When you hear, "I don’t usually like ‘fill-in-the-blank,’ but this was good." Be it sushi, jazz, modern architecture, whatever; nod, and avoid the recommendation. So, take this with a grain of salt: SHANG-CHI is the most enjoyable MARVEL sourced comic-book film adaptation in years. It even skips on plugging the rest of the MARVEL product line! (Or does till the end credits.) Starting with double ancient prologues to lay out its origin story*, it then brings in a modern day platform for our hero & romantic sidekick (Simu Liu; Awkwafina) as a pair of car-parking slackers. (Awkwafina an especial delight, like one of those wised-up characters Jean Arthur played for Frank Capra in the ‘30s. Liu just fun to look at; a Super-Hero made from mismatched body parts: legs, head & torso.) These two soon whisked into a fantastic chase for the Ten Rings worn by Tony Leung, Liu’s powerful pop, and for the green pendants stolen from Liu and his estranged sister who now runs a sort of International Fight Club before joining the mission to save their Aunt’s Magic Forest Paradise. Don’t worry, it’s easy to follow under Destin Daniel Cretton story-focused direction, puling back on the CGI action when he can without pissing off the fanboys.* Mostly in Act Two, where he substitutes Ben Kingsley as comic relief just when needed as a shanghied Shakespearean with Ringo Starr’s Liverpudlian accent. Hilarious! Naturally, MARVEL threaten with a sequel, but we know how that’ll turn out. Take one more piece of advice and miss it.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Not that Cretton skimps on the CGI action finale; very MOTHRA Meets GODZILLA. Unlike the rest of the film which is relentlessly entertaining, this is just relentless.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Though out of fashion in modern psychiatric circles, what a Freudian Family Drama we have here! Sacrificing Mom; revenge-seeking Dad; Mom-fixated son; Dad-fixating daughter; Flying Phallic Monster. Yikes!
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