Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: T.O. Star Makes Good in a Marvel Debut That Often Plays like a Harry Potter hybrid
By Karen Gordon
Rating: B-plus
Toronto sports heroes may have underperformed lately. But we do now have a bona fide movie super hero.
Local hero Simu Liu proves his mettle in the Marvel universe as the title character in the action-packed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
In the superhero cinematic universes, this is your compulsory origin story. And Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings packs in a lot of origins, from the story of the title rings, to a love story and more.
The movie sets its pace early when we meet the unassuming Shang-Chi – or Shaun as he’s known to his best friend and fellow hotel valet Katy (Awkwafina). They’re on a bus and confronted by a tough guy who wants his necklace. It was a gift from Shaun’s late mother, (Fala Chen), so Shaun not only takes on the bold thief with serious martial arts chops, but also a half dozen or of the guy’s buddies, including a mountain sized strongman with a retractable sword where his right hand should be.
Awkwafina, Simu Liu and Meng’er Zhang discover a whole new world.
All of this happens as the bus careens along the steep the streets of San Fransisco, (finally driven by Katy), in a scene that simultaneously pays homage to Oldboy, Bullitt and Speed. (There are many fight scenes in the film that seem to pay homage to some of the great action scenes of classic movies past, including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).
Before Katy can pick her jaw off the floor, Shaun’s necklace is gone, and she’s full of questions. Based on the fight and a mysterious post card, Shaun believes his sister Xialing (Meng'er Zhang) is in danger from their father, Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung), and he’s packing for Macau to warn her. This is all news to Katy, but she’s not going to let him go there and confront his family alone.
The two arrive at what Shaun, now going by Shang-Chi, believes is his sister’s house. It isn’t. But it is where they rendezvous and and we find out more about the hard feelings between brother and sister. Before they can sort that out, they’re snatched up and taken to their father. But murdering his children is not on Wenwu’s mind.
Wenwu is the holder of the Ten Rings and he’s used them to amass power and wealth over a thousand years. But none of his powers prevented the death of his wife, Li, the children’s mother, for whom he still deeply grieves.
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Their love story is, in many ways, beautiful, (they fell in love after a rather balletic martial arts duel). Her choice to marry him, meant she was exiled from her home and estranged from her family. Now, a decade or so later, led on by mysterious voices, Wenwu believes she might be still be alive, imprisoned in that town to keep her separate from him.
With his children by his side, he makes finding her a family affair. The rings give Wenwu incredible powers, but Shang-Chi, Xialing and Katy aren’t so sure that dad has it right. Action ensues.
The film is part of Marvel’s push to put diverse heroes on the screen, with Black Panther, making Captain Marvel a woman, and now, Shang-Chi.
They’ve made some interesting choices for directors as well, aiming to have representation in the director’s chair to make sure the film doesn’t stray into stereotypes or cliches. And they’ve made some bold choices, choosing directors whose previous films don’t include action film or work with CGI. (We’ll see more of this when Eternals opens in October, featuring a diverse cast, and directed by last year’s Oscar winner Chloé Zhao, whose past is wholly indie).
For a film about an Asian superhero, in an Asian context, Marvel hired director Destin Daniel Cretton, whose strength is character driven dramas (The Glass Castle, Just Mercy).
Cretton’s experience serves him and the franchise well. Sure, Marvel is set in a world of superheroes, advanced technology, fantasy and sci-fi. But one of the reasons Marvel’s movies are so successful is that at the core, they are about more earthly things: family connections, either biological, or chosen.
As well, each of the lead characters comes burdened with emotional wounds - loss and grief has burned into their personality and behaviour and imbues them, and the films, with a kind of sadness that adds gravitas to the franchise. The depth adds meaning to what would otherwise just be action.
This is one of the key reasons that Marvel movies are so effective. And it is present here in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Another part of the Marvel secret sauce is snappy dialogue, enough humour to offset the serious. That’s also true here. The dialogue snaps along, thanks to actors with a comedy bent like Akwafina and The Daily Show’s Ronny Chieng.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings boasts strong acting from an ensemble that also includes Michelle Yeoh, (always a nice touch of iconic casting). Tony Leung adds complexity and class to the role of the warrior-turned-lover-turned-father.
But of course, the film rests on the performance of Toronto’s Liu who makes the leap from the small screen (Kim's Convenience), and he’s terrific. Charismatic in the quietest way, his Shang-Chi has a moral core, and doesn’t need to dominate.
The film does have some challenges. It covers a lot of territory, Wenwu’s story, the love story, Shang-Chi and Xialing’s story, the story of the magical town, etc., etc., etc.
It starts strong, using effective storytelling techniques and enough action to keep us engaged. But there are some head-scratching moments. (Katy decides to suddenly go to Macau?) And the energy wanes at points in the final third, in spite of full throttle action, and fight sequences with dragons and other mythical beasts.
In some ways Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings plays more like a marriage between Marvel and the Harry Potter series, than a straight up superhero movie.
There is enough story, enough heart and action here for a fun time at the movies. It introduces strong characters, especially Shang-Chi who we can look forward to seeing in future movies. (As always with Marvel movies, don’t get up once the credits starts. There are, as is tradition, bonus scenes for the patient.)
CLICK HERE to read Bonnie Laufer’s Q&A with Simu Liu.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Written bu Dave Callahan, Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Lanham, Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, Starring Simu Liu, Tony Leung, Awkwafina, Meng’er Zhang, Fala Chen, Michelle Yeoh. Opens in theatres Friday, September 3.