Continuing on our themes of young promising superheroes who have to contend with their fathers going completely mental, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings might dial down the violence and profanity levels from Invincible- but it still has a nice message of being what one chooses to be, in spite of one’s backstory, all the same. It doesn’t venture too far from most of the elements that audiences enjoy Marvel films for, so don’t expect it to be the movie for people who hate superhero films. It’s the amount of warmth and sincerity that was put into the script and performances that I feel make it worth checking out at some point.
The title hero is played by Simu Liu somewhat understatedly, but regardless displaying a lot of range and likability as a hotel valet in San Francisco working with her friend Katy played by Awkwafina. An attack by mysterious assassins in search of a pendant Shang-Chi eventually reveals his past as the son of Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung), a supercriminal who wields ten mystical rings with such terrifying power he literally named his evil organization after it.
Our two leads head to Macau to get the help of Shang’s sister Xialing (Meng’er Zhang, in a subtlely vulnerable but still badass performance on her part), but Wenwu’s persistent in getting his son to inherit his empire. Leung makes Wenwu believably into someone who’s never had much reason to assume he’ll ever get a “no” answer- as shown by how easily he was able to romance Shang’s mother Ying (Fala Chen) during a battle when they first meet.
I’m sitting there thinking “damn girl, his fighting style’s not *that* good, a few counters and you’re ready to put a bun in your oven?” Luckily he’s not the only parental figure aiming to influence Shang’s allegiance choices, as Michelle Yeoh is super charismatic as his aunt who’s able to show him the secrets of their hidden village Ta Lo, as well as their potential for good. The climax this builds up to, involving dragons and demons behind a mystical gate is *mad* cray, maybe one of the most impressive and emotionally resonant the MCU’s had in quite a while.
As many complaints as I hear about the MCU having an over-reliance on jokes, surprisingly Shang-Chi doesn’t have as much as one would expect. Awkwafina has the occasional one-liner, and Ben Kingsley gets some laughs reprising his previous role as the bumbling actor from Iron Man 3, while Shaun and Katy’s love of singing the Eagles’ Hotel California off-key in karaoke clubs is a notable running gag.
But Cretton primarily keeps his focus on trying to give its hero a convincingly epic introduction, so the humor isn’t non-existent but there’s more of an emphasis on character development- both for the hero and the villain, in fact. And as likable a performance Liu gives as Shaun, Tony Leung’s antagonist is both detestable and tragic. Some Marvel baddies in the past have been on the throwaway side, but Leung fleshes out Wenwu as a twisted individual that clearly loves his family in his own messed-up manner, and that makes him crazy compelling.
This is gonna sound so weird, but Shang-Chi really reminded me of a DC movie as opposed to the typical MCU fare. And not in a bad way, this represented the DCCU that I’m hoping to get more of, when it’s focused on being grand and having thrills with a sense of gravity and presence. If Shazam! was the DC movie that reminded me the most of Marvel-style levity mixed with heart and earnestness, this was the one that hooked me like how Aquaman and Wonder Woman did.
Like I said with The Suicide Squad, I appreciate these studios having different approaches, and films like Shang-Chi show they can still experiment. The atmosphere isn’t super dour to the levels that Snyder got, and it knows when to liven things up, but overall it’s not a movie where you’ll walk out thinking you saw a clownfest. And I love a clownfest every now and then, this wasn’t anywhere near that.
I know folks go on about Marvel films getting fairly goofy at points, and yeah that can be the case with stuff like Thor Ragnarok, the Guardians flicks and some of the Spider-Man material. But aside from performing Don Henley songs badly, Shang-Chi both as a leading man and an origin film) doesn’t waste too much time with fluff when it’s time to advance the story.
It probably won’t be for everyone if these kinds of films aren’t your thing, but I think it works just on the level of an old-fashioned adventure flick with a good message of valuing independence behind it. So if you’d seen it, let us know your thoughts on FAN’s social media!