Review: Dune

Dune (2021): Written by Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts, and Eric Roth, directed by Denis Villeneuve. Starring: Timotheé Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgard, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem. Running Time: 155 minutes. Based on the novels by Frank Herbert.

Rating: 3/4

        I have to admire the boldness of Dune, another attempt to "adapt the unadaptable," though by this point I wonder if that particular phrase has lost most of its luster. It goes whole-hog on old-school, operatic sci-fi grandeur, enhanced by the sheen of modern design and effects technology, to deliver a good old, sensory-overload experience that is in no hurry to get where it's going, even if it means waiting for a sequel that may or may not happen. In a world so thoroughly shaped by the legacy of LOTR, it has become almost rote to expect anything and everything out of major studios to come as part of a pre-planned, pre-packaged, and mostly pre-produced series of films. A trilogy at bare minimum, more if the studio thinks they can milk the IP enough.

        At first glance, Dune appears to be banking on this trend to continue. The movie almost comically ends with someone uttering that fateful line, "This is just the beginning," even though (as of this writing) no further films have been announced and the commercial success of this first effort is still very much up in the air. People my age are unlikely to remember, but this actually used to be much more par for the course before the age of endless IP franchises. Many different original films would try to have some sort of cliffhanger or hanging plot thread included, just in case the filmmakers were able to get the go for another one. Sometimes it happened, sometimes it didn't (Buckaroo Bonzai remains a legendary example of the latter). Obviously, given the very tortured history of Dune adaptations, nothing could come of this, and Villeneuve's version will merely be remembered as a particularly gaudy and expensive case study in "What If."

        For now, though, we simply have the film at hand, and despite its flaws, this is the sort of grand spectacle movie theaters will built for and the kind of experience I've waited years (literally!) to get. Sorry Tenet, but this is the pandemic-era film meant to remind us all why theaters remain such special and essential places. It's also, for me personally, another one of those grand, sprawling, high-concept fictional worlds of kings and wars and magic and destinies that I remain such an ardent sucker for. This is very much a movie designed to appeal to me, personally, and for the most part, it very much succeeds.

        The central figure in this space opera is Paul (Timotheé Chamelet), scion of one of the more powerful noble families that apparently rule over individual planets as feifdoms within a much larger galactic empire of some sorts. There are many hints, terms, and names dropped of the power players and factions at play, but to be frank, the film is at its weakest when it's trying to tuck in greater worldbuilding, especially since the importance of it all is clearly being held in reserve in case sequels do, in fact, get greenlit. Paul seems to generally have a happy life with his family and friends, including his parents (Oscar Isaac and Rebecca Ferguson) and his two mentors/trainers, Gurney (Josh Brolin) and Duncan (Jason Momoa). One thing that is important is that Paul seems to have inherited some sort of unusual, voice-based power from his mother, who has been training him in its usage ever since he was a child. What this is meant to signify is, again, hinted at but never really made clear, other than that this marks Paul as a child of destiny, whatever that will turn out to mean.

        Their relatively comfortable life of power and luxury is brutally thrown into disarray when the family is forced by the Emperor into the power politics of the dynastic families. We know from the film's narrator (Zendaya, playing a young girl from a local drive on the titular desert planet Arrakis) that the most valuable substance in the universe is a type of spice only found in the deserts of her homeworld, which has led to its brutal subjugation under the Harkonnen, the wealthiest and most powerful of the families beneath the throne. Now, though, for reasons unclear to everyone involved, the Harkonnens have been ordered off the planet, with Paul's family, House Atreides, commanded to take its place.

        We aren't in the Star Wars universe here, but even if we were, we wouldn't need the services of a certain Mon Calamari admiral to see the trap being so clearly set and prepared for House Atreides. And this is where the meat of the story gets going, as various figures both seen and unseeen begin to make their moves. The most consequential, at least for now, is the revenge planned by the leader of the Harkonnens, Stellan Skarsgard in a remarkable fat suit who is, in fact, so massive, he can only move via special anti-gravity generators installed into his spine. If nothing else, it allows for some truly striking visual moments. His nephew, the leader of Harkonnen forces, is our beloved Dave Bautista, but he was here for a surprisingly short amount of time. My assumption is that he will play a much more prominent role in a sequel, should that in fact happen.

        The wild card in how the conflicts play out will clearly be the natives of Arrakis, the Fremen ("free men," you get it?), and it's here where the film starts to tread into very political and racial waters that I can only hope a sequel would address more firmly. There is, to put it mildly, a very racial/colonial tone to a story about a native population brutally repressed by foreigners seeking to engage in wanton, destructive resource extraction. My knowledge of the books is, at this moment, supremely sparce, but at least within this adaption, nobles like those from House Atreides are clearly coded as typical European nobles (i.e., White), while the Fremen are a mixture of Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous, with heavy Muslim tones to their dress, architecture, and religious practices thrown in.

        Now, that's no problem in and of itself- we've had too many movies to count that uses this sort of shorthand and will undoubtedly get many before the sun goes out- but once we start to get into the notion of Paul being some sort of "Chosen One" prophesied and half-worshipped by the Fremen, destined to lead the galaxy to a brighter future, the "White Savior" bells started to chime in my brain. Maybe there's more to this in the books, or maybe there isn't but Villeneuve is aware of our current age and has a few twists in store for us. I will reserve judgment in this regard for now, but let this stand as my statement of tentative concern.

        For now, though, I really do dig this movie and its massive scale. We've had so many spaceships in so many franchises by now, but this was the first time in awhile where one was able to give a sense of awe-inspiring scale to the machines and vehicles used to transport people from one place to the next. There is a lot of the heavy, color-coded atmosphere that made Villeneuve's Blade Runner sequel so memorable in spite of the fact that it didn't need to exist, so much so that I can easily imagine him deciding to just stick with adapting these sorts of fabled old IP properties forever. We also have the first genuinely great Hans Zimmer score we've gotten in some time, since at least Dunkirk, also something I didn't realize I'd been missing until I got it again.

        The production design and background worldmaking is augmenting by a massive, spot-on cast that is very much game for the material on hand, whether their roles be tiny or obscenely large, including, to my astonishment, a tiny but memorable role for Benjamin Clementine. Chamelet is still on an all-upwards trajectory in my books and I am very much interesting in seeing what he can do with Paul if he's given the chance. Oscar Isaac remains king of my heart forever and always, and I very much hope that this movie will also serve as a reminder to mainstream audiences just how lucky we are to be sharing this Earth with Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem.

        By a strange quirk of fate, I got to see this a good month before it will hit in the States. The International Movie Release Fascists finally decided to do me a solid, I guess. At any rate, I will be very interested to see how other audiences (including minority audiences) react once this is in general theaters. It'll be an interesting Fall.

-Noah Franc

Star Wars, Episode IX: Duel of the Fates: Chapter 12- The Final Trial, Part 1

**for previous chapters, please see the Table of Contents**

        The streets of the main public squares of Coruscant, including every block from the Senate Building to the Jedi Temple and in the surrounding Commerce Sector, were chaos. Finn, Rose, Jannah, and their accomplices, after rapidly overwhelming the thin forces watching over the cells, had barely needed to try to convince those on the street to join them and take a share of the plentiful arms they'd liberated from the prison storage units. It seemed to Finn, his head still blazing with newfound sensations, that on every corner battalion after battalion of First Order troops were falling back, disorganized and panicking.

        Before them, they faced an impromptu blockade of downed speeders, tables, chairs, and whatever else the stormtroopers behind it had managed to throw together on the fly, and a withering crossfire was keeping both sides pinned in place for the time being. Finn and Rose had stuffed themselves behind the remains of some delivery vehicle that had been flipped on its side by an earlier explosion. A few meters to the side, Jannah was sheltering as well, and all three of them leaned out when they dared to fire back at the barricade.

        Head still buzzing, Finn turned towards Jannah and shouted over the noise, "Well? What now?"

        She yelled back, "Any more Jedi tricks? Can you throw something nice and heavy at them?"

        Finn shook his head. New powers or no, he certainly wasn't ready to something that adventurous. "Na. Don't think I'm quite there yet."

        "Shame. Plan B then!"

        "Plan..." but before Finn could articulate the question, Jannah reached behind her back and produced a small flare blaster, casually pumping a round over her head in the direction of the congested obstacles and soldiers opposite them. Sudden movement caught Finn's attention. He looked up to see a half-dozen people he recognized from the prison appear over the ledge of the elongated balcony on top of the building above them, each one carrying a grenade launcher. They immediately began shooting out charges that arced over the barricade they faced; almost immediately warning cries rang out, and Finn could feel the soldiers dashing back around the corner to avoid the explosions that then ripped apart the improvised barrier.

        "NOW, let's GO!" he yelled out before he even thought of moving. The three of them, plus another eight survivors from the group they'd first left with, quickly filled in the space abandoned by the soldiers and easily overcame the stragglers who hadn't gotten out of sight in time.

        With a brief chance to breathe, the sounds of fighting in other streets and alleyways still overwhelming, they gathered together and took stock.

        Finn turned to Jannah, "When did you set that up?"

        "It was only a matter of time before we were pinned down, so when we left I sent a company up to find a good piece of roof and wait for my sign. Lucky for us, they found just the right place. Now you're turn." She gently nudged Finn with her blaster. "Your escape, your party. What's our goal?"

        Finn and Rose needed only a moment to look each other in the eye and confirm what they both thought. It was Rose who answered. "The Temple. Our friend disappeared there, so if she can somehow come back, that's where it should be. I'd rather she find us waiting and not the First Order."

        "Good enough for me," Jannah turned around and addressed the rest of her company, which had slowly congregated behind her while they'd been talking. "Alright, you heard her. With us, gentlebeings. We're going to liberate the Jedi Temple."

        A cry rang out behind the three of them as they turned back towards the main square and advanced forward.

        By the time they'd managed to shoot their way to the square facing the Temple, coming around the corner they'd first arrived at with Rey just a few hours ago, their numbers had swelled beyond count from other groups joining them at each block. Looking across the plaza, Finn saw that a cordone of troopers and barriers were being hastily assembled in front of the Temple. Clearly, the First Order had been thinking along the same lines they had, that whatever happened, the Temple would be at the center of it all. Thankfully, they were apparently scattered enough that they couldn't even defend this spot adequately; a brief eye test reassured Finn that they outnumbered the company across the open space at least two to one. Maybe it was all finally turning their way after all.

        He turned back to Rose, Jannah, and the others they'd started out with, and raised his voice, "Okay, we're almost there! Let's finish this!"

        With another collective roar, the crowd surged forward, each one firing at will as they went. Before Finn could take ten steps though, a series of massive explosions ripped through the sides of their ranks as a handful of low-flying TIE fighters streaked down from the sky. Throwing his arms up instinctively, Finn turned to see three accompanying transport ships land in the middle of the plaza and immediately begin to disgorge rows of gleaming stormtrooper armor. Even worse, once the regular troops had disembarked, a black-clad Knight, each weilding some form of exotic blade that crackled with lightsaber-esque energy, exited each craft as well and immediately threw themselves into the fighting before them, each one leaving a swatch of blood and bodies in their wake.

        Barely able to think, knowing that there was now no strategy to consider except survival, Finn turned in time see Jannah sent flying by another explosion from the fighters overhead. Beyond her, Rose was staring down one of the Knights, one carrying a huge, glowing axe with which he was apparently able to to divert or deflect everything shot at him. Instantly, recognizing the marks on the mask that hid the face, Finn knew- this was the same Knight that had led the defense at Kuat, the same one that had flushed them out and arrested them at the Temple earlier.

        And he was now moving quickly in Rose's direction, swinging his blade with absurd speed and smacking away every shot Rose was sending in his direction. This was a brutal Force-user, trained by Kylo Ren himself. Advancing with an aura of murder towards the woman he loved.

        His chest constricted as his breath rushed out of his body. "No....Rose! ROSE!" Time seemed to slow down to an agonizing crawl. The horrendous chaos of sound that surrounded him melted together into a grating hum as he urged his body, urged himself, forward. Run, he thought, over and over and over, trying to make Rose read his mind by sheer force of will. Run away from him.

        But Rose didn't run. Instead, she shifted her grip on the gun so as to keep up the fire with her left hand while her right reached behind for one of the thermal detonators she'd grabbed back at the prison. Flicking the activation switch, with a quick, fluid motion she tossed it towards the approaching figure.

        This, too, had no beneficial effect; instead, the Knight simply hurtled towards her with increasing speed, the blinking detonator spinning off of, away, and behind him as if propelled by an invisible shield, exploding in a flash of light and fire that merely added more impetus to his drive. Before Rose could even consider another option, his blade tore through her weapon and spun it away. A kick of blinding speed followed immediately after, doubling Rose over and forcing her down to a knee in clear pain.

        Finn was still at least 15, maybe 20 feet away. Too slow. Too late. He saw the blade raise back up in the air over Rose's bent and gasping figure. He reached out a hand and opened his mouth as if to scream, but now, suddenly, all sound seemed to cut out. All he could see, all he could think of, was that terrible, red blade and the need for it to stop before it touched the woman he loved.

        And, amazingly...it did stop. For what was maybe an instant, and maybe forever, Finn felt as if he was encased in carbonite, his tense body and outstretched hand pouring all his energy into holding that blade in place. A sense of astonishment and fury rang out from the dark figure, realizing what was happening, while Rose gaped up at them both in amazement. Withdrawing into himself, the Knight glared at Finn and he felt something like a wave wash over him and break down his concentration. The blade finally jumped forward, finishing its arc, though Rose had backed away enough that it merely sliced into the permacrete of the ground.

        Though he'd only stopped him for a moment, Finn felt once more that the Force was with him, right there, amateur though he might be. Feeling that certainty again, he began to move towards the Knight, his blade quickly freed from the furrow in the ground it had dug itself into. As the blade began to spin and crackle again, everything once again started to slow, and Finn felt as if he could see the motions of the fight to come as a series of still-frames in his mind.

        Instead of trying to fire his gun from a distance, he kept going until his opponent was right in front of him, swinging his weapon from the side as if to cut through Finn at the chest. Knowing exactly what to do and when, Finn simply followed the flowing instructions that came into his brain. He ducked rapidly at the last possible second, twisting beneath the arcing blade and feeling it sizzle along the back of his jacket as it passes over. Rising up before the Knight could respond, he flipped the rifle in his hands and turned it up and over the path the blade had taken to slam the butt fight into the nose of the mask of the black-clad figure. A cracking sound rang as he stumbled back a step. Not letting up, Finn turned the gun around once more and sent 3 rounds into his chest at point-black range, feeling the plasma burn through the Knight's thin armor.

        Amazingly, this seemed to only force him to take no more than a step back. Even as smoke began to come out of the wounds, Finn could sense the grim darkness his opponent was drawing into himself, somehow willing himself to continue the fight through sheer hatred.

        Once, Finn would have all too eagerly killed this damned creature out of hatred too. Now, though, with the certainly of seeing what was to come, he felt calmer than he ever remembered feeling.

        Forcing himself forward one last time, the Knight raised up the axe and threw himself towards Finn, cutting straight down towards his head. Again waiting until the last moment, Finn simply turned to the side as the attack whisked by, grasping the wrist of the Knight as the blade once again struck permacrete, twisting with a strength he never knew he had to send the handle of the blade spinning uselessly away. Though the mask remained on his face, Finn could feel the hatred burning away at the air between them as he raised his gun once more, aiming directly beneath the chin. He pulled the trigger, and the hatred vanished into nothingness as the Knight finally crumpled, motionless, to the ground.

        A second passed, then two. It was as if he and Rose had been transported out of the battle for just a moment, though it still raged around them. Dazed, they turned to each other at the exact same time.

        Rose's eyes burned with pride. "Knew you could do it, dummy." Then they were rushing into each other's arms, a moment of blissful togetherness.

        But it could only be a moment. Rose pulled away and took stock of the chaos around them; it seemed like it was each to their own, with no one side having the advantage over the other.

        "Well. Not sure there's much sense in trying to plan anything now. Any idea where Jannah is?"

        Finn shook his head. "I saw her knocked over by a blast, but I'm pretty sure she wasn't hit."

        "Let's find her first, then."

        "Yeah." Just then, a thought occured to him. He looked over at the curved axe-sword that he'd been dodging for his life just a minute ago. Slowly, he reached down and picked it up. Feeling around the handle, he located an activation switch, which seemed to be what sent out the electrical, lightsaber-esque charge that made the weapon so dangerous.

        Smiling, he glanced back at Rose. "What do you think? Battlefield souvenir?"

        Rose rolled her eyes at that rather than respond, but he could see the smile playing at her lips. Squeezing each others' hands one last time, they turned back to wade into the bloody melee around them.

***

        Before him, the Destroyer continued to fill his field of vision, larger than life. Centering himself on the upcoming run, Poe flipped his radio back on; "Lando, Chewie, you set?"

        "Ready when you are," came the baritone reply, with an eager roar from Chewie accompanying it as confirmation.

        Poe flipped over to the other comm channel he had open to the Mon Cal Heavy Cruiser Ackbar II, "Commander, we're going in for the run. Be ready to strike when the shields drop."

        "Confirmed," came the reply, in the gravely tone of voice that seemed standard for all Mon Cal. "Good hunting, and may the Force be with us."

        Poe offered a silent affirmation in his head, then began to accelerate at the same rate as the Falcon towards the base of the First Order ship. The plan was to hurtle through the line of fighters that formed the ship's defensive screen to focus their fire exclusively on the lower-level shield generators. The Ackbar II, along with two other Calamarian ships, were pounding away on the other side of the behemoth, and a Corellian Dreadnought was pulling up as well to join the fray. The heavy guns of the Destroyer were all occupied as a result, but the shields were proving tough enough so far to keep the ship intact, while the defending fighters were keeping smaller craft far enough away that the generators were still undamanged.

        Poe and Lando were aiming to change that. After all, if anyone in the galaxy was brazen and, maybe, just a bit crazy enough to try to bull-rush an entire screen of fighters and pull it off, it was them.

        They continued to build speed as they approached their target and the first fighters began to take notice of them, twisting into firing position. Instead of reacting the way they would in any normal firefight- began evasive manouvers to avoid opponent shots and start firing themselves- Poe and Lando kept on heading straight through the rapidly-approaching fighters, flipping over nearly all their power to forward shields and shooting up their speed as far as they could go.

        The most-forward ships managed maybe half-a-dozen shots against each of them, but with their defenses on full the plasma merely bounced off harmlessly to the side, and before any of the others could react they'd rocketed through the screen and had an unencumbered view of the ship surface above them, grooved lines acting like arrows pointed to the array of dishes and power installations on the other end of the base that powered the shields.

        "Reversing" came Lando's voice through the comm channel. They both simultaneously did a direct reversal with their shields, putting full power behind them to ward off the TIEs that were now desperately turning in to try and catch up with them. True, their fronts were now vulnerable to the ship's close-range defenses, but both Poe and Lando were yet to encounter either an Empire or First Order gunner who offered them a real threat. Plus, with the defensive screen now behind them, ship gunners would be just as worried that stray shots would take out some of their own.

        And that was exactly how the next minute played out. None of the shots that came at them from the ship's batteries were close enough to make Poe sweat, and all they managed to do was keep the fighters trying to intercept them at an acceptable distance.

        "Target on sight," said Lando, and Poe could see the target segment of the ship approaching. Without needing to coordinate, both armed their full complement of torpedoes and sent them streaming out towards the target, flipping around once more to pull the same rushing trick to get back out of the screen before the bombs blew. The fighters that had continued to gamely attempt pursuit once again scrambled to turn back around after them, but they were even slower this time than the first, and by the time Poe and Lando had punched their way back out of the screen, reams of fire, plasma, and vented atmosphere were streaming out of the whole they'd just blown in the ship's defenses and the remaining fighters had far more important things to worry about than a lone X-Wing and a beat-up Corellian freighter.

        It didn't take long after that. The instant the Destroyer's shields flickered off, the Mon Cal ships send two brilliant, neon broadsides into the ship's main weapons emplacements, crippling its ability to fight back in any meaningful way. With the rebel ships now circling like birds of prey, it took only about 10 minutes before the entire Star Destroyer started to break apart into glowing chunks, each descending in a slow death spiral towards the planetary shields below, while the remaining escort fighters attempted to flee to the protection of the nearest, still-functioning capital ship.

        Glancing around, however, Poe was pleased to note that they no longer had much choice left. Similar attacks like theirs all around the battlefield seemed to have destroyed or crippled at least half of the First Order's biggest war machines. It had been long and brutal, but they had the upper hand and an end game was finally in sight.

        He began to turn back in the direction of Leia's command ship to regroup when he noticed, on the outer fringe of the fight, numerous First Order vessels congregating towards the Destroyer they'd ID'd as Hux's flagship. Both the direction of their flight and the gathering speed indicated on his sensors allowed for only one conclusion; Hux was fleeing the battlefield. Kriffing typical.

        Poe switched over to the c hannel designated for the central bridge of Leia's ship. "General, you catch this? Hux is trying to duck out on us. Are we pursuing?"

        "Message confirmed, captain," instead of Leia, the voice was from her designated second-in-command, a Bothan named Admiral Bwu'atu. "Your assessment is correct. Unfortunately, we're too heavily engaged with the Palpatine at the moment. I'm afraid we don't have enough ships available to pursue."

        "Understood..." Poe paused a moment before voicing the obvious question, "Sir, what's happened to General Leia? Is she alright?"

        A pregnant pause followed before the Admiral responded, "I'm afraid I can't say. She transferred command to me a short while ago and retired to her quarters. She didn't say any more than that and her aides have not responded to any of our calls since then."

        Another pause. "I know you're worried, Captain, but let's focus on the task at hand first. Leia would expect nothing less from us."

        "Agreed, sir. Dameron out." As much as it frustrated him, Poe knew he could do nothing else than swallow his discomfort at Leia suddenly going missing at the height of the battle. Whatever was going on, he had to have faith.

        Gritting his teeth, Poe finished his turn back towards the heat of the battle and rushed forward into the melee once more.

Review: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

 

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021): Written by Destin Daniel Cretton, Dave Callaham, and Andrew Lanham, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. Starring: Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Leung, Meng'er Zhang, Fala Chen, Benedict Wong, Michelle Yeoh, and Ben Kingsley. Running Time: 132 minutes. Based on the comics originally created by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin.

Rating: 3.5/4

        In retrospect, it's hard to understand how it took me this long to grasp that, like, half of the MCU is basically a meditation on the concept of fatherhood and the many different flavors of father-son/child relationships. Tony Stark yearns to be as effortlessly cool and opulant- nay, more so- than his hotshot Dad. He, in turn, finds himself awkwardly turned into a father-figure by Peter Parker. Thor and Loki grow up in the shadow of Oden, one eagerly trying to fill said shadow before he's ready, the other bitter and resentful that the shadow is even there to begin with. Scott Lang's daughter is his entire motivation to reform his ways just enough to stay out of prison. The whole Guardians franchise, up to and including just about everything about Thanos, is positively dripping with allegories about abusive daddies. And in Black Panther- still untouched as the crown of Marvel filmmaking- T'Challa and Killmonger are shaped from top to bottom by the memories and feelings they have surrounding their fathers' respective deaths. Both worship their fathers as heroes unjustly murdered and see themselves, at least at first, as responsible for picking up their mantles. This is, in turn, driven by the significant degree of guilt and self-blame they've assigned themselves over how, exactly, their fathers were killed.

        Now into that hot mess of a stew comes Shang-Chi, a wuxia-infused martial arts adventure that is all about family and childhood trauma and the scars it leaves behind. And it's that laser-sharp focus on the family dynamics of the central characters that defines this film and raises it above being just another origin story and safely into the upper tier of comic book movies. The grand trio of Thor: Ragnarok, Gaurdians of the Galaxy 2, and Black Panther still reigns supreme, but Shang-Chi is now knocking on that door; this is one of the year's top movie experiences and a new personal MCU favorite.

        The film's dynamite prologue provides us with the backstory of the Ten Rings, ancient magical metal bands that can grant a human immortality and superhuman strength. For thousands of years, they have been in the sole possession of Xu Wenwu (the utterly hypnotic Tony Leung), who had in turn used their power to create a nigh-untouchable, globe-spanning network of power and terror called the Ten Rings. After finally meeting his match in (and subsequently falling in love with) a young woman named Ying Li (Fala Chen) while trying to find a mythical hidden village called Ta Lo, Wenwu actually looks like he might lay the rings (and immortality aside) to just...be a family man.

        Obviously that's not what happened. Otherwise we wouldn't have the movie. We cut to the present day. The son of Wenwu and Ying Li, Shaun/Shang Chi (Simu Liu), is living and working in anonymity in San Francisco as a valet alongside his best friend, Katy (the ever-delightful Awkwafina). Ying Li is dead and Wenwu has revived the Ten Rings, but we don't yet know how or why, and Shaun sure won't tell us; he seems determined to shut all that away and ignore it completely. This is soon made literally impossible when a group of Ten Ring thugs attack him and Katy on their bus to work, forcing him to break out the top-tier martial arts training he'd received from his father after his mother's death to save himself, his friend, and eventually the entire bus of passengers. It is a dynamic and jaw-dropping action sequence that makes full use of the hilly San Francisco terrain, and also showcases part of what makes this film so great; it's relentless (and seemingly effortless) sense of humor in any situation, even when life and death are literally on the line.

        With the cat very much out of the bag, Shaun and Katy head to Macau to try and track down Shaun's sister, Xialing, with whom he'd been estranged ever since leaving his father and the Ten Rings. The switch from ol' San Fran to Super-Neon Chinese Nightlife is as effortless as the movie's action beats, and in short order Shaun has been roped into an ungerground fighting competition, a super awkward (and physically painful) reunion with his sister, who had herself fled their father some years before, and finally all of them being captured by Wenwu himself, finally coming back out of the shadows. Most interestingly, and this is just the first of a number of major story turns the film takes, he admits that he had always known where his children had been. It was only now that it had made sense for him to "bring them home," and my God, is that euphemism putting in some hard hours in this go-around.

        This is where the story enters its second, and soon after its third phase, with the story taking on added layers as more information is revealed to us. We learn more and more about the death of Shang Chi and Xialing's mother, the exact series of events that followed their father rebuilding the Ten Rings, what led Shang Chi and eventually Xialing to abandon him, and the very specific reason he has to now try to reunite his family and search once more for Ta Lo. While these sorts of flashbacks and occasional exposition dumps are par for the course in most origin stories, they are distributed in a very specific and conscientious way throughout most of the film's first two acts. This is another way that Shang Chi manages to hit all the expected beats for a modern superhero movie while still feeling fresh. It avoids the pitfalls of clunky dialogue or pace-upsetting flashbacks that weaken lesser films of this sort and allows a real sense of mystery to build over the first half; given what we know about the amazing powers of Shang Chi's parents, it is genuinely difficult to imagine how his mother could have died and exactly would have led him to flee from his father and effectively abandon his sister to boot. It's a delicate balance, but the film pulls it off remarkably well, again because it remains grounded in genuine and powerful emotions relating to families and their bonds to each other.

        There is also, mercifully, no shoehorned-in romance anywhere. There are hints aplenty regarding Katy and Shang Chi dropped by others, but I very much hope any sequels opt to let sleeping Guard Lions lie. Simu Liu and Awkwafina have a great dynamic with each other that no amount of CGI punch-em-ups can overshadow, very much in the veign of Black Widow and Hawkeye in the first Avengers generation. Another dropped hint by the end (minor spoiler) is that Xialing may end up using the Ten Rings for her own ends and eventually facing off against Shang Chi. Given the nature of these sorts of stories, I suppose it's inevitable, but that doesn't mean I have to eagerly anticipate it.

        The big climax this all comes to is set within a trapdoor final act in an alternate dimension filled with what, I assume, are the Pokemon of the MCU. 'Tis a grand spectacle that, while still having some of the wuxia-style martial arts choreography, goes hog-wild on a giant, CGI spectacle involving a tentacled Cthulu and a massive (and beautiful) Water Dragon that saves Shang Chi in a key moment. While there were moments the barrage of visual effects almost lost me, it is easily the best and most visually interesting punch-up we've gotten on the big screen since the finale of Endgame.

        Throughout it all, we are still following the threads of a man, his sister, and their troubled and abusive father, all of them struggling against the pain and hurt that have defined them for so long. These threads of pain twist around and bind them still, but by the end there may be a path forward for Shang Chi and Xialing, though we obviously won't know for awhile if these paths will lead to good or bad things for either of them. But find out we will, for as the credits takes care to remind us, both Shang Chi and the Ten Rings will return soon.

-Noah Franc