We are in Phase Four. This is what I’m told. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is the beginning of a new era in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, rerouting a multi-character, multi-story omnibus toward a new direction with new heroes and (presumably) new villains. The arc from 2008’s Iron Man to 2019’s Avengers: Endgame was a Hollywood triumph, even if everything in between was a mixed bag. A lot of resources and star power culminated into something truly awesome, and even if we are just calling it the “end of Phase 3”, there was a finality to Endgame that’s difficult to ignore. So, Shang-Chi feels less like a fourth phase and than a fresh start altogether, which brings with it all sorts of pressure for success.
So it helps that Shang-Chi kicks ass. I say this as someone who is agnostic at best in the wake of MCU’s tyranny, but Shang-Chi does actually feel like something organically new. The creative stunt work and martial arts choreography may remind some of the Jackie Chan films of the 80’s and 90’s, incorporating Buster Keaton-style physical comedy into action set pieces that keep rising in absurdity. (The film’s stunts were supervised by Brad Allan, an Australian stunts legend who learned from Chan himself. Allan died a month ago, before the film premiered.) The MCU has made its bed with CGI, which is used even in scenes of characters simply sitting and talking. Shang-Chi is no different, but the fight scenes pop with energy not seen since Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
The movie also has a mountain of backstory. So much so that the script (written by director Destin Daniel Cretton, along with Andrew Lanham and Dave Callaham), is structured with flashbacks throughout, to fill the audience in without bogging them down. It’s quite a lot, making constant pit stops or “exposition breaks” in between the film’s more thrilling fight scenes. Where flashbacks can’t get the job done, characters monologue for long stretches, tirelessly trying to make sure Shang-Chi is a normal feature length. It’s really a simple love story: A tyrannical immortal, Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung), spends centuries building his ruthless empire with the help of his powerful Ten Rings. In 1996, he takes on the ethereal Ta Lo, eager to obtain their mythical beasts. He is stopped by Ying Li (Fala Chen), who uses the powers of her village to fight off Wenwu’s planned destruction. Naturally, they fall in love afterward.
Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) is their son. When we meet him, he is living in San Francisco, and going by Shaun. He works as a valet driver with his best friend, Katy (Awkwafina), who accompanies him on late night drinking binges and karaoke marathons. Shaun and Katy are content in their frivolous lives, but when Shaun is attacked on the bus by members of Wenwu’s Ten Rings army, he is forced to confront the past he’d been hiding from. He explains to Katy: after his mother was killed, Wenwu fell back into his vicious, despotic ways, training him and his younger sister Xialing to be assassins to avenge Li’s death. His father’s ruthlessness is what forced Shang-Chi to flee to California and become Shaun, but now Wenwu has found him again and has some unfinished business.
Shang-Chi and Katy fly to Macau where Xialing (Meng’er Zhang) now runs an underground fighting ring. He explains the situation to her, but she is still embittered by Shang-Chi’s abandonment. Her father’s afterthought, Xialing has sought to build her own empire, but with Wenwu returning, brother and sister must put their lives on hold and settle their family drama. The story is pretty basic daddy issue stuff, but Cretton (usually a director of more character-based fare like Short Term 12 and Just Mercy) has an adept skill at crafting real emotional stakes. Xu Wenwu is one of the best villains of the MCU movies, but he is also a testament to empathy and compassion, to making a villain more villainous by making him more human.
It helps when you have Tony Leung, a legend of Hong Kong cinema who has spent three decades vacillating between the steamy leading man roles of In the Mood for Love and Lust, Caution, and action movie parts in Infernal Affairs and The Grandmaster. Leung’s star is usually tied to master filmmaker Wong Kar-wai, but he is proven as a star outside of those films, and honestly, who better to play the role of an immortal than a man who has aged nary a day in the last thirty years. Leung has nothing to prove as an actor or a star, but it is heartwarming to see him get his big Hollywood moment here, crafting a performance so complex and nuanced by MCU standards that one wonders what we’ve done to deserve it.
Simu Liu (one of the stars of the delightful, now-cancelled Canadian sitcom Kim’s Convenience) is down for his fight scenes and proves to be a charming leading man. The film’s plentiful supporting characters are often taking his spotlight but he proves a generous partner who could carry a movie if there was ever one to let him. Michelle Yeoh makes an appearance in the film’s second half as Nan, Shang-Chi’s aunt and Ying Li’s sister. (Another veteran actor makes a surprising reprisal of a minor MCU role, but I fear that revealing this may spoil some fun.) The film’s final showdown takes place in the magical Ta Lo village, which really allows the film to soak into its more majestic images, and brings all the principals together for a thrilling conclusion.
There are plenty of tie-ins to previous MCU films. Benedict Wong’s Wong from Doctor Strange makes an appearance, promising future collaborations with other Phase 4 superheroes, but Shang-Chi is mostly a solo show, unencumbered by the larger universe surrounding it. These are the Marvel films that I usually love the most, the ones that enjoy building character as much as they do building worlds. Iron Man was never as entertaining than the first 2008 film, and Thor was never as compelling as when Taika Waititi took him off Earth and into his own separate universe in Ragnarok. With Marvel’s track record, I am skeptical of future Shang-Chi films replicating the looseness of this film, especially since this studio is all about keeping the carrot dangling, but Legend of the Ten Rings is everything you should want in a comic book movie.
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton