Shang-Chi Review: New Horizons With Marvel’s Martial Arts Hero?

The latest instalment of the MCU Phase 4, Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings presented Marvel Studios with the chance to introduce a contemporary new take on a blank-canvas character arc. With new fans often finding Marvel difficult to access as a result of the extensive pre-established lore, the fresh-faced introduction of Shang-Chi was an opportunity not to be missed.

So did they hit the mark on this one?

In short: yes.

From the start, Shang-Chi director, Daniel Destin Cretton, has openly embraced the opportunity for new beginnings. Despite crossing over with other Marvel movies via easter eggs and references (keep a lookout for our article on that one!), the Shang-Chi movie remained relatively self-contained.

A thrilling, martial arts-inspired adventure, it is highly likely to succeed in piquing further interest into the Marvel franchise for those using the Shang-Chi as a jumping-off point, while also being a strong opening to an exciting new thread for the more experienced of fans.

Casting & Character.

Opening with a concise exposition on the backstory of the Ten Rings, the film made the prudent call of using characterisation as its primary hook.

With Simu Lui starring in the title role, he succeeded beautifully in striking a believable balance between the classic, butt-kicking hero with a martial arts twist, while simultaneously portraying a regular guy to whom the average audience member could easily relate.

Lui’s performance was greatly complemented by the presence of Awkwafina in her role as Katy, the best friend of Shang-Chi, or “Sean” as she has come to know him in the film.

The two have easy on-camera chemistry. Their character’s preestablished relationship was also a refreshing touch, allowing time for deeper levels of development as opposed to spending the majority of their screen time rushing to build dependable yet believable levels of trust in little more than two hours; something that some previous Marvel instalments have struggled with.

Visuals.

The actor’s performances are further enhanced by the beautifully crafted cinematography showcased by Bill Pope. A cinematographer famed for his groundbreaking work on The Matrix, the influence of his previous work is incorporated meticulously into the visual style of Shang-Chi, yet maintains its originality without feeling recycled or overdone.

Embracing the diversity of martial arts styles, the movie’s action scenes are outstanding in both their suspense and visual flow. This is particularly present in the first half of the film.

In the second half, while the action scenes are executed with equal dexterity, they sometimes became lost in the abundance of additional CGI. While the computer-generated add-ons were a good tool with which to lean further into the fantastical realm of Ta Lo, the extra breathing room in the more contained of the fight scenes allowed for more audience focus and ultimately, a sense of higher stakes.

Story tools (Minor SPOILERS. Skip to Conclusion if you haven’t seen the movie!).

Following on from the sometimes excessive use of CG visuals, it could also be argued that the movies’ climax, as grand as it was, suffered from a story-telling phenomenon known as “the power creep”.

When a story attempts to raise its stakes by empowering the enemy to an overwhelming degree, the protagonist is faced with the seemingly impossible task of overcoming the odds, which inevitably transpires into a power-up of their own. Oftentimes this can lead to a domino effect of continuously increasing power between enemy and protagonist. Suspended disbelief can only go so far.

This is something that, upon first viewing, the climactic battle of Shang-Chi seemed to struggle with.

Other than this though, the overall thread of the story arc holds up well. It has a clear objective with strong context behind the character’s actions due to its well-executed exposition.

Conclusion.

Shang-Chi is definitely pushing Marvel in the right direction and is a very intriguing addition to the superhero family. With the second instalment of Shang-Chi’s story already confirmed, it will be very exciting to see the ways in which they further develop this new cast of characters and their story will mesh with the existing Phase 4 MCU.

Rating out of ten: 8/10.

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