Recently nominated for “Best Visual Effects” at the 2022 Academy Awards, American director Destin Daniel Cretton’s latest film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a Marvel origin story done right. It’s the first Asian-led superhero film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and marks the dawn of a more diverse era of Marvel superheroes.
Shang-Chi is a multi-generational action movie that opens with the love story between Xu Wenwu, played by Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, and Ying Li, played by Fala Chen. Through this backstory, we learn that Wenwu possesses the Ten Rings, a series of powerful metal bands located on his forearms that grant superhuman strength, agility and immortality. He meets Li, a woman from the mystical village of Ta Lo, and they fall madly in love. Together, they have Xu Shang-Chi, played by Simu Liu, and Xu Xialing, played by Meng’er Zhang.
The film then jumps in the timeline of Shang-Chi’s life and the audience meets him as an adult working as a hotel valet driver in San Francisco, Calif. On the outside, he appears to be living a normal life with his best friend Katy, played by Awkwafina. However, this illusion is soon shattered when Shang-Chi and Katy are attacked by men from the Ten Rings on their bus ride to work. Shang-Chi is then forced to confront his past and his father, who he has not spoken to or seen since he left China as a preteen.
Shang-Chi is a charismatic and easily likeable hero who shines both in the serious and comedic moments of the film. His decade-long friendship with Katy provides comic relief throughout the film as she makes witty remarks about Shang-Chi’s life to keep audience members entertained.
Self-discovery is at the heart of Shang-Chi. Having spent his childhood training martial arts with his father in China and his adult life by himself in America, Shang-Chi struggles to come to terms with who he is.
His father, obsessed with the powers of the Ten Rings, and his mother, fighting to protect her village, bring on an internal struggle for Shang-Chi as he tries to decide which side of his identity to embrace. He adores his mother and wants to help her, but turning against his father means fighting the legacy of the Ten Rings and the idealised version of himself that his father trained him to be. It’s when Shang-Chi breaks free from the mould his father set for him that he achieves self-realisation.
Unlike other Marvel movies such as Iron Man or Captain America, the arc of self-discovery is not reserved for the male protagonist. Female characters such as Katy and Xialing also undergo character growth throughout the film. At the beginning of the film, Katy is unfocused and feels without purpose in her valet job. Throughout the film, she comes to realise the importance of aiming high for goals she wants to pursue. Similarly, Xialing, having lived in the shadows of her older brother Shuan for most of her life, comes to terms with her strength and power that exists separate from her family legacy.
Wenwu is another character the filmmakers got right. He’s an amazingly intricate villain deeply struggling with grieving the death of his wife, so much so that he convinces himself and his army that he must do everything to get her back. Wenwu’s grief drives him to fight against his children and the village of Ta Lo.
Viewers watch an exemplary father descend into anger and frustration by neglecting his kids, putting his work first and becoming the ultimate villain. Leung’s phenomenal acting of a broken father leaves audience members unsure if they should root against him or feel sorry for him.
Unsurprisingly, considering its Academy Award nomination, Shang-Chi displays CGI paired with well-choreographed fight sequences. The CGI in the final battle between Ta Lo and the Dweller-of-Death is realistic and flashy, with soul-eating creatures fighting against a giant blue-scaled dragon.
The most prominent visual effect in the film is slow motion, specifically during fight sequences with flashy martial arts and fearful facial expressions.
Though slow motion is used to add emphasis, the overuse of this effect made fight scenes sluggish and didn’t build up any tension or excitement. It would have been nice to see more diversity in the effects and not have to rely solely on slow motion.
There were also times when Shang-Chi seemed almost formulaic in its plotline. Over the last decade, Marvel has pumped out a plethora of films with the classic hero-origin plotline. This formula has a level of predictability to it—namely, the plotline of a father dying and the son succeeding him.
Though the film compensates for this formula with a quirky cast of side characters and visual effects, some moments still feel rushed, forced and generic, reminding viewers that they are, after all, watching a Marvel film. Plot points such as when Shang-Chi nearly dies but returns at the end or the big CGI battle all play into the predictability of another Marvel hero.
However, Shang-Chi does hold its own against other Marvel origin story films. Its well-developed characters, paired with perfectly timed comedic relief and intricate martial arts fight sequences, establish good groundwork for sequels to come.
Featured image from IMBD.
