10 Things I Liked About SHANG-CHI (Patreon)

It’s weird to think that I’ve been writing about the MCU for over a decade now, especially because I feel like we’ve been looping with a lot of the same problems lately. But I saw SHANG-CHI and The Legend of the Ten Rings on Friday and to my delight there was a lot about the movie that didn’t just avoid that usual bunch of problems, but a lot that I unabashedly liked. From its performances, to purpose, to execution. Let's go over ten of them!

1. Tony Leung - It occurred to me that there were likely a lot of people in the audience who probably haven't seen this man act before. Perhaps it’s a fact of many of them being younger. Perhaps it’s because a lot of people don’t really watch foreign films (which is, you know, their magnanimous loss). But what can you say about someone who has starred in a slew of the best films ever made? And I don’t mean that in the way where he’s just “punching his weight” alongside them. I mean that he’s someone who helps elevate each and every single thing he’s ever been in. He’s made a career smoldering his way through the Wong Kar Wai’s oeuvre with films like Chungking Express, Happy Together, and In The Mood For Love. Same with Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution. He’s shown unparalleled martial arts in his career with The Grandmaster and Hero. He’s mined the soul in the blood opera of police films like John Woo’s Hard Boiled and Infernal Affairs (which was the superior basis for The Departed). He’s just a singular talent. But if you don’t know him it’s like trying to explain that “Meryl Streep or Daniel Day Lewis just showed up in the MCU.” In other words, it’s a big get. And thankfully, the film does not waste him. Not just for his incredible physical acumen for action, but it shows how good he is at subtle emotional range. He has that uncanny ability to play two or three different and distinct emotions at once. He has all these amazing little micro-expressions that show warmth and charm and yet bring you into this deeper turmoil he holds within. It’s no accident that he’s the driving force of the movie, not just in terms of the plot’s action, but basically the entire dramatic impetus between all the characters. And it’s just lovely to see what he does translate so well into his first English language project.

2. Brad Allan + Bill Pope + DDC - The recent passing of Brad Allan was just so unbelievably sad. He became famous within Hollywood circles for being the first white member of Jackie Chan’s Stunt Team, then moved onto an incredible career designing stunts and action for lot of Jackie’s late career work along with top-tier action films like Scott Pilgrim, Avatar, Kingsman, and Kick-Ass and even working his way up up to Second Unit Director on many of those projects (which you can read about in this great Empire piece from Edgar Wright, who wrote about him as a friend and colleague). The thing that’s so painful about his passing is it really felt like he was just getting started on the second half of his career. I mean, you see everything that makes him great here in Shang-Chi. You see the way he upholds the philosophy action is just an extension of a character’s personality. It makes every interaction and fight feel vibrant and distinct. It’s not just coming up with funny gags in the fights, but all the little losses, wrinkles, and stacking of difficulties that really add up to thrilling moments that evolve the story itself. Allan’s work was just so much fun, dammit. And watching it makes you wish the MCU (or really, everyone else) started working with him years ago. But it’s not the only mark of professionalism in the movie.

But first I want to say one thing about that word “professionalism” because I hate when I use it in a way that can seem exclusionary. I genuinely don’t mean to. Because almost EVERYONE in a crew who works on the big budget Hollywood level is an insane professional. They are so, so, so, so, SO good at their jobs. But the kind of professionalism I’m talking about here is this combination of know-how that gets aligned with purpose. Rather than having your crew flailing about in different “cool” directions, it’s being on the same page about every decision and how it impacts the audience. To put it succinctly, all of Allan’s choreography ideas are moot unless he’s working with someone who is absolutely on the same page of how it should be shot  AKA how it comes alive. Luckily, there are few better action / pure cinematographers than the great Bill Pope (The Matrix, Spider-Man 2, Scott Pilgrim, and Clueless to boot, among many others). Likewise, their contributions are even more in jeopardy without a director who can align it all into purpose with the emotional goals of every beat (honestly, one vague instinct can really ruin a sequence). Luckily, Destin Daniel Cretton proves he’s got the goods. I mean he always has. He’s been so good at making earnest, well-observed dramas and his debut Short Term 12 is one of my favorite films of all time. He’s just one of those filmmakers where you’re like “that person gets it.” And he steps into the action-heavy MCU world and absolutely nails it in accordance with that belief.

