Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Seven Rings (2021)

Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Starring: Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Leung

Synopsis:
The son of an immortal warlord living quietly in the US must face his family's past as his father's soldiers come seeking the mystic artifacts kept by him and his sister.

Impressions:
My connection to the MCU was severed with Endgame. I had no interest in Phase 4, but once I was reunited with family members who are not similarly checked out led to me seeing a couple entries I wouldn't have watched otherwise. Perhaps in part due to my total lack of expectations for this film, it didn't come off quite as bad as I expected. The plot is jumbled and the characterization isn't great, but it does have occasional moments where there are glimpses of some interesting ideas and some reasonably competent action set pieces. The title character is rather bland, but you'll be thankful for bland when compared to how annoying Marvel's Katy is. If you cut Katy out of the film and boost Xialing for your female representation, it'd be significantly better. I thought Tony Leung was pretty good as Wenwu and I'm almost always happy to see Michelle Yeoh, so that's something. If you're not too concerned with how this story slots in with the MCU lore, it's a decent enough watch as a popcorn-muncher. Take it or leave it.

Rating:
50/50