I’m not a particular fan of Marvel, or Avengers, or the recycled shots and motifs these films are often constructed with. However, even with my entrenched dour attitude and my bar of expectations lying on the floor somewhere, I thought Shang-Chi was pretty cool.
The film found a great balance of action and humor and story, which elevated it. Even in the most basic ways Shang-Chi felt different and improved upon compared to the conventional films of this genre. This was accomplished primarily through the craft of the filmmaking and the way this film was allowed to be itself. It had an internal logic to it, whereas most films of this genre rely on some baggage and knowledge the audience needs to come to the theatre with. But importantly, this is an “Asian” superhero film.
Whenever a film like this transcends it can do so on one of two primary levels. 1) it can be a double entendre, where the the film is played so straight that it ultimately subverts (think Film Noir or other films working “against the code”) or in this genre, The Amazing Spiderman randomly comes to mind (the screen moments between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone had a surreal quality). Or 2) a film can break from the genre it wholeheartedly subscribes to by adhering to story and the world of the film as opposed to the world of the genre. Shang-Chi owes its success to the later. While the film does teeter, and probably transcend is too strong a word, it does put up a good fight to stay true to itself, and I really appreciated this about the film.
Apart from and beyond being a superhero film, this is a film influenced by Asian culture (I believe it’s meant to be Chinese, but the Japanese Samurai culture seems to be influential). Moreover, it feels like the material was handled like someone who knows and appreciates, and not like someone handling a foreign object. There weren’t too many stupid stereotypes (other than New Yorkers and social media types, I suppose), or self-deprecating humor, or too much winking at the audience. The cast was diverse in a way that didn’t really foreground diversity. It simply just was. There was a relative comfort and ease with the material that I, as an audience member, could enjoy. These are achievements not so easy in this day and age, or in this genre.
I feel like perhaps this type of film that was so intimately embraced by the director, probably felt a little too prickly for executives. So, in fact maybe this “other-ness” or “Asian-ness” helped it’s success. Maybe the director didn’t need to explain Asian culture or the history of samurai movies from Japan. Maybe the behind the scenes fights about casting certain skin colors or body types or facial features weren’t so pronounced. Maybe at some point this became a film taken over by the culture and world of the film as opposed to the business of film. Maybe the driver’s seat shifted? Instead of the steering wheel being in the back seat, it was in returned to the front where it belongs?
A Tough Beginning
As usual, many superhero films these days are bogged down by back story. The audience is implored to gather information, retain it, and care about what brought a character to this point in their life. Back in film school, Nick Proferes, a great teacher, would call this deviation from forward momentum and abdication of storytelling efficiency, “an anathema to drama.” He was right. Who embarks on a journey by first going backwards?
Nevertheless, this is how these things go, and in this case we were treated to a character in voice over. In Shang-Chi, this is another character talking about the main character. The aural quality of a young girl describing mature things with a voice of clarity is also intriguing (the Badlands effect). Here, however, the innocent yet omniscient girl’s voice didn’t really pan out or pay off, and it didn’t really help the clarity or drama of the backstory sequence. In fact, I’m not entirely sure it was even needed.
To the point, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was supposed to retain or pay attention to. This is not unusal when a story asks the viewer to reatin both the information and the emotional in equal parts, at the same time. Or moreover, when the storyteller does not guide us on the journey specifically understanding each and both.
As an exercise in keeping track and scoring the information I received, here’s what I learned: There was an historical battle. There was the power of the ten rings, kind of vaguely defined as something powerful that can knock-out enemies. Then there was something Draculean about connecting relationships and ages over hundreds of years, and how it all connects with the perspective of the voice over. The older main character was obsessed with absolute power and when he encountered someone who could match his power he fell in love. Magical samurai story/film elements may exist and there is some fantasy elements at play. I learned that this woman would be the boy’s mother and the voice-over girl his sister. I learned, that the young boy would never meet his father’s approval and spent his entire childhood being trained to fight, despite himself. He was sad about this. The boy is now grown and lives in Los Angeles in comfortable and cool apartment. He retains a jade necklass and a drawing of a dragon.
I can’t remember how long all this took to convey, but it took me two viewings to acceptably learn what I just wrote. But, it didn’t feel like the amount of screen time presented good value for the information I recieved.
I would have appreciated a finer tuning of the actual power of the rings. What are we dealing with here? What are the boundaries of their power? What are the rules and weaknesses? I would have appreciated a finer tuning of getting us in and out of the “samurai magic” shots. This is stylistically and histroically defining, and I just didn’t get it so clearly. The sequence of “we left her home, we fell in love, we started a family.” was particularly well-done and one of many great examples of a very high level of understanding film language by the director. The transition of young boy to present day adult was also simple and digestable and the use of the jade neckless was a both a good transition tool and an important story element. Again this could have used a sharper turn to let us know the importance of the necklace as a story element and not just a trick to mark time passing. In the opening sequence, all of the elements were laid out, but the table wasn’t properly set. Beautiful silverware and fine china, but place settings were sometimes out of place.
Character and Style
Introducing the character as a lowly valet was an interesting piece of writing and was handled with a certain cinematic vocabulary and ease of use that ultimately defined the film. But herein also lies the film’s inner tension: For as much as the film gracefully puts us in this world, it sporadically takes us out of it too.
A sports car pulls up. An Asian man gets out. After the opening backstory sequence that firmly establishes this film as “Asian,” this is a curious choice….are we in China? Is everyone in this world Asian? Because of this choice that asks the viewer to connect the man getting out of the car with the other important characters we’ve met so far, the mind wanders at a very important moment, the beginning.
The shot is treated with a *special* camera move and some slow motion further making us think this man is important. Who is this guy?…Well actually he’s no one. Literally, we will never see him again. This is just a device to reveal that our superhero is actually a lowly valet and his friend is a proud valet, who loves driving. So while this shot is not handled in any way that makes me complain nor applaud, in the context of the scene and the story, it misguides the audience. And as I mentioned, any time you misguide the audience, you miss an opportunity to guide the audience and you risk losing the dramatic thread. Don’t worry there’s more to the film than the opening shot.
In this opening scene we also get introduced to ‘Katy,’ who we will soon realize is the main character’s best friend and travel partner. One may wonder if the shot of the car pulling up was her perspective and maybe if then she is/was the narrator. She is equal parts Asian and New York. She walks the line of being stereotype, a comedic device, and something real. Sometimes the character veers too far over the line. But she has an incredible ability to always appear on the right side of things when the dust settles. This is another thing that defines the film; strong actors, who while given perhaps too wide a berth in which to maneuver, are still directed with enough clarity to stay within the world of the film. This aspect of the directing continues to breathe fresh air into the film and sustain it.
I was struck by the script here as well as it introduces Katy as a fan of driving and a great driver. This will come in handy at several other instances where her driving skills are required. So the fact that she is a valet is a nice device. It’s interesting to think of how this came to be, how the characters were made to be valet drivers. This is a point in the writing where surely there are a multitude of possibilities. It’s a nice script.
Katy was over the top. This opening scene and her presence in particular, quickly jolted the film back towards hollywood superhero flick. The bantar bewteen ‘Shang-Chi’ and Katy was awkward when she took the keys and “locked” herself in the car. I couldn’t understand the central tension of locking Shang-Chi out of the car, when the window was open and all he had to do was unlock the door and open it. Awkward and a bit too staged. This would be an example of how elements in a film like this with such a strong genre pull can conspire against one another. Was it the over the top acting? Was it the wink wink writing? or was it the implausible scenario.
The strength and consistency of the Katy character would start to pay off, however–again, a nod to the actor and the directing. That evening, Katy and Shang-chi embark on a platonic date, with alcohol dragging them further into the night than they perhaps intended. This is a really nice sequence. It’s funny and it helps establish Katy, and the tone of the film, as not just a one-night stand, but more of a relationship.
All in all, the important opening sequence was a bit of a turducken: nice writing, stuffed in cheap thrills, wrapped in fluid directing.
SFX and Fights and Superpowers
My complete disdain for the figting scenes du jour, with shots, colors, and CGI set on “repeat,” was held in check—this was not an Avengers movie (sorry to keep dissing the Avengers but it’s all that comes to mind. I recently watched End Game and am still in shock). As I mentioned, the backstory sequence touched on some elements of large scale fights and super powers, but none that really registered; maybe this was because they were different, or maybe because the story was unclear?
However, when it came to the runaway bus scene ala Speed, the film clearly established itself in how it would handle fights and powers and antagonists. This fluid sequence was nothing short of awesome. Again the filmmaker’s command of film language and shot structure was really impressive. There was nothing pat or rote about this (save for the scowling bad guy, a beat of humor wedged in, and the obligatory character-actor bystander inserted for comic relief). The mix of SFX and acting and camera movement was immediate and impactful. Never once did I feel out of it. I was just in it with real life characters in a larger than life scene…(just like a movie).
The way the real mixed with the special was such an effective balance. The couple of car crashes weren’t unnecessarily over the top. The fighting and acrobatics, while extraordinary, felt somehow plausible. And Katy driving the bus, we’d already been set-up for. Even the character-actor filming the thing, was funny. This was a very effective sequence for forwarding all the energy of the film. The film would continue on this path of crafty writing, strong performances, fluid directing, all in a bit of a fight with the genre and story.
Accordingly, when Shang-Chi is drawn to Maccau, along with Katy–who similarily to the valet-steals-the-car-scene, finds a performance to overcome the writing–the film showcases a fluid samurai-esque super-power sequence as the team is cemented in their battle against the father. The stunts and fighting work seamlessly and the silly Katy character and the arrival of Shang-Chi’s sister, Xialing, all work more or less. What I mean is, there is good and average here. But the director, through cinematic language and strong guidance with the actors, makes them all run down stream as one. I think I still was missing some more connection between the sister character and the voice over we heard earlier. I think this role was a little underwritten.
Finally, the use of other worldly characters never sat well with me. The first occurrence was some “monster” inside the fight ring at the Xialing’s club. I felt like I was maybe at Mos Isley’s or the set of Land of the Lost. It didn’t fit and I didn’t get it. The monster in the ring felt like, hmmm, which character doesn’t belong? Whether or not this was a set-up for the dragon and flying fish(?) at the end, I don’t know. In a world where we can make anything exactly how we want, I wonder if there weren’t other ways to express obsession with the all powerful? That’s what it was, right?The power to destroy was locked away in the cave and that’s precisely what the father wanted for himself. A dragon just felt boring and unimaginative. A little “smaug-ian.”
What did sort of work, was the creature that was Ben Kingsley’s pet. This felt okay, becuase Ben Kingsley’s character already was pushing us into a realm of suspended belief. So it was odd, for sure, but it kind of worked. Of course this creature was part of the hidden world as well, but we weren’t in the hidden world at this time. The third driving sequence also worked. Katy can do this. Another nod to the directing to monitor the winking at the audience and not go over the top with the car-porn-product-placement. So the escape from witch mountain and the sfx and the driving, and the fighting, and the acting, all worked great here. Again, another high value set-piece that the director just handled so well. Lastly, the final driving bit (number 4 driving set-piece for those keeping track) and the forest maze all worked. The special effects worked here, and the combination with the creature and Ben Kingsley and Katy all made for fun and excitement. I like the lion-esque creatures too. But as I said, once we got to dragon territory, I felt like this motif had suddenly gone too far, mostly because the rules of the game seemed less understood. The fine thread of tension of the world of the film came unraveled and I felt like I was just in a “fight” scene without rules, where anything could happen; an anathema to drama. The final act when on a bit too long for me for this reason.
Acting
There needs to be a nod to the writing for scripting Ben Kingsley’s role. Sometimes bit-parts can be written so that it’s impossible to screw up. But sometimes the actor takes the riches on the page and makes them completely blossom. For some reason Dianne Wiest’s role in Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway comes to mind; “Don’t speak…” Here Ben Kingsley was just that sort of Ruthian home run hitter; balls didn’t just leave the yard, they flew with a life of their own. I truthfully don’t really even know where Ben Kingsley’s character came from or why he was there, but it didn’t really matter to me. The internal logic of the performance was so strong. Funny writing and funny performance. I loved it.
I thought Simu Liu, playing Shang-chi was really strong. He showed a nice range and comfort level in doing so. I’d like to see more of him. The sister actor was good, though I feel like her costume and make up were a hinderance to the role. The wardrobe was part catwoman and the make up and hair were more kabuki. I don’t know if this was intended, but I felt like she got lost.
The supporting and character roles, as discussed, were all pretty fine. I think if the actors didn’t do such a good job and the director didn’t handle them so well, we would be looking at a very different film. It’s in these characters that a film of this sort is essentially made or broken. When the studio writers feel the need for humor, winking at the audience, or breaking the fourth wall—all of which are practically guaranteed failing endeavors–they write spots for these characters. Here the director and the mostly Asian cast in an Asian film, were able to band together and overcome. It was refreshing to watch this internal drama unfold on screen.
Summary
Is Shang-Chi a total must-see genre bender? It’s no Joker.
Is it pretty darn good and fun to watch? Yeah.