It’s rare that you get to watch a film that revitalizes your soul and belief in good in January.
I know this film came out almost a calendar year ago and I meant to see it when it came out. I even got a ticket for it, but then felt too ill to see it in the theatre so I stayed home and I’m glad I did because it turns out I had The Novel Coronavirus.
This film is uplifting, smart, silly, and incredibly fun to watch.
The story centers around a family of Chinese immigrants and their American-born daughter. We learn that there is a great evil afoot and in classic science fantasy, it’s family.
Over the course of the picture, we get many incredible action sequences all expertly choreographed and performed. I haven’t felt this excited during a fight scene since Phantom Menace as a seven-year-old. The sequences are truly masterful work and are edited in a way that exemplifies the fight and story told within it.
This movie isn’t afraid to be a movie.
All of the performances are stellar.
Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn is feminine, strong, flirtatious, grounded, hilarious, and a wonder to behold. A performance that should be used to teach in acting conservatories.
Ke Huy Quan is phenomenal as an optimistic, yet realistic father who sees the best in people. A character type I hope we see more of. A character type with which I strongly identify.
Stephanie Hsu plays their daughter and would-be destroyer of the universe, Joy. Stephanie brings a grounded vulnerability to her work, when she feels something you feel it, too. Although, if I’m keeping it 100% when she is the megalomaniacal villain of the film, the performance seems to lack a true connection. It seems put-on and a bit hollow, one might argue that’s because the character herself doesn’t fully believe what she’s doing, however, I think it comes from Stephanie’s theatre background and my preference towards cinematic performance.
MORE IMPORTANTLY, JAMES HONG IS HER AND GREAT AS HE ALWAYS IS!
James is another one of my “ones” an actor I love to see and want to be like. I. want to be White James Hong. James Hong has a career spanning decades with over 450 performances under his belt. When he came on screen my hands went up, my fists pump, and I shouted “YES!” Like someone had made a goal at a sporting event. He is a perfect actor and I treasure everything and everywhere he is and has been.
Jamie Lee Curtis is having a great time and I love that for her.
RANDY NEWMAN, MY FAVORITE MUSICAL ARTIST VOICES A CHARACTER AND I LOST MY MIND. He does a great job!! Hire Randy to do more voice work!!
The cinematography is outstanding. However, one should know there are large swaths of the picture that have many flashing lights.
Thematically, the film focuses on optimism and love being able to conquer personal darkness. These themes are particularly important given the current state of the world. I imagine this is what seeing Star Wars was like in the seventies; a brief repreve from the bleak and tumultuous world in which we live. Family, kindness, and hope are things we should champion if we can.
I will say a personal preference of mine is to let sincere moments land, which this movie seems to sometimes be afraid of. It seems to take that note from the Marvel library of films and as the Russo brothers are producers I’m unsurprised.
However, it’s so since to have a fun heart-warming action film that isn’t a franchise. Please support films like this.
They could have cut 15-20 minutes out though. It gets a bit long.
The runtime is two hours and nineteen minutes