Shang-Chi (2021)

Every choice in Shang-Chi feels deliberate. The framing, the pacing, the Ten Rings vs the Great Protector — Destin Daniel Cretton is operating at a level most filmmakers never reach. It's the kind of film you study rather than just watch.

Shang-Chi deals with eastern mythology in the MCU in a way that's genuinely uncomfortable at times. But that discomfort is the point. Destin Daniel Cretton never lets you look away, and the film is better for it.

Shang-Chi builds so carefully to its conclusion that when it arrives you feel genuinely moved. The living up to a legacy vs forging your own path thread pays off in a way that's earned rather than manipulative. Couldn't sleep afterward.

I went into Shang-Chi knowing nothing — no trailer, no plot summary. I strongly recommend that approach. The living up to a legacy vs forging your own path hits much harder when you haven't been primed for it. Go in cold.

I didn't expect Shang-Chi to affect me so deeply. The way Destin Daniel Cretton handles eastern mythology in the MCU is unlike anything I'd seen before. I came out of it looking at the world differently.

The music in Shang-Chi is so deeply married to the images that you almost can't separate them. It stays in your head days later and when you hear it again the emotions return immediately.

We watched Shang-Chi together and spent an hour talking about family and sacrifice afterward. That kind of conversation doesn't happen often. The film gives you something real to think about together.