For a quick aside, the thing about all these professionals coming together and delivering something solid is that it hopefully gets Marvel to loosen up on a few fronts. They are so obsessed with a level of production control and, sure, I get it, it’s nice to work with people you have relationships with, but there’s been this real effect on the overall quality (for example, putting the gray worn out Marvel color grading over this film really, really sucks). There would be so much to gain in letting pros execute on intention. But they really value control over everything else. And I think it’s a reason why really nice filmmakers who are good at playing ball with them and getting you to come along with their ideas in non-confrontational ways (folks like Taika or Gunn) are the ones who seem most likely to push through and succeed? Anyway, I just want more stuff like this. Because there’s way more reasons this film is solid. Like...

3. Functional Flashback Structure - I worry that sometimes people think my stance on writing is that “flashbacks = bad,” which is so not the case. It’s more that flashbacks are generally difficult to pull off and frequently get messed up. They not only can severely hurt narrative momentum (they’re giant “no, buts!” if you think about it), but if lacking in critical purpose to the moments on screen, they just feel purposeless, too. Which is why I was so happy that I could watch Shang-Chi and a few sequences in I was like “oh neat, they get it.” Because the flashbacks always have this evolution of information that informs the character’s internal struggle in the current action. Perhaps the best example of this is when it goes back to the moment where sister got left behind, then comes back to the present and she knocks his ass out. It may seem obvious when I point it out, but you’d be amazed how many movies think flashbacks are just “filling in background information” or “telling a concurrent story” without having it inform what you’re seeing. Without the direct correlation, it’s constant distraction. But this is the kind of stuff that’s alive with purpose and helps inform the shape of the arc. It’s not even filled with big twists or anything, just a number of moments that give real context to the story and the feelings between one other characters (like halfway through really seeing him be a happy dad playing DDR is so important to their arc).

4. Simu and Nora’s Interaction - I don’t think I had ever seen Simu Liu in anything before? It’s really clear he can fight and swoop around with aplomb, but I think he’s sort of at his best when he’s just relaxing and having fun (which, of course, fits in the MCU wheelhouse). But I like that he’s not really snarky, either? There’s far more Cap in him than Tony because there’s a kind of wide-eyed directness that I like about him. But I also understand why it’s really critical that they pair him with someone who brings out those best qualities, which is why Awkwafina’s role is so critical. Granted, there’s a lot of important conversations about the appropriative use of AAVE in her rise up - and we gotta listen to those having them because this shit fucking matters probably more than anything, especially in terms of what to do about it. But part of the reason for her popularity in the first place is that she’s just one of those comedic people who has good timing. And good timing lifts up everything, which is a huge reason their interaction serves as a real backbone for the movie.

5. New Faces / Old Faces - I had never seen Meng'er Zhang before and turns out the reason is this is her first appearance in a film! But she seems right at ease, no? And as is often the case, she’s done an incredible amount of study in theater and musical training, so most of her prior credits are on the stage in China. But there’s something always kind of refreshing about that sense of discovery with a new actor. It really makes movies feel brighter or like they have a future. And on the flip-side, there’s something lovely about seeing someone you already love pop up in them, too. Because I had no idea Michelle Yeoh was in the film (I don’t watch much marketing), but hell if she’s not one of most comforting screen presences around? Like every time she shows up in anything there’s the grace, dignity, charm, and little pops of emotion that go so far with the storytelling. I sort of wish she got a little more to do in terms of range with this role, but when it comes to getting your characters from point a to point b and whooping butt along the way, you can never go wrong with Yeoh.

