Control: Shang-Chi Review…
I, Dalton Lewis, give Shang-Chi the dreaded, hated B+…pretty good. I don’t believe in Marvel’s Phase Four. So far we have seen Black Widow and Shang-Chi. I liked both but loved neither. What is wrong with Marvel’s formula? I know that we should be developing new characters and learning to care about them before the next big threat appears, but this isn’t building enough of a background for the times to come.
I used to see Marvel movies half a dozen times in the theaters. That era is gone. I remember seeing Endgame or Black Panther over and over. I remember seeing Winter Soldier over and over and not caring if it was the same movie every time I watched it. I watched Black Widow twice — maybe three times. I saw Shang-Chi once, and I didn’t even see it until Saturday or so. I might see it again to give it a second chance. In previous years I would see every Marvel movie on Thursday. What’s wrong? Is the magic gone?
Let’s look at the movie’s themes and characters. For Black Widow and Shang-Chi the themes are primarily family and abuse. In Black Widow young girls are trafficked — in a metaphor for sex trafficking, they are turned into assassins or killed by an evil man. We hardly see the evil man until the end, and when we see him he seems weak and powerless. He doesn’t impress me as a viable villain. Marvel has regularly had these problems — strong ideas but no strong villains. Black Widow shows women standing up to men — fine. It shows the men being weak, evil beyond belief, and quite pathetic. I don’t understand why we are supposed to understand how these men created this criminal empire. They don’t impress me. This movie doesn’t have an unforgettable villain.
In Shang-Chi the protagonist has to confront his evil father and try to stop him from doing something very wrong: I won’t spoil what, but his plan is evil and he has a good, noble reason for doing it. The father, Wu Wan, is an intelligent and polite man who has been described as a terrible warlord by most characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He doesn’t seem particularly evil for most of the movie — he’s a complicated and sympathetic character who makes mistakes. He loves his children and wants what is best for them. This doesn’t do anything new in the Marvel universe — we’ve seen children and parents feud many times before, like Star-Lord and his dad or Thanos and his daughters. This is a new wrinkle on old Marvel situations.
Wu Wan is a chance for a legendary Marvel villain and instead we have a pretty good dad who doesn’t seem to want to do much wrong for the run time of the film. He doesn’t put his children through the emotional wringer as much as he could, simply asking them to help him with his mission. Shang-Chi and his sister don’t always agree but don’t have the chemistry that they should. Katy, Shang-Chi’s best friend, watches and says clever quips through the film. She is an interesting character but doesn’t get much dramatic weight to her scenes — she should have had some more emotions than just being wry and clever while watching everything.
The martial-arts action is impressive, as expected. Marvel apparently designs the set-pieces independently of the screenplays now, and it shows. The big scenes don’t add much dramatic weight or develop the characters in the way that they should. I’m sorry, but this is no Black Panther, where the characters fight over interesting ideological differences. This is a giant fucking dragon attacking people because DRAGONS!
The humor in Guardians of the Galaxy developed the pain and anguish that the characters felt. Tony Stark’s humor showed us his worldview. Trevor Slattery’s humor — and Katy’s humor — just sort of exist to make this a goofy and light romp of a movie. They don’t help anything or add anything. These movies just need jokes. They need humor and levity and people saving the day, and I’m sorry, but it’s turning into a formula. If you want a generic action comedy, then this is your thing. It’s not doing anything new.
Thanks, and take care, friends.
