Michael's Movie Grade: A-
A top notch Marvel movie that holds its own with the best films of the franchise.
If Black Widow was a return to the type of MCU stories I love, then this film goes beyond that by being just as good as the best of Marvel. This movie has a small scale and self contained storyline that functions extremely well on its own, but at the same time ties into the main storyline perfectly. Tie-ins to Iron Man 3, Infinity War, Endgame and Doctor Strange make perfect sense even to someone that hasn't seen those films and never makes the story feel like just another episode of the larger story. Yet it perfectly complements these movies' stories (and in the case of Iron Man 3 adds much to) and gets us excited about what will come next.
Of course the action scenes are fantastic. They perfectly combine the art of kung-fu movies with the big budget large scale action scenes that the MCU is known for. The action scenes are also extremely well paced and never drag or feel rushed. There is also quite a bit of comedy and drama present in these action scenes which is handled very well and keeps the action from become monotonous. Most of the best MCU films have a great sense of humor and this movie is no exception. Awkwafina has proven herself to be a very good comedic actress and she is in top form here. Her comic delivery is spot on and she delivers plenty of great laughs. Yet she does this without ever going to over the top to make her character a joke and let us take her seriously when we need to. The other comedic standout in this film is Ben Kingsley doing a fantastic job reprising his role from Iron Man 3. While his character is not called upon to do much dramatic, his comedy scenes are perfect and get some of the best laughs in the movie.
The characters are excellent. Shang-Chi (Sumi Lui) and Katy's (Awkwafina) friendship is surprisingly quite sweet and warm. Honestly I would watch a movie that is just these two characters hanging out, that is how much I love them together. This is perfectly helped by the sheer chemistry between the two actors. It is great to see such a close friendship (that does not develop into a romance) handled so perfectly in a Hollywood movie, and I wish I could see more of that. This film also contains one of the MCU's best villains to date (Tony Leung). This is not a simple cut and paste villain but one who has a lot more going on. He is clearly a villain but yet at the same time we can relate to and even almost feel sorry for him at times. Despite this he never becomes a "misunderstood good guy" or someone who are supposed to wonder whether he was such a bad guy. To walk this tight rope so well shows really good writing and a great performance.
If you are a fan of the MCU, this is a real must see.
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