Awkwafina's role as Katy Chen in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a masterstroke for the MCU, which is even more apparent after the release of Eternals. Both films performed reasonably well during their opening weekends and thereafter, though Shang-Chi has fared much better critically. While Shang-Chi and Eternals are quite different in tone and theme, both help to usher in a new MCU era with the real beginning of MCU's Phase 4.
The MCU has long been known for its deft balancing of action, emotion, sincerity, and comedy; something other franchises like the DCEU have struggled with. Thor: Ragnarok serves as a prime example of this. Katy Chen, Shang-Chi's best friend, does too. Awkwafina is known for her talkative and spontaneous brand of comedy, yet, as Katy, she also seamlessly juggles heartfelt moments of loyalty to Shang-Chi, such as following him to Macau, and personal growth scenes as evidenced in her archery journey in the film's latter half.
It can sometimes be easy for comedic relief characters to fall flat, which is a pitfall that Awkwafina's Shang-Chi role artfully avoids. At the same time, while Eternals gets many things right, comedy is not one of them. As the two flagship films of Marvel's broadening Phase 4 universe, Eternals' humor whiff makes it even more apparent just how good Awkwafina's Katy is in Shang-Chi, namely in how her character earns genuine laughs without detracting from the sincerity or seriousness of the story's overall tone and stakes.
Eternals had mixed reviews for a host of reasons. On the positive side, it signals some big steps forward for Marvel in terms of representation, featuring openly gay, deaf, and potentially gender-fluid characters, all on a team that's more diverse than any the MCU has shown before. It also complicates the traditional superhero movie concept of clear-cut good vs. evil in an interesting way. Eternals proves Marvel is on the right track with all these elements. At the same time, the film's story is cumbersome at times and ultimately ends with a rather flat "huge stakes" battle like any other superhero movie. Most of all, it lacks the well-incorporated humor of so many Marvel films. A few moments, such as Phastos' "Fall Collection. Ikea" line grasp at it, but the film is too serious overall for such moments of levity to feel like much more than random inserts.
Eternals alone might raise concern that Marvel's new direction is improving representation and story variety at the cost of color and fun, but, in fact, it simply throws Shang-Chi's success in this department into even sharper relief. As the most consistent source of comedy in Shang-Chi, Awkwafina's Katy stands out as exactly the kind of character Marvel should continue to develop in Phase 4 and beyond -- one who is genuinely funny, full of heart, and fully fleshed-out. Her comedic timing and balance are as good as anything Marvel did in Phase 1, and they are especially refreshing coming from a brand-new character who is an integral part of Shang-Chi even without having special abilities. Overall, Awkwafina's role in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings strikes a perfect chord, and is especially impressive in light of Eternals' shortcomings.
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/3qB09hq
0 Comments