22 Sep 2021

Review: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

From At The Movies, 7:33 pm on 22 September 2021

At the height of their powers, Marvel Comics films could make you forget for two hours that you'd been watching essentially a blown-up kids' movie.

The A-List cast - even the backup players included people like Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sir Ben Kingsley, Tilda Swinton and Robert Redford…. the talented directors, often drawn from award-winning independent films…. The intricate plots and snappy dialogue…. They all combined to give the illusion you were watching something grown-up.

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Photo: Screenshot

For me the bubble burst when the Avengers movie Infinity War destroyed half the universe, then the next movie Endgame brought it back. Not how implausible it was, but how ridiculously big it was. Too much, I thought.

And now the rose-tinted glasses are off, you start to notice how thin many of the Marvel characters are becoming. Noble, funny, evil. That's about it. Which brings us to Shang Chi.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings owes much of its storyline to Chinese myths and legends, I believe. Particularly those filtered through the colourful martial arts movies of China, Hong Kong and Korea.

There's a lot of use of phrases like "the legend tells us", "mystical powers" and "you have to fulfill your destiny".

The "10 Rings" of the title have two meanings. It's the name of an ancient criminal organisation out to conquer the world, or something.

And they're also actual rings of power, worn around the arms of an indestructible warrior called Wenwu, played by Hong Kong superstar Tony Leung.

But this is the story of Wenwu's good son Shang-Chi, who had no interest in going into Dad's family business, and who ran away to San Francisco, changed his name to "Shaun" and got a menial job at a fancy hotel.

Shaun's friend Katie is played by comedy actress Awkwafina, who's become one of the essential ingredients in any American film aimed at a Chinese market.

She shone in films like Oceans 8 and Crazy Rich Asians, and she's one of the best things in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

It transpires that Wenwu has sent his goons to drag Shang-Chi home to join him in his nefarious schemes.

Shang-Chi defeats them temporarily then, with Katie in tow, dashes off to find his fellow warrior sister in Macau, with Dad's goons in hot pursuit.

Around about now, my iron grasp on the plot started to loosen somewhat.

There is a bit more to it than Dad regularly capturing Shang-Chi, and Shang equally regularly escaping.

There's also mystical stuff about portals to the Land of the Dead, magic villages and rival dragons with names like "The Dweller in Darkness" and "The Great Protector".

And there's the always welcome appearance of Michele Yeoh in her usual role of "kick-ass Auntie".

But the secret of the classic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - also starring Yeoh - and the earlier, better Marvel movies, is they took some trouble to win audiences over.

They didn't simply assume we were there already.

Of course Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings doesn't need my support.

It's already picked up rave reviews, particularly from Asian audiences, who relish the sight of a big Hollywood blockbuster with almost entirely Chinese - or Chinese-American - credentials.

It's essentially a trad East Asian martial arts movie, with dollops of Marvel Comics icing - cameo appearances, and call-backs to previous plot-points, including the notorious Mandarin.

But it did nothing to reheat the Marvel souffle for me. Once again, too big, and not really enough.

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