Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Marvel StudiosShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings introduces Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), a brand-new character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and after a grand total of twenty-five films and a number of television shows, he’s also the first Asian lead in a Marvel movie. Shang-Chi has a lot to live up to, especially now that there is a void to be filled with certain characters being gone, and luckily the film firmly cements its space and worthiness within the Marvel franchise. The film is an origin story, but it goes well beyond the shallows to create a new aspect to the series while also still connecting to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Shang-Chi, who goes by Shaun, is currently living alone in San Francisco. He works as a valet with his best friend Katy (Awkwafina), and the two seem uninterested in making anything of themselves – they are perfectly content to park cars for a living despite their clear potential for greatness. But Shang-Chi’s past catches up to him on a public bus ride to work, when his father Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung) sends a horde of goons from his terrorist group The Ten Rings after his son. This takes Shang-Chi and Katy, who insists on tagging along, on a journey to finally confront his past, as he was meant to take over The Ten Rings, both the organisation and the mystical items, from his father.
At its core, the focus of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is on familial bonds. After the death of Shang-Chi’s mother, Ying Li (Fala Chen), the Xu family is left broken. Wenwu delves into full “burn the world down for the woman I love”: he pushes away his daughter Xialing (Meng'er Zhang) as she reminds him too much of her mother and grooms his son into becoming a martial arts warrior capable of taking over The Ten Rings mantle. But Shang-Chi runs away on his first assignment, leaving his family behind. The film explores whether forgiveness is on the table for the Xu family, whether the familial ties can be mended, and whether the children will bend to their father’s will. Each of the actors that make up the Xu family expertly helps craft this theme due to their chemistry with one another. There is a lot of backstory and flashbacks prevalent throughout the film to fully flesh out this theme, but it is necessary with respect to the characters’ interactions with one another.
Of course, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is Simu Liu’s movie. He brings the perfect spark of charisma to the character. He especially does well in comedic scenes, such as working off Awkwafina during drunken karaoke nights or joking about the struggles of having Asian immigrants for parents. Liu is also commendable in Shang-Chi’s more emotional scenes, while Awkwafina is her usual funny self but isn’t boxed into being the film’s comedic relief. Zhang does an impeccable job as Shang-Chi’s sister Xialing, she is tough and cold yet vulnerable when the time is right. Michelle Yeoh also makes an appearance in the film, though she is stuck to simply delivering wisdom to Shang-Chi. Tony Leung also shines as the film’s villain, but he helps round out Wenwu as a complex antagonist, something that is quite uncommon within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is easy to understand why Wenwu commits the actions he does, Leung makes the character sympathetic to the audience but also is just eerie and menacing enough to still be a worthy villain.
Some of the other brilliant aspects of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings come from its homages to wuxia and martial arts films in general. Director Destin Daniel Cretton (Short Term 12, Just Mercy) knows the right balance of exploring the characters of Shang-Chi along with amazing fight choreography and action sequences. Some of the standouts include Shang-Chi’s first face-off against The Ten Rings on a San Francisco bus and another on bamboo scaffolding when the characters travel to Macau. Cretton says he was inspired by a lot of classic martial arts films since the characters know a variety of martial arts, which helps tell the story of Shang-Chi visually. Lead stunt coordinator Brad Allan, whom the film is dedicated to, was tasked with making the different fighting styles feel consistent. There are also references to Chinese mythology, with many creatures and settings rendered in beautiful CGI, especially when the film moves to the fabled village Ta Lo and during the film’s awesome climax.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s latest installment to Phase Four, yet it feels reminiscent of Phase One due to the film mainly being an origin story. It does stumble into plenty of origin story tropes, such as flashbacks to childhood and how the hero gets his powers, however writers Dave Callaham, Andrew Lanham, and writer-director Cretton inject enough life into Shang-Chi to make the film stand out and be more than an origin story. They work well to create a world that the characters of Shang-Chi effect, while also bringing in tasteful references to previous installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film hints at how Shang-Chi will affect the MCU going forward but most of the references will be more subtle for the wider audience, with the exception of an obnoxious post-credits scene.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings excels in every way and is definitely one of the better entries into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There’s not a single thing about this film that doesn’t work and it is clear how much care and craft the predominantly Asian cast and crew put into Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. They were able to take a character that was rooted in racism and Asian stereotypes and transform him into a hero for everyone. It’s about time that Marvel got its first Asian superhero and Simu Liu delivers, positioning Shang-Chi in his rightful place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.