one go.

The movie really excels with the fight scenes, particularly a couple big set pieces in the first half. It's really Liu doing most of this stuff. 

The middle third of the movie gets a bit bogged down in exposition and a couple flashbacks too many.

The climax gets a bit too CGI heavy, although it is well done as that. It clashes some with that first half of the movie. And it has that trope where the hero is not powerful enough to do the thing they have to until the movie decides they ARE powerful enough. 

I loved that Wong is in the movie. He also appears in one of the best post credit scenes they've ever done.