You Can't Outrun Who You Really Are. 4 / 5
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton
Shang-Chi must confront the past he thought he left behind when he is drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization.
Exploding onto the screen, Shang-Chi takes the Marvel Cinematic Universe in an exciting direction with a film full of culture and bold imagery that looked incredible in IMAX.
Simu Liu stars in the titular role and gives a great performance despite his character's typical origin hero's journey. Unsurprisingly, Tony Leung steals the show as Wenwu, with a menacing role that has an unexpected heart at its centre showing that perhaps he finally was In The Mood for Love. Grief plays a big part in all of the character's development - all channeling it in vastly different ways creating a captivating hero and villain stories.
Destin Daniel Cretton handles the blockbuster genre well after his gradual experience building impactful independent films. The standout element was by far the outstanding martial arts choreography by the late Brad Allan. Though it has the expected layer of Hollywood polish on every vfx heavy shot, I'm glad the expert choreography and performance were given the chance to breathe rather than be hidden by quick and messy editing.
After the onslaught of multi-character epics, Marvel did a great job of letting these characters coexist in this universe, only hinting at the bigger picture at play before they inevitably get pulled in for the next team-up.
A welcomed surprise that shows that after the Avengers, Marvel is only getting started.
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