Matt LaFemina’s review published on Letterboxd:
For a character I didn’t know existed a year ago, Shang-Chi has made a fan out of me. Fun, kick-ass and fresh enough, the film delivers a great time before ultimately falling back into the tried and tested MCU formula
Where the film succeeds the most is establishing our hero. Simu Liu is an absolute star, with such a great blend of charisma, humor and cool, making Shang-Chi easy to root for. The humor mostly lands, with Awkwafina playing her role as the comic sidekick incredibly well.
Much like Black Panther, the film feels entirely new despite being a somewhat recycled plot. The inclusion of Asian culture gives a new spin to a somewhat dull genre, with some beautiful scenery, cool soundtrack and most notably, some sweet combat scenes. The action and combat, especially in the first act, is consistently adrenaline-filled, and avoids being the cluttering CGI-fest that most Marvel movies are…
That is until the movies progresses. I’d give the first act an A but my grade drops as the movie continues. The second act does feel familiarly Marvel, with the action slowing down and our story being spoon-fed to us. This naturally leads into a final battle filled with CGI creatures and gets away from what had made the film standout in the first place. While it doesn’t kill the film, the final battle feels both predictable and lacking in stakes. But I guess that’s the genre these days.
Despite some flaws, Shang-Chi is still easily the best superhero movie I’ve seen in 2021. I really think Simu might be a huge star in the making and I’ll be rooting for his success in and out of the Marvel world. For a property I knew nothing about, I’m actually looking forward to Shang-Chi kicking some more booty for years to come in the MCU.
MCU ranked
2021 ranked
Matt liked these reviews
All
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_603294e4-b571-4f05-9592-c12d4686ed5d" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-603294e4-b571-4f05-9592-c12d4686ed5d'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div -tile300x250 -alignleft -bottommargin'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'med_rect_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-603294e4-b571-4f05-9592-c12d4686ed5d'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-603294e4-b571-4f05-9592-c12d4686ed5d'));
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_69ac8e98-e1ae-4dff-958f-2e671dc6e7ae" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-69ac8e98-e1ae-4dff-958f-2e671dc6e7ae'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'sky_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-69ac8e98-e1ae-4dff-958f-2e671dc6e7ae'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-69ac8e98-e1ae-4dff-958f-2e671dc6e7ae'));
