Movie Reaction: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Formula: Snake Eyes / Black Panther

 

We're 13 years into this grand MCU experiment. There have been coronations, backlashes, and backlashes to the backlashes. They've hired stars. They've made stars. They've hired company men. They've hired auteurs. They've done alien invaders, time travel, and multi-verses. There isn't much left to say about the MCU that hasn't been said, mulled over, and processed already. At this point, we're looking for the little victories and/or developments. In 2021, they've made TV shows that actually play in important role in the narrative (Sorry, Agents of SHIELD). That's cool. They gave Black Widow her own movie. Great. It's about time. This Fall, with The Eternals, they've got the reigning Best Director with a crazy diverse and interesting cast. And, of course, the big development with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is that they finally opened up the movie calendar to Labor Day.

 

Yes, Labor Day has long marked the summer-into-fall doldrums. Kids are back in school. The summer movie season has ended. Several major film festivals are going on, giving first glimpses at the prestige hopefuls that will filter into theaters in October. It really is one of the worst weekends of the year for the box office. In the last few years, with so many big budget movies fighting for a hole in the calendar, the traditional dead periods have disappeared. February makes money now. April makes money. August makes money. Even IT became a blockbuster later in September. And now Shang-Chi is a bonafide Labor Day blockbuster, more than doubling the previous opening weekend title holder (2007's Halloween).

 

Oh yeah, and there's the Asian cast and lead character thing. That really is the big story with Shang-Chi, and my stance is about the same as it is with any other diverse step in the MCU:

1) It's about time.

2) The cool thing is that it plays like any other MCU movie.

 

Hopefully it is a meaningful step for a group of people not used to seeing themselves in these movies. Personally, I have the selfish perspective that seeing the same pool of performers and stories all the time gets boring. I'm all for anything that shakes it up. And, when I say that Shang-Chi is like any other MCU movie, that's a good thing. I like MCU movies.

 

The story of Shang-Chi is tough to summarize. The very basic version is that it's about Shaun (Simu Liu). He works as a valet with his best friend Katy (Awkwafina). It's a carefree life that they both enjoy until Shaun gets in a big fight on a city bus and reveals that he's a badass fighter. It turns out, Shaun is actually Shang-Chi, whose father has these ten rings that make him immortal and very powerful. Shaun has been hiding from his father for a decade. The bus fight means he's out of hiding, so he and Katy travel to Asia to hash things out with his father (Tony Leung) and sister (Meng'er Zhang). From there, it's a Marvel movie. Big fights and action set pieces. Good jokes. A complex mythology that they distill down to its simplest form. It's exactly what you expect from an MCU movie, except with an Asian flair that's a lot of fun.

 

Simu Liu is pretty awesome for this role. He does many of his own stunts. He carries himself like someone who knows how to fight. He comes from a sitcom background, so he can crack his own jokes. He can pull off the "I work out" shirtless scene that MCU movies require. And he can do all this from a lead role. He will have no trouble fitting into an Avengers movie. Awkwafina is less of a discovery. We know she can crack jokes (Ocean's 8), fit in an action movie (Jumanji: The Next Level), and deliver a dramatic performance (The Farewell). She's equally ready for the MCU. Liu and Awkwafina are a dynamite pair too. Tony Lueng makes for a wonderful over-credentialed Marvel villain. Given that his character is also Shang-Chi's father, it makes him one of the more conflicted and interesting villains in the normally Hero-forward MCU. Meng-er Zhang is quite a discovery in this movie. I figured she was a famous Chinese action movie star, but it turns out she's a theater actress mainly and this is her first movie. That's shocking, because she comes to this so ready-made. The movie even has Michelle Yeoh show up long enough to remind the audience that she could kick every cast member's ass and look great doing it.

 

Director Destin Daniel Cretton handled the leap from indie movies to Marvel better than most. I had low expectations, given his history of small dramas, not to mention the mixed success with directors like him making the leap in the past. He proved me wrong. The bus sequence at the beginning is nice and chaotic. The final battle at the end has real scale. There are some inventive other sequences in the middle. There's no hint of the size of the project overwhelming him.

 

Marvel is in a table-setting phase. They're in the fallout from Endgame. Core stars like Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson are gone. Chadwick Boseman too, for more tragic reasons. They need a stable of new heroes as they create a post-Thanos threat. Shang-Chi is a wonderful piece to the puzzle. I can't wait to see how he fits into things moving forward. The Legend of the Ten Rings is a great start for that character.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend