Tarkovsky Gordon-Levittโs review published on Letterboxd:
give ๐๐ผ deston ๐๐ผ daniel ๐๐ผ cretton ๐๐ผ the ๐๐ผ last ๐๐ผ airbender ๐๐ผ pronto ๐
โฆ then let him get back to making emotionally beautiful dramas.ย
there are a few hand-to-hand fight scenes (thanks to the brilliant brad allen) in shang-chi that are definitely some of the best marvel has put on screen. cretton some how manages to bring an emotional component to the father/daughter/son relationship that i found rather touching. emotionally (and physically) abusive dadโs are hard mother fuckers to shake, regardless of everyone telling you to let them go andโฆ
sorry, years of therapy just kicked in, anyways:ย
thereโs a dark story beat involving a little deadly payback that made me wonder if wong kar-wai and christopher doyle came in to do a few days of shooting and it instantly become one of my favorite moments in a marvel movie.ย
thereโs a lot of good stuff here. i actually enjoyed the relationship between liu, awkwafina and zhang. the latter being a particular standout - letโs get that cathy yan directed xialing bossy boss movie made (quick before I regret saying that).
but: we need to completely abolish cgi battle scenes from marvel for a few years until they can design them better. the action choreography was so beautifully done but couldnโt quite manage to leave marvel excessive computer generated bullshit in the dust. if it wasnโt for crettonโs ability to mine some real emotional power from some of the imagery the final act of this movie wouldโve been a total bust.
and yet: i actually enjoyed this a lot. perhaps even more than iโm giving it credit for with my star rating.ย
yeoh and leung are my original auntie and uncle.
also: two live action subzero vs. scorpion movies should make mk fans happy.