6. They Get Right To It (In A Good Way) - Before we realize we’re in that flashback structure, there’s something so refreshing about the way the bus sequence just gets right into it (by revealing that Sean is already a fully-formed fighter). I’ll put it this way, I think “power discovery” sequences can genuinely be joyful, but we’ve seen so many perfunctory versions before that I don’t know if it would be worth it here? Especially in taking all that time for this movie to start in earnest? Instead, it just first immediately and we come up with the explanation in the rear. Granted, this isn’t always easy to do. Because there are so many films that want to start with a bang, but they’ll try to frontload meaningless action with a lot of bells and whistles, but it often has nothing to do with anything important to the story. A first act always has to be about setting up the right things SO that when u can have that first real pop-off of action, you want it to hit hard (think the first John Wick or something). Here we get all the right character work and background and then BAM. It goes. And their understanding of this speaks to a lot of quality things I liked about the film, but another one of them is…

7. Intentionality In The Edit - It’s honestly one of the most important things I look for every time I watch a movie because it helps convey to you that the movie was actually, you know, written, planned, designed, ect. All the good notions of communication and coherence. Good signifiers of this are when you see actual jokes in the combination of the writing and the edit (like the runner of it cutting to them at Karaoke). But the unfortunate thing about the MCU is, outside of a few of their filmmakers, how little they have of this kind of stuff? I mean, they’ve talked adamantly about how much they have historically “found” their prior films in the editing process. Even sometimes reshooting as much as 50% of the films. You see them going back and it’s always working within these series of rambling connections of sequences. You feel the cobbling, the saves, and the inserts. Which isn’t to demonize that practice. As they say about golf, one great shot can save par. It’s important to try and fix things and they are committed to ultimately making things work. And while no movie goes perfectly as planned, there’s the truth that if you nail a lot of your planning, you’d be surprised how much works in the result, along with how much easier it is to re-shoot what you need along with it. Honestly, I think the flashback structure here actually allows the movie to back up that intentionality, but help it move at a clip.  I rarely feel like it’s getting stuck in lumbering sequences. Which is not to say the entire film is a miracle of perfection (what is) or doesn’t have moments that come close to lumbering. But at least…

8. The Quibbles Aren’t Killers - For example, the first act has a whole lot of shoe-leather with the postcard that essentially amounts to the dad just getting the two kids in the same place. But, hey, we’re on board for that same goal. Honestly, there’s really only two big “bumps” where I feel like the narrative goes off a bit [spoilers and such from here on]. One is the halfway point where Daddy has lured them back and this whole plan to go to the mystical village so they can bring mom back. This goal is real for him, but he’s clearly trying to charm them and convince them. The problem is the movie just has him immediately be like “we’ll burn them if they don’t!” And Shang and his sister Xu righteously say no way and get thrown in the dungeon or whatever. Which means it quickly has to reset and they have their whole weird getaway with our Jester Trevor AKA old Mandarin (I really can’t believe how long he was in the movie). There’s just something very MCU about all this to me? Because Kingsley’s character is funny, yet superfluous, yet they can sort of charm their way through the awkwardness of the paper thin forest sequence, which is all about getting us from point A to point B and the only thing they can put in the way is artificial difficulty. Because yes, we need to get the kids to the village so they can learn the stakes for the third act.

But the problem is how much this leaves on the table. Because this should all be the “seduction” sequence with dad. It should be him telling them he’s changed and really showing them that they had a bond once upon a time. I mean, it’s Tony Leung for Pete’s sake. He can really sell the danger of them falling over to his charms - while still having that undercurrent of genuine connection and establishing how much they all loved mom. But then they would of course get to the village and he’d go violent when someone says no and you play the betrayal of the fact he hasn’t changed at all. But instead, the choice here just plays into that constant way that Marvel / Disney / whoever always seems so damn afraid to break your heart. Instead daddy is just immeidately like “I’ll do murder!” so the good folks can never get seduced in the first place. I feel like we’ve seen this villain beat so many times from them where the movie just 1) makes it way too easy for the heroes to be morally superior and 2) makes for a huge wasted opportunity because putting genuine connection in this sequence would make that that final beat of Daddy diving to saving Shang all the more cathartic. Speaking of which, this brings us to why the big climactic dragon battle doesn’t work. No,  not because it’s a big CGI sequence…

The problem is that once Tony Leung dies the movie is over.

Yes, people are technically still in danger. but that’s not actually what we care about. We care about the evolution of relationships and you want that moment of catharsis between them to come in the same catharsis of the final action beats. I mean, we have the early beat there anyway, right? Daddy dives out of the way to save him and then gets soul gobbled. But how much more cathartic is it, if suddenly they get the team up moment first? You see them working together, flipping the rings back and forth, kicking ass as a family, and THEN you get that moment of loss which hits all the more hard because now there’s something actually to lose. And it can make that point where all hope nearly seems lost hit all the more hard. Better yet, you make the final beat tie into Daddy willingly giving all ten rings to Shang - because that’s the arc, right? The one thing he could never ultimately do is give them up, and here he would do just that. And thus go from the selfish to the selfless act. And I honestly don’t think it robs Shang’s character of anything, because it allows that sacrifice to immediately fuel whatever super cool action thing he does right after. If anything, it would make it all a part of the same dramatic moment where all four relationships central could come together at once. Again, these are just little shifts in timing, but they would allow that central relationship w/ Daddy to be the cornerstone of the climax. As small as the shift is, it’s only really a shame that one comes at the end of the movie and kinda lets the air out. Still, the beats work for most of the movie so they’ve already been won over for the most part? Because, I mean…

9. It PLAYED For The Audience - Which is kind of everything. I know there’s a lot of talk about “test screening” movies, but the problem with the approach is only the horrible interviews and note cards that try to diagnose a movie’s problems with blunt little tools made up by marketing people. They are awful and lead only to bad decisions.  But there’s a TON of value in the process of just watching an audience watch a movie. You take stock in how they react to certain moments and every little sound helps show you what lands what doesn’t. You see when people are fidgeting, when they are on the edge of their seats, when they are audibly reacting to action beats, and when they are just watching with glazed eyes. On the whole, Marvel movies don’t get test screened, but they are charmers anyway. You know you are going to get something that is going to have this baseline bantery entertainment value, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t an overall difference in overall quality between them. Because there’s been PLENTY of times I’ve seen one with an opening night audience and as charitable as they are, there will be whole sequences where you can hear the audible cough in the thumb-twiddling silence. But this time, there were no coughs. This time the laughs got laughs. The cheers moments got cheers. And it wasn’t because Avenger X with 8 movies of existing affinity showed up on screen. Not, this was mostly unfamiliar characters all being introduced for the first time. But by the end, the audience was fully in because the movie really, really played. And that’s always something to listen to.

10. A Certain Phrasing - Ahhhh the MCU post credits scene. Sometimes you get something really funny or irreverent (Shawarma will probably always hold the title?). Sometimes it’s something well observed. Sometimes it’s a really important emotional beat that I wish was in the movie. Sometimes they reveal something that’s genuinely an awesome prospect for the future. But most of the time? They feel like weird teases of disconnected information and throw mash-ups of characters that don’t really work for me (for instance, the first appearance of Thanos was neat but then it just became endless table-setting). But I liked that these two scenes actually had to do with characters in the movie. In fact, the first post credits scene is sort of meta in that it’s them “them getting welcomed” to the whole MCU interconnectedness. First of which, I liked that Brie Larson showing up meant that she has appeared in every Destin Daniel Cretton movie (good luck charms are important in this business). But weirdly the thing that stuck with me is that last line from Ruffalo: “Welcome to the circus.” Because sure, it’s a funny way to describe Avenger-dom and all the absurdity that goes along with it. But I realized it was weirdly the best way to describe what the MCU is now, too. There’s always a bunch of things going on, these flashy acts that are designed to get attention and wow you. Look at this! Now look at that! Now look over here! But there’s no main character, nor big thrust of a central story - just a ringleader and the entertaining acts that each get time to shine. And yeah, you add it all up to being generally entertained. It’s perhaps weird to say that this comparison helped solidify something in my brain in terms of setting expectations, but it really did. Some efforts (like Shang-Chi) really, really stand out, but on the whole we end up seeing these as a single thing anyway. Because they’re movies, but also kind of not. Serialized TV, but also kinda not. Expansive universes like Comic Books, but also kinda not. They’re more an interlocking series of feats all housed under the same tent. We’re just going to visit the circus.

Weirdly, I find that relieving.

<3HULK