Movie Review: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) directed by  Destin Daniel Cretton

Shaun (Simu Liu) is living a mediocre life in San Francisco at a valet parking job with his friend Katy (Awkwafina). They work, go drinking, and sing karaoke. Things change for him when he is attacked on a bus by agents of the Ten Rings, a secret army that has been influencing human history for a thousand years. Turns out his dad is the head of the army and has been alive for a thousand years thanks to the literal ten rings, arm bands that give him magical powers (mostly for doing violence, but also longevity). The agents tell Shaun that they are after his sister, who is living in Macau. Shaun and Katy hop on a plane where he explains his back story: He was raised by his parents in China till his mom died, then his dad started training him as an assassin, a life he eventually rejected. Now he's pulled back into a family business he wants no part of. He doesn't want his sister in it either.

The movie follows a fairly familiar Marvel story arc. Like many previous films, this one is a successful blend of Marvel superhero movie and a genre picture. In this case, the genre is martial arts. The fights are beautiful to watch--they capture the grace and precision of Asian hand-to-hand combat while adding in some magical abilities. At the beginning of the movie, Shaun and Katy are accused of being slackers, i.e. not living up to their full potential. They are forced to step up, a move that makes their lives more imperiled but also more exciting and more meaningful (another common Marvel trope). Tony Leung is especially good as the father. His motivation is to reunite with his wife, who he thinks has been sealed away in the magical village from which she came. He's a lot more understandable and sympathetic while still being villainous, much like Michael Keaton's Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming. The Marvel DNA is all over the film but they know how to run the formula and get a great product in the end. Marvel delivers another piece of solid entertainment.

Recommended.