This was a fun two hours, no doubt compounded by my love of martial arts movies, Chinese movies and Chinese culture generally.
Definitely in the wuxia style, the fight scenes are phenomenal and it captures many elements of Chinese mythology and runs it in the background without making a big deal about it. The characters are winning and there are good performances from Tony Leung and Awkwafina, who is always Awkwafina but works here. A guest star steals the show but I’ll avoid mention of that one.
As the original comics came out of the Kung Fu craze in the seventies, this avoids the standard Stan Lee origin trope which we’ve seen many times – nerd meets tragedy/hardship and is rewarded with powers – and that makes a fresher take for a Marvel movie.
Endings are the hardest part of any creative endeavour and this one has some of the regular failings of the genre. But definitely worth a watch, and a quick shoutout for the score too.