I thought Shang-Chi was pretty good. If I had one complaint, it's that it doesn't really fit the rest of the MCU. It feels like a martial arts movie that just happens to take place in the Marvel universe. But that's not really a complaint; in fact, that's what I've been wanting from the MCU.
Sometimes the MCU feels like watching the same movie over and over with different characters. This one is different. It still has that same Marvel tone we've grown to love, with lots of quippy dialogue mixed with physics-defying action. But the sci-fi/superhero aspect has been swapped with mysticism and legend. And it works. I wish this creative team had handled the last Mortal Kombat movie.
The visuals are beautiful, though a couple of the CGI creatures could have used more work. The fight choreography is amazing, and the action scenes are frequent and inventive. I can only remember one spot where I started to get a little bored, but every movie's got to have an exposition dump somewhere.
Beyond that, there's not much to say. It was a good story, but I don't know what they're planning to do with the character. The ending implies greater plans for the title artifact than for the character himself. Not to mention setting up a villainous organization.
This feels like it might be an important movie going forward, setting up whatever MacGuffin is going to replace the Infinity Stones. I'm worried that some people might think this one is skippable, because it doesn't feature heroes they grew up with. If you're on the fence, don't skip it. Shang-Chi may not be Captain America, but it's still a fun movie, and it might be required viewing to understand the next big threat.
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