Lead Simu Liu and a gallery of scene-stealing support acts, including Awkwafina, make this a fun ride
Marvel has now given us its first east Asian lead, in the form of the young martial arts master Shang-Chi, engagingly played by Chinese-Canadian
Actor Simu Liu, who graciously puts up with a gallery of scene-stealing supporting turns who are variously iconic, charismatic and better at
comedy.
This is an action-adventure fantasy in which the stylised, anti-gravity qinggong fighting styles of wuxia fiction are effectively brought into alignment with Avenger-type superpowers. It’s an entertaining, if generically pretty familiar MCU movie with incidental funny roles and ironic quirks to provide approachability and relatability and leaven the seriousness. There’s a final, drawn-out spectacular battle which is 15% too long in the traditional manner, featuring an evil giant dragon which, like the Death Star, has a strategically vulnerable spot